Right after Summer Sailstice, at the end of June, 2014, four of us delivered my friend John Marsh's Tartan 40 'Asolare' from Hopetown, Bahamas to Chatham Massachusetts. Hurricane Arthur formed a few days after our departure and followed us up the Gulf Stream almost catching us before we tucked into Newport, RI just hours before its arrival where we were able to hide out from it's passing (without Hurricane Arthur our intended destination was Maine). The four crew were by brother Bob, John Marsh, my daughter Sarah and myself. This was Sarah's first long (8 day) offshore passage. She put together some thoughts from the voyage:
All I Really Need to Know I Learned on a Sailboat.
I grew up with the best sort of bedtime stories a little girl could ask for – her father as the hero of various sailing adventures. Many a night, my dad would recount stories of spearing stingrays, encounters with bloodthirsty sharks, getting lost at sea, a late night rendezvous with Russian tanker workers, crashing fancy yacht parties, and clashes with the Coast Guard. When the possibility of an eight-day ocean passage with my dad from Hope Town, Abaco in the Bahamas to Portland, Maine was brought up, I leapt at the opportunity.
The folklore and wisdom of the seas goes back centuries, but sometimes lessons are best learned through doing. Here are my Top Twelve Takeaways - applicable for sailing adventures, other adventures, or the adventure called life - interpret as you wish:
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1. There are good times. Then there are bad times. The bad times really suck. Storms will arise. You will vomit. You will be continuously wet, like a soggy and molding sponge. Sleep is a delirious dream. Layers of sunscreen, sweat, and salt will mix into a permanent, sticky film of filth coating your skin. But smile anyways:
2. The good times would not be so beautiful were it not for the storm. The blending of ocean and sky will take your breath away. From morning; when the sky is a baby blue pantone color strip, to evening; when the sun melts into the ocean and fools you into thinking air and water, mixed, can make fire, to night; when the stars in the sky and the ocean’s bioluminescent plankton mirror one another.
3. There is no way forward but forward. When you’re at sea, there are no time-outs, no breaks, no holidays, no rest stops, no half times. Every moment is a moment forward. Enjoy the trip.
4. Revel in the calm and beautiful moments, but don't let them fool you. Time is does not exist just to be enjoyed, time exists to be used, taken advantage of, and appreciated. On a boat this means: Use the opportunity to SHOWER! Do your laundry! Fix the broken boat parts! Cook a meal! Time is our most precious resource, use it wisely.
5. Time is our most precious resource; and it is also limitless. Humans made time up. Mind blowing yes? So you already knew that. To use time wisely, first understand that arbitrary numbers not dictate your needs, you do. Sleep when you’re tired. Eat when you’re hungry. Pee when you need to. Brush your teeth when you want to, laugh for as long as you wish to.
a. Author’s side note: But also, see above, prepare. Sometimes, like say before a test or a long car ride, I’d recommend peeing in advance.
6. Wake with the dawn and sleep with the dusk. When you can.
7. You can live without fresh vegetables. Not saying you should. Just that it’s possible.
8. Planning is essential. A good sailor comes up with ten different navigation options based on what the wind and the currents might possibly do and then wings it when it actually does the 11th option you didn’t consider. My take away? Planning is helpful, but that’s all it is…helpful. Storms come up, the currents go right instead of left, fish bite your line, the sunset is so pretty you forget to cook dinner, whales almost crash into you. The plan itself can be useless; the point is the process of preparing. Learn to love the planning, and then embrace the plan you didn’t plan for.
9. Expect the unexpected to happen when you least expect it. The fish will bite when its hungry and the wind will blow when it wants to. The ocean will change. The timing may not be convenient for you. Too bad. Despite your plans, the only guarantee is no guarantee.
10. Sometimes, there will be hurricanes. Be prepared for the worst (work hard), hope for the best (dare to dream), and when that fails, have faith. If you do, you’ll make it to a safe harbor. I’m not saying it’s the harbor you planned for, or even a harbor you wanted. But a harbor is a harbor. We made it to one (in Massachusetts, not Maine).
11. We don’t get to decide when hurricanes happen, but we do ge to decide our reaction. In general, things are much better when the glass is half full. Choose to fill it. I mean that literally. And figuratively.
The first hurricane of the season, Hurricane Arthur, followed us right into Newport but luckily we were already well secured on an Ida Lewis YC guest mooring! Phew.
12. Change is inevitable, but it doesn't have to be painful or sudden. Ease your way into it. Be gentle. Move forward with gratitude and grace. Also known as: just because you’re back on land doesn’t mean you have to turn your phone back on. (However, my instagram of my fellow sailors still remains among my top ten most likes ever. My fellow sailors were three men over the age of fifty though…a tough act to follow I agree. I challenge you anyway).
The Crew. We were lucky to experience Hurricane Arthur on stable ground - gusts of 45 knots in Newport and up to 70 knots in Nantucket. A good day not to be offshore.
Despite a hurricane behind us we often had dead calm and were low on fuel. But some great fishing!
Which the skipper carved up into some great sushi!
