Reflections by Tim

This time I'll take the opportunity to share what I've been experiencing and learning along the way. You have a lot of time to think when you're sailing 1,000 miles. 
First, this is a dream come true, the lifestyle of a sailor has always intrigued and inspired me. I've always talked about going out and hanging a left when I lived in the Seattle area. I love losing sight of land, to see 360 degrees surrounded by expanse. The sense of freedom and wonder is powerful. There were a few days when we were in 3 to 5,000 feet of water offshore, in deep inky blue water with no land in sight at the furthest point over 60 miles out. I spoke with a lifelong commercial fisherman in Oceanside and he said, "So this sailing thing, is it a hobby?" I explained it was a lifestyle. Which took him off guard, "What do you mean a lifestyle?" I said, "When you're sailing you have the freedom of going over the horizon, if you're patient you'll reach a distant shore like Hawaii, Tahiti or New Zealand. Sailboats have unlimited range, while large fishing boats have about 1,000nm range which is only half way to HI." Sailing is the greenest sport out there, you have to take what you get and roll with it. (Sometimes literally rolling for days, rolling and rolling.) But the point being, you don't get stressed about things that happen, or at least you're not supposed to, you just accept and adjust. I love the minimalistic approach to life, what's the minimum power consumption? What's the optimum course to sail? How much water per day do we need? The connection and dependence on the weather. I love it all. 

All the romance aside, it's also very hard at times. When yet another system breaks, you discover a leak, the roller furler gets jammed at night while things are blowing all over the place. I'm up on the bow bouncing in the waves trying to figure out what is happening 45' up at the top of the mast. You're running on 2 hours of sleep in 24 and have to make key decisions. My humanity starts showing! I need to keep my wife safe. Years ago I've been to my limits, I've done a 54 hour day, and multiple 30+ hour days. I've hallucinated due to lack of sleep. Where even the most basic choice is too hard. Once you know your limits, you're not as afraid of breaking and you can go through more. Though it's hard, I still love it all. 

It's not the happy days of sailing on a beam reach at 7+ knots where everything is perfectly balanced that shows you where you need to grow, it's the times where you've reached the end of yourself, the end of where you've been before that matters. The sea is ruthless in its persistence, to press, stretch and test you.

But let's talk about bungee cords and cleats. Really, how do they do it? You can organize a half dozen bungee cords, neatly arranged in a locker, everything in order. Close the door and they start to coil around each other like snakes as soon as the human eye is off them. Reach in for one in a hurry and you will extract every single thing in that locker you never wanted or even knew was in there. Really?!? Then at the moment of frustration, the bungee lets go so rap you in the face or knuckles. Owwieee! Or if you walk backwards with a line in your hand, watching it as it travels over the deck, it will run fairly with nary a tangle. If you dare to turn your back on the same line, it will grab a cleat or anything at all the resembles a cleat and stop you every time. A cleat is a t-shaped device that is genius in its simplicity but really, anything can become a cleat with holds a line with ferocious force at the wrong time. Cleats are much better at night, in fact I feel like I have a 100% increase in cleats on deck once the sun goes down. Our dorade vent is a cleat mostly at night, but really, most of the time it will reach out during a tack and stop the boat. We've learned to just unscrew it when we're sailing to prevent the crisis of a mid tack impingement.

I wonder about entropy when I'm sailing, defined: Lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder. So we're constantly dealing with the thermodynamic law of disorder, I can see the poster with Isaac Newton's face on it "Entropy, it's not just a good idea, it's the law!" Will we have this decline into disorder in Heaven? It feels like 80% of our time is in the process of preventing (really just delaying) things from going wrong, breaking, leaking or otherwise failing. Constant invisible forces are at work on a boat in the ocean. The galvanic series of metals, where in seawater aluminum turns to powder if it's in the water with bronze or stainless steel. The insidious corrosion can sink a boat. Our friends discovered that several bronze through-hull fittings all had a similar corrosion happening and the were very brittle and broke off with little effort. Fortunately they found the issue when the boat was in the yards for maintenance. That is pretty scary. The constant motion creates cyclical loading that causes wear and tear, being aware of chafe or bending is really important. 

For the most part, I feel like a toddler in my life. As we get older we discover we really don't know anything. When we're teenagers, to our parents chagrin, we know everything. I told a couple of my kids, "Write your book now, since you know everything." I've spoken with elderly, wise men and women they conclude the older they get the more they realize what they don't know. I've talked with PhD professors that say, "The more letters after my name the less I know." It's really hard to build your confidence when every day, many times per day you're proven wrong in your assumptions. You need to hold things loosely and have an open childlike mind, where the joy of discovery remains. It's really hard as I am the skipper of this little world we have, my decisions can have a big impact on our safety, being too confident or cavellier will spell trouble or worse, tragedy. Fortunately I have the most amazing wife and partner in this adventure. She is fully enganged and challenges my decisions regularly, mostly with laser-focused penetrating questions, which highlights my poor assumptions. Generally I feel dumb all the time, perhaps that is my new modus operandi. There is a saying, "You can learn something new every day if you start out stupid enough" well, I'm overqualified in that department. 'Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.' So the choice to be humble is mine to make or be humiliated. 

We met a man at church here in La Paz named Milton, who is a very gregarious guy who loves to talk and just may be a genius. He was telling me, "Sailing is fun, but adventure changes you, fun will never change your character or make you grow, adventure will." Then I told him the name of our boat. Adventure defined: a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome. 

Here's to New Adventures! 

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