Captain's Log #18: Reflections and Perceptions

s preparations for this season in the South Pacific get into high velocity and summer comes to an end in New Zealand, I find myself more and more reflective about where we have come and excited about where we are going. Saoirse (she's the boat) and I are 12,000 miles from home, or home as I knew it before 1999, when home became a 52 by 15 foot vessel who has served myself and her passengers exceedingly well. Good friends have come to visit the "land of the long white cloud" and returned to their respective dwellings and their own lives while Saoirse and I are sharing in some much needed time hauled out of the water living "on the hard." This is a yearly routine involving toxic paint, toxic fiberglass, toxic chemicals and toxic banter with all the other yacht owners doing the same.

Part of the toxic banter that comes up again and again is the question "what have you learned?" I find this a complex and potentially philosophical question, two areas of life I attempt to avoid in casual conversation, but I demure:

1. Passages got a lot more fun once we instilled a mandatory tea time every day at 4 p.m. "Tea" being a loose term.
2. Finicky French men make for difficult crew, but lots of hilarity. For example: Serving up a tasty meal in big seas after slaving in the galley for an hour and having the entire thing promptly thrown overboard with but a sniff and comment like, "thees is sheet." Funny now anyway. At the time I thought very seriously about throwing him overboard.
3. I am possibly the worst fisherman on the oceans today. I recently figured out that we have had some sort of fishing implement out for approximately 6 of the 12 thousand miles of our voyage since leaving California in January of 2001. We've caught 6 fish, three of which would not be considered legal in any country but Bolivia, who have no restrictions because they are landlocked. That equals one fish per thousand miles.
4. Sailing around the world using the power of free wind is never free of charge. It's never there when you want it, always there when you don't and it rarely comes from the right direction. And to use it you need a pocketbook bigger than Croesus had. But it sure is fun.
5. Recipe for fun: Buying a car at an auction.
6. Recipe for more fun: Buying a car at an auction with two friends.
7. Recipe for even more fun: Buying a car at an auction with two friends under the influence of Christmas Cheer.
8. Even MORE fun: Bidding on the wrong car. (Come on, it was white).
9. Recipe for buying a decent car: avoid #'s 5-8.
10. "Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all." Not my quote but a good motto for how I prefer to live. A good life, for me has many "moments." Moments which are impossible to define, and can only be experienced through an unrepeatable number of consequences that happen under very special circumstances. We've all had them. You are probably smiling right now as you read this in memory of some magical sunrise, mountaintop peak, pipeline wave, perfect powder day. Here's a snapshot of my favorites this past year:

Gray whales mating in Baja- a humbling and mesmerizing performance...a purple, red, orange fiery sunrise on the equator, 1500 miles from anywhere...swimming with a giant Pacific Manta Ray, touching her remora scars as if in communication with such an awesome, gentle creature...landfalls- all of them...children singing to us in Palmerston...Humpback whales encircling us and singing to one another in that mystic voice...

In about a month Saoirse and I and her new crew head off into more adventures. This year we revisit the Cooks and Tonga and might throw Fiji into the mix before returning to New Zealand for four months of Americas Cup racing. More...moments to be had.