Beyond Metrics

The last blog reported on the metrics of living on a sailboat for the last 10 years. This one covers a very small sample of the photos captured during those years. Metrics don’t capture the lifestyle while pictures are worth a thousand words. So here are some words and a few pictures that we hope gives some indication of what we were doing over the last ten years.

Its about Sailing. Yes, the only way to get from point A to point B when separated by sea water is by boat or by airplane. We have nothing against airplanes, we use them frequently. But what better way than to harness the Earth’s wind to propel you to places that you can’t walk to? It’s also about the journey and the experiences along the way.

Sailing is a simple concept. Ever since man saw a log floating down a river, the idea stuck. He also noticed that wind can push the log as well as the river, and he then can direct the log to go where he wanted it to go. The rest is history. But sailing is fraught with the mechanics of doing so, especially if it entails transporting your full-time living quarters around in a saltwater mixture that is not kindly to metal or wood. The end result is the well-known lament of all sailors: Fixing Boats in Exotic Places.

Its about Adventure. Adventure is a very personal experience. One can find adventure turning a corner on a block you haven’t walked down before. It could be a book that had a surprised ending. It could entail talking to a stranger. It could be traveling to a far-off land in both space and time. It can be unanticipated or it could be planned in detail. In the end, it’s only in your own your heart and mind that you concede to having an adventure. Others may label if for you, but you know it in your heart no matter where it occurred.

It is about Challenges. The essence of any challenge is crossing the boundary between expectation and reality. Drinking a much too hot cup of coffee may be challenging. Skiing off a cliff in white out conditions may be another. Sailing in dense fog, in lightening storms than never seem to end, having to go to windward for a thousand miles, sailing hundreds of miles with a broken boom, sailing engineless into harbors, breaching the hull after hitting a rock outcropping, are some of the challenges we faced. Well as someone once said, “It took a Licking and kept on Ticking”. Challenges are related to Fixing Boats in Exotic Places!

It is about traveling. The world is a big place and even though you can “see” the world on the internet, being there still has an edge. Mostly because it is the little things that catch your eye but remain with you for years.

Its about living close to nature. This cannot be avoided while living afloat. The inside cabin may be warm and secure, much like a cork on a champaign bottle. Both are not far from the stirrings below and can equally be affected by circumstances and surroundings they can’t control. But the beauty can not be denied.

It is Lyrical. Sometimes in a most litteral sense. At other times its just wind in the rigging.

Its about People. Yes, they are called Locals. Maybe because we cruisers are the Express – the ones who don’t stop at every station, and wiz by on our journey to elsewhere.

As mentioned in the previous blog it is ALL a very social experience. Groups of cruisers gather as often as possible. Local restaurants, cafes and bars offer natural venues when individual boats are usually too space limited for the many cruisers that you meet while in port. Group walks, hikes and tours draw us together to explore new, to us, territory. Beaches offer a very informal setting for ad-hoc dinners and BBQ’s. The setting sun invites these gatherings to share “sundowners”. Blow that conch horn, watch for the Green Flash.

There is always a reason to gather and celebrate another day.