I can scarcely believe tomorrow is the last night aboard
Conversations. I have been aboard since September 2014 in Turkey, and Irena
since early October. Since leaving Marmaris, on Oct 4th, Irena, ourvarious
crew and I have sailed over 13,000 nautical miles. WOW!
In that 7 months we crossed the Mediterranean, the Atlantic,
the Caribbean and a chunk of the Pacific Ocean. Tonight the boat tugs gently at
her mooring lines in Kewalo Basin in Honolulu, but at this very nav station, day
and night over the past 7 months I have hung on with my knees as we pounded
to weather, sweated out the tropical heat of the equator – twice - and passed a
30 day, 4800 mile passage of the clipper ships from Galapagos to Hawaii. In
all, over 100 days at sea.
How do I make sense of such a time, of the many, many
countries and harbours along the way, the hours and hours alone on night watch,
of the many meals and happy hours shared in the cockpit, the expectant departures
and the safe landfalls, the storms and the calms, the heat and the cold, the
wet and the dry, the breakages and the repairs, the laughter and the tears?
Firstly, it is with gratitude. To make it so far across the
wild oceans and customs/immigration tar babies with everyone and everything intact
is good fortune indeed. The truth of our survival, notwithstanding all the possible
calamities that might have overtaken us, confound my feelings of unworthiness.
Second, it is with wonder. The world is so vast and we are
so small. To pass safely over such vast stretches of open water, free and alive
in life and will, is most fantastic and incredible. To experience so much of this magic kingdom has
filled me with awe.
Third, it is with humility. In this sail, I have
seen up close and personal how we are nurtured and sustained in life by the
earth’s thin skin of habitable biosphere. That delicate wisp between land and ocean,
surface and sky. I see more now how nothing could ever be more precious to us
as living organisms. Yet, I see how I regarded
it once with such indifference. I see how our civilization shows so few signs of waking to this unconsciousness and so
many signs of callous disregard.
Let me take a moment to remember and thank all those
wonderful friends and family that shared this journey with us:
Across the Mediterranean: Barb – Irena’s sister and Ellen
a good friend – no easier going crew is there to be found anywhere.
Down the African coast to the Canary Islands: Anastasia – Irena’s niece – no more
adventurous a spirit has been aboard.
Across the Atlantic from the Canaries to Antiqua: Lyle – my friend and music mentor - no
more vigorous or committed a friend; Mitchel
– resident music expert – No better music DJ ever sailed with us; Willie – Mr. fix it guy – no more handy
a man has ever sailed (remember guys, if the girls don’t find you handsome,
they better find you handy!).
Through the Caribbean:
Breanna – my daughter
– no more loving and committed traveler has ever sailed with us.
Al and Leona –
our dear friends – no more generous people live on the planet. At the risk of sounding faint of praise - because
no land lubber will ever understand – we thank them for their gift of new heads
(toilets) forward and aft. They are appreciated daily, even hourly!
Jenn, Anglin and Juna
– Irena’s daughter and 2 grandsons. No greater kid energy can be found, for exploring,
for learning to snorkel and spit out salt water, for soaking up all the boat ‘terminology
and parts’; and no greater determination on Jenn’s part to give her children
the experiences of a lifetime.
Michael and Hane –
no more intense, rich and true friends could be found.
Panama to Galapagos: David
and Sandey – no more personal and helpful conversationalists have ever
sailed with us.
Galapagos to Hawaii: Dennis
and Rita – our friends and compatriots in hard sailing and long passages; Trevor – no faster or determined
learner ever sailed so far without complaint.
Know
that we could not have made it so easily without your company and the
richness you all bring to our lives and to our adventure. Thanks for joining.
Tomorrow is my 60th birthday. I had my 50th
birthday 10 days after we left Vancouver to start this trip. Yes, it’s been over
10 years that Irena and I have been on this adventure. What are the highlights?
Sailing the South
Pacific twice – first in our first boat, the Westwind 35 sailing to
Australia, then again in the Oyster Lightwave 48, our now “Conversations”. We LOVE the South Pacific!
Completing a
circumnavigation - We didn’t set out to sail around the world, but we did. You
might even say it was an ‘accidental circumnavigation’. We set out for
Australia in our first boat - that was as far as our plans and our budget would
take us. Who would have guessed? (We still have one passage left before we are
home to Vancouver, but our circumnavigation is complete).
Working in Asia,
based in Singapore – Our professional lives made a giant leap. This is not
what we expected while sailing to Australia or around the world. We both now
have global professional practices, very different from the Canadian ones we
left with, and even though we will be living in Canada for a while, we expect
to continue working internationally.
Working and living in
Istanbul (Irena) and China (Cress): Being
in Turkey, was the closest to living in Europe that we have had – and it was
excellent. The food, the culture, the people were all amazing. Cress in China
had an awesome work experience – so great that he is going back for another
tour of duty!
Irena – the importance
of family and friends – Over the 10 years of being ‘away’, I have grown to
appreciate our good friends and family and have missed tremendously. From
watching my grand-children, to having Sunday dinner with mum, to sharing meals
and intimate conversations with our children and friends. It will be so good to
be back home.
Cress - Global
consciousness and concern – Exposure to so many countries, cultures, political
systems, failing environments, etc. has really cultivated a hunger in me to
understand how it works and how I can reconcile a personal life as an
individual with my responsibility as a member of this global system. My new curiosity
has me reading history, historical anthropology, politics, economics, and
science fiction trying to find some answers for our teetering global
circumstance. I persist despite the seeming
futility of the challenge ;-)
Let me end this blog entry on a thought to this last
highlight:
Sailing around the world has been a visceral experience of
the one-ness of our circumstance. I believe if we breathe the air and eat the
food of this earth, we have a personal responsibility for its care – a ‘duty of
care’, if you like. If we are conscious of this truth, the happy coincidence is
this: working for the planet is working for our own wellbeing, not just
physically, but emotionally and spiritually. If we are conscious, we will
always feel out of integrity if our actions are out of accord with this duty of
care.
So that’s where we start – creating consciousness. (This is
probably not a surprise to most of you, but it’s a new learning at a new level
for me, from sailing around the world!)