CONTRAST
CRUISING
Taking a Break from
Paradise
© 2011 Tor Pinney - All
Rights Reserved
Most of us go cruising
for the adventure, the soul-freedom, the zest for life that is too often lacking in our modern society. We
sail
to remote harbors to live simpler lifestyles, closer to
nature and to ourselves, to sample other cultures, bear witness to the ocean's
majesty, and savor our time on Earth. I cruise for all those
reasons, but mostly I just go for the
fun of it.
Cruising under sail is
fun. That's why I’ve spent much of my
adult life doing it, sometimes for years at a
stretch. Aboard my former cutter, Sparrow, I sailed
for 6 years and 30,000 nautical miles with only one winter’s
break to work ashore and I learned something that surprised me. No matter
how good it is, no matter how exotic and challenging and
beautiful, cruising eventually becomes… ordinary. The
routines, the ordeals, the whole lifestyle can get a bit
dull. It’s amazing to say that, let alone to experience it,
but it’s true. After years adventuring in paradise I've caught
myself thinking, “Ho-hum, here’s another living coral reef.
Should I bother to dive on it or should I start another
paperback?” Or, “There’s another perfect, crescent
white-sand beach flanked by palm trees with a hiking trail
leading into the rainforest… yawn.”
It’s like eating candy
all the time. You can only fully appreciate the sweetness of
the cruising life if you have something against which to
compare it. But isn’t this true of life in general? Isn't it
most keen and stimulating when there is some
contrast? Contrast, that’s the key!
People who only use their
boats seasonally, like northern sailors who haul out every
winter, already have contrast built into their sailing
style. But long-term cruisers, those who live aboard
full time and wander as wind and whim dictate, may someday
be surprised to find a certain blandness creeping into their
lives and lifestyle. When that happens it might be time to
consider a change. I don’t mean you have to
stop adventuring or stop having fun, and I'm certainly
not urging you to quit cruising altogether. I’m only suggesting a
temporary change of scene, perhaps an alternate lifestyle to
vary
the pattern.
A lot of cruisers have to
earn money periodically, interrupting their vagabond life
with work stints, and guess what. When they return to the
boat and set sail again it’s like falling in love all over.
Others store their boats in the tropics and return to
northern homes ashore each summer, the better able to enjoy
both worlds. One long-term cruising couple I know secures
their boat in a marina or boat yard from time to time and
takes of on extended backpacking treks,
completely changing their environment and their routine.
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I haven't forgotten the
lesson I learned aboard Sparrow, that endless cruising isn’t
my ideal. So now I’m doing things differently. The
first 3 years with my present boat, the good ketch Silverheels, were spent
in the boat yard doing a stem to stern
refit. For me it was an immensely rewarding experience, and
when it was finished setting sail was a real high. But after 2
years cruising I began to notice that subtle dullness and
lethargy that eventually surfaces when you do anything all
the time, and I knew it was my time for a change. So I stored
the boat on the hard, bought a campervan and hit the road
for the summer,
bound for the mountain forests of the American Northwest.
What fun! |
click to
enlarge
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Now, as I sit writing
this beside a mountain stream deep in the Clearwater
National Forest in north-central Idaho, there’s one thing I
know for sure. When I put the van in storage this fall and get back to Silverheels – and I can hardly wait – I’m going to savor every
passage and every landfall as we continue our cruising
adventures together. And when the time comes again for a
change, as it inevitably will, I’ve got a campervan waiting
out west where the wild mountain forests beckon and
Alaska is just up the road.
It doesn't matter so much
whether you stop to work, return home, backpack through a
new country, or head for the hills in an RV. It's all
good. The trick is to allow some space between cruises so
that each and every one is a highlight. Contrast cruising. That’s
what keeps it fresh and fun.
~ End ~
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