What makes sailing in little boats such a powerful experience?
I’ve long ponded this question.
I suppose because we are terrestrial animals once we leave land we enter a different world.
Once we go beyond the seas horizon we depend upon ourselves and must rely on our small boats for our ultimate safety.
We immediately get connected with the vagaries of the wind and sea. They can be kind to us and challenge us.
But we see the awesome beauty and magnificence of earths unique watery world. Wonderful sunsets and sun rises, the atmospheric interactions between sea and the sky.
The sparkling of the sun on the water, the dark rain clouds the shafts of light shining through. The star filled heaven, the beautiful solar constellations and the Milky Ways galactic wonder.
The torch like moon reflecting on the sea surface. The dawn and early morning sunsets with the rising planets brightly reflecting the sun back to us before darkness of the night or the light of the day.
The bow racing dolphins and the blow of a distant whale. The shoals of flying fish skimming the surface of the sea.
The pelagic flight of shearwaters rising and falling above the wave tops, wing tips bent down touching the sea surface. The strange dance of the tiny black storm petrel.
It’s complete world of wonder and surprise, which makes sailing oceans on small boats such spiritual experience that gives us sailors such a deep connection with the wonders of the universe.
Finally we must understand the forces of nature and be in equilibrium with its awesome power. When we try and achieve this we become one with its universal flow.