[Rhodes22-list] Offshore sailing revisited

[Rik Sandberg]

All,

Came across a quote tonight as I was reading the G.O.B. bi-monthly 
newsletter. Reminded me of the conversations we had a bit ago about sailing 
to the Bahamas in an R 22 and the risks involved. Can't say I have learned 
this "from the sea" yet, but I believe I have had similar feelings about 
some other "fairly risky" endeavors I have taken on in my life so far. At 
any rate, thought you all might be interested, this struck a chord with 
me........enjoy, Rik

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"When I started sailing, I thought I only had to learn about my boat, so it 
would take me safely across the sea. But as I sailed, I realized I had to 
know the sea herself. My boat was a walnut shell in the hand of the sea, 
and I was even less.

I learned to love the sea -- but no, that doesn't say it. Before I sailed I 
thought I was afraid of death. Then I learned something, somewhere among 
the islands -- I had actually been afraid of injustice, of being cheated 
out of life, say, by someone who couldn't point his car very well.

On the sea I kept my boat in order and wore my safety harness -- so if I 
was swept away, it was the sea, the sea did it. As a result, as the days 
went by and I faced the risks of sailing, I cared less about death. I only 
had to avoid outright stupidity -- if the sea took me in spite of that, I 
was hers.

Then, one day as I watched the waves, I realized I had surrendered to the 
sea -- in exchange for my knowing her, she could take me if she wished. I 
could have stayed on shore, but that would have been merely waiting for 
death. I had to sail.

Before that day, I believed I could outwit nature, plea-bargain my way out 
of mortality. But I knew there was something I wasn't getting -- I could 
see it in the eyes of animals. When I looked into their eyes I realized 
they knew about death, but they didn't believe they could give it 
directions. I saw a resignation and a fondness for experience that I 
thought proved how stupid they were.

I no longer believe I can save life up -- it has to be spent to have any 
value. And that in order to live, to have adventure, you have to be willing 
to die. The sea taught me this, and turned me inside out -- among her 
swells and islands I became an animal, an inhabitant of nature. You can see 
it in my eyes."
-- Sterling Hayden