Jimmy Buffet gets it

"I wrote a note said be back in a minute,
bought a boat and I sailed off in it, don't think anybody is going to miss me anyway.
Mind on a permanent vacation, the ocean is my only medication, wishing my condition wont ever go away."

Let me elaborate on my previous blog post where I described sailing as an addiction. My mother "carol" recently commented on how hard it seems out here at sea. And indeed, traveling in a small slow sailboat across the biggest ocean on the planet is not for everyone. BUT, for those of you out there reading this blog (ed lynt...) and others, can attest to the absolute thrill of it all. Why else would the sea call to so many generations of writers and poets and adventurers? I myself do find it taxing, both physically and emotionally, but the rewards far out weigh the hardships. At sea your world is shrunken into basic survival. The rigors of the deck watch routine keep a pace at sea that makes sense out of an otherwise chaotic situation. The constant sea state change and wind shifts make the "work" of sailing interesting and passes the hours. You literally sit for hours and hours and watch the sea birds and waves. Passing the time talking to your crew mates about philosophy, conspiracy theories and your favorite Seinfeld episode.. The clouds offer their own set of entertainment. And I cant go on enough about the night sky. If all of you who are suspect of this obsession, I can promise you, that one starry night sky as the boat rocks back and forth sailing into the darkness, with no sound except the wind and the wake of the boat would make you a convert.
And then there is the simple pact that sailors have between each other. We are a boat full of strangers who just met to make this trip, but lifelong friendships have been made. The comraderie that exists between sailors is a bond that can only be understood standing in a yacht club bar after a long passage has been made and the fleet all safely at port. Shadowside hopes to be at the bar soon enough. Our landfall is expected to be early tuesday morning.

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star light star bright

Sailing is an addiction and everyone on this boat is an addict. There is no other way to explain cramming yourself into close quarters with perfect strangers, subjecting your body to gashes and bruises and the occassional scaulding as you try to drink coffee in between wave sets (I dont think anyone has been able to successfly drink a cup yet. But for those of us who are weak to this vice, there is nothing better than the dreamy trade winds and a starry night sky. With all of this talk of a storm raging on the Islands, there is a small sailboat slowly drifting towards its destination, safely out of reach of Darby. We are calmly bobbing through the night. Captain just came on night watch, we let him sleep an hour extra. We are all tired and ready to see land, but in the meantime we are enjoying the less than dramatic weather. Alejndro just came down to tell me the moon is rising.

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