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Day 487 Humble and I Venerate |
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Tuesday, 19 August 2008 |
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Wind SSW 5 to 10 knots, Course WWS, Speed 2 to 3 knots, Position 2° 33' N by 90° 21' W
I have made my tack over to the SW. The wind is forcing us a little too W, but it should be moving to the SE as I get further S. This will give us a good course across the trade winds. When I finished my tack and got the schooner balanced into the wind I looked happily at the compass course and then up at the schooner as she leaned over and slowly, effortlessly powered away. I felt her alive and said, “You can do it.” In the eternal silence of the sea my voice surprised me and I felt the need to confirm it again, louder, deeper and with more conviction. “You can do it!” I felt a thrill and I knew the schooner was a good girl. I knew she could do it with every fiber in my body and I loved her every fiber, beam and bolt, because our family and friends put her together with love. She, in the great tradition of sail boats forges ahead like a ship out of the past and a capsule of discovery into the future. She sails since ancient times and is willing to go into the unknown future, into infinity. I have taken my feet off of the earth for 487 days now and I intend not to touch the earth for longer than any human since we evolved here clinging to the earth. Vulnerable to the whims of the sea, I am nothing and humble and I venerate the far horizon that lifts and floats my soul. My feet dangle over the great abyss and I feel no need to touch down. Day by day I maintain gratitude and reverence while I perform my sailing duties. Night after night with vigilance I watch the night or the stars move across the sky. I learn to take any course to merge with the ocean. And the birds are always with me.
Reid
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Monday, 18 August 2008 |
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Wind SW 15knots, Course ESE, Speed 3 knots, Position 3° 07' N by 90° 09' W
The SW wind gives me no choice these days but to sail ESE or I would be sailing N of W. I am trying to get south into the SE tradewinds. The N equatorial counter current also pushes me E, but I'm almost out of it. My strategy now is to sail down into the W flowing equatorial current at the top of the SE trades, then sail over the Galapagos again. I'm having to run the motor again for electricity because the sun can't get through the rainclouds to the solar panels. In the meantime I'm doing big loads of laundry and washing the motor room with fresh water. I set up the rain catcher, filled it with laundry and soap and let the movement of the boat slosh the laundry around. I empty it and the rain refills it and I rinse again. It's very efficient for big loads with blankets and jeans. Now I have a huge load of laundry on deck waiting for a sunny day. The sea is swarming with flying fish and mahi mahi and whenever I want to I catch all I need. The birds are still roosting, rotating shoulder to shoulder all the way across the top of the boat out to the end of the main gaff. I have not even had a calm day to look at the bottom of the boat. I'm sure it needs scraping. It is comfortably hot here on the equator.
Reid
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Day 483 Always a Distance |
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Friday, 15 August 2008 |
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Wind SW 5 to 10 knots, Course ESE, Speed 2 knots, Position 4° 13' N by 92° 27' W
I just finished reading “Always a Distant Anchorage” by Hal Roth, “Around the World with a Celebrated Couple”. He has written six books and is quite likable. He and other famous sailors like Bernard Moitessier love their sailing and have expressed their wish to go on indefinitely. Hal says “For me this heavenly voyage could go on forever”. My love of sailing gave me the same idea. I never wanted to stop. I wanted to keep going on and on. Of course this yearning is in the common consciousness of mankind and has surfaced in myth, poetry and songs. The soaring spirit sails on and on, but there is a big difference between dreaming about it and actually attempting it. Hal dreams well, but he stops himself again and again. The metaphor was a circle. "I was getting too philosophical again”. Was he stopping his dreaming because he knew his publishers didn't want it or because he was afraid of not appearing humble for thinking out of the box? To grow the human spirit needs to expand and explore and share. Hal and Bernard were skilled enough. Why didn't they go on and on? The joy is great, but the obstacles are varied and many. People couldn't believe or understand me for 20 years, but finally I got going. The spirit of exploration of the modern age is all pervading. I feel it manifesting in me and I give it everything against all odds. Now I voyage beyond and the human spirit sails with me. What ever happens another gate has been opened and like pioneers other people will go through where there is more space to discover themselves as they want to be, free and living in tune with the way of nature. Oops, I'm getting too philosophical again, but it is part of what nourishes me out here in space, under the sun and stars.
Reid
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