The above picture couldn’t have caught my first thought better! That’s exactly what my mind pictured when I found this week’s prompt in the book “A Pocket-Sized Jumble of 500+ Writing Prompts” by my author-friend Tyrean Martinson. A seemingly endless sea broken only by the sails of a majestic sailing ship. But to be honest, I have never seen anything like this in real life.
When I was nine years old, I found one of my father’s books, an autobiography by German naval officer Felix Count von Luckner, nicknamed Sea Devil, and I was hooked. Not only did he narrate vividly, but I learned a lesson for life: one hand for the ship, one for yourself. I had to grow up, though, to take it less literally. Living in a land-locked area, I always had a penchant for the sea, and that book opened a horizon of possibilities.
Little did I know back then, that one day I would actually find myself on my American uncle’s sailboat, mostly on family turns but also once in a race. Of course, it was not nearly like being on Luckner’s big sailing ships. But the J-30, later the J-36 gave me a taste of what it was to be one with water and winds. In short, I loved it. And I remember waiting on a dock in Boothbay Harbor with my aunt and cousins one day for him to return from yet another race. What a joy to see the spinnakers appear on the horizon and then to spot the design of his!
Later, I spent most of my annual vacations on islands. I consider them microcosms, and they are easy to explore pretty in-depth within a fairly short time. One of my favorite pastimes on a beach or a promenade was and is watching ships passing by, sometimes way out on the horizon. No sails, for sure, but huge container ships and, very rarely, a fishing boat.
While I’m watching these vessels go by, I keep wondering what the crews onboard must be doing as I sit in leisure. They are working hard, always making sure that they are safe in a hazardous environment that could easily turn into a deathtrap. The romanticism of seafaring exists only to a degree and mostly for those who sail for the joy of it – for landlubbers like me, who goes out in a boat for crabbing sometimes but never on such long journeys as those sailors who operate ships professionally.
What they see in return is a strip of land here and another passing vessel there. They are stuck in a microcosm of a few feet and in the companionship of the same people sometimes for weeks or months on end. Another ship on the horizon is just another microcosm of the same kind passing by. It’s the land they must be waiting to reach to attain freedom and privacy whereas we on land deem these sailors to be free out there.
Lovely read!
Thank you so much, Bettina! Happy weekend!
Love your reflection on this. I was introduced to sailing by friends of my parents when I was very young, who took us out on a tiny sailboat, but all I really remember about it is being cold. Later, I starting dating a man (now my husband) whose parents owned a sailboat, sold sailboats at a brokerage, and eventually took me out sailing with their family a few times. My husband and I “helped” the sales brokerage out by “ferrying” a sailboat from Lake Union in Seattle to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, but I found out then that my boyfriend (now husband) wasn’t into sailing. He was much happier on a power boat for waterskiing, so we focused on that in our dating days and early marriage. Later, we took our daughters to see Tall Ships in Tacoma, and learned a bit of what it would be like to live aboard one of the ships from some of the crews. They said they became like found family and enjoyed living life together.
However, as you noted, if you are sailing full time – or boating full time, the boat you live on can face hazardous conditions. My husband had to learn how to fight fires on board ships in the Navy, one of my Uncles sailed to the Galapagos Islands with two friends and faced serious storms on that trip, and even on our little jaunt to Friday Harbor, my husband, friends, and I faced a dead calm and a broken motor which combined to make things uncomfortable for us; my husband and a friend managed to make a tiny motor meant for an inflatable dingy work to get us to shore at 1mph. Without wind, sailing can be problematic especially if you think you are only out for a weekend and didn’t pack supplies for anything longer. The Puget Sound can feel vast and eerily empty if you are without wind, without motor, and there are no other boats in sight. After that experience, I have far greater respect for those who live board ships, and who sail great distances.
Wow, Tyrean! These are incredible experiences! Thank you ever so much for sharing them. And so glad that you made it to shore, safe and sound.