Whenever you're going sailing, regardless of whether you're racing or
just going cruising, a great amount of preparation has gone into it.
Your boat needs constant care and maintenance, you need to buy supplies
and see that everything is in shipshape. In that context, there's the
typical satisfaction in getting a job well done. When you're finally
done with that and head underway, there's the anticipation of adventure,
at least the possibility of one.
When you're done with the preparations, you leave the harbor and
hoist up the sails. You turn off the noisy, vibrating engine, after
which there's no sound except for the wailing of the wind and the sound
of the sea. I always start smiling at that point. The boat speeds up,
starts to list and everything comes to life. At that point, the boat
doesn't feel like a clump of glass fiber or wood with lines, metal
wires, and sailcloth stacked on top of it, but instead like something
truly alive and with a personality of its own. Sometimes it's is in a
good mood, providing a laid-back experience, whereas sometimes it feels
more excited and slightly frightening, going up to the point where it
feels like you're trying to rein in a blood-crazed stallion on some
really bad acid.
You're constantly barraged by an abundance of information, from wave
shapes and currents, wind vectors and sail trim, to the feel of the
rudder and helm and keeping the boat on the desired course, along with a
myriad of other variables. All of these things change constantly, and
you learn to internalize them to the point where reacting to them isn't a
conscious process. It would be impossible to react to them otherwise,
as there are literally thousands of variables at play and going through
them logically is too time consuming; by the time you've gone through
any check-list, the conditions will have changed again. Instead, things
might just somehow feel or look a bit wrong, and oftentimes you react to
such stimuli without even thinking. When you manage to hit that sweet
spot, where everything just aligns perfectly, you feel a strong sense of
elation. At it's best, it's like being in a constant flow-state of
mind, where you lose your sense of self, and the lines between you, the
boat and the prevailing elements get blurred. You feel connected to
something outside yourself, namely the boat and the sea, both of which
have their own will. At that point of realization, you stop wondering
why sailors throughout the ages have anthropomorphized both boats and
the sea.
When you're on the water, you have an unbridled sense of freedom and
opportunity, as you can always continue to see what lies on the other
side of the horizon. Not only do you feel a strong connection to the
elements and nature, but to the entire world. I suppose one could say
that about walking in the forest as well, but it just isn't the same, as
practically every time you're out sailing, someone suggests (mostly in
jest) that "you do realize that we could just point the bow ten degrees
westwards and continue on to the other side of the Atlantic" or
something equivalent. That sense of freedom just doesn't exist on land.
In addition to all of that, somewhat oxymoronically you feel
isolated from everything else. The rules and routines of everyday life
just don't apply in the same way anymore. One example of this is that as
most vessels are small enough to be called cramped, you're in constant
contact with the other people on board. You learn to know those people
well, as being on a boat will inevitably reveal the true nature of your
shipmates. I've seen fights erupt due to absolutely trivial matters, but
more often than that, I've seen everlasting friendships forged through
working together in order to fulfill a common purpose. If you sail long
enough with someone, you internalize their thought-processes as well, to
the point of almost being able to having a telepathic link. The only
time I've experienced something similar is while playing music with
other people.
All in all, to me, it's about being removed from a mundane
environment, feeling fully mentally connected with something else, be it
the sea, the boat or the crew, with a constant state of shared Flow
going on and realizing that everything stated above can take you most of
the way to anywhere on this planet of ours.
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