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Sacramento, California, United States
so salty pieces of coral from surfing Hawaii in the 60's and 70's getting reef pounded living in my body fall through my skin from time to time!

sailing to Oahu

Jimi Hendrix was playing on Oahu. I had never sailed. Surfed Mexico, California, Hawaii! Aw, how hard could it be to sail 90-110 miles from Kauai to Oahu? Piece of cake, right? Remember it was the 60's! This is so bad. We thought we were looking at Kaiena Point,Ohau, knowing we weren't going to make the concert! But at least we were in site of Oahu-wrong! Coy, who had never sailed before, me,who had never sailed before, jeff and Abbott etc. We were looking at the sleeping giant on Kauai! We had done three-sixty's in the night! We sailed on the only tri-marran I've ever sailed on ( except later ) in my life, missed the concert! It was at the Waikiki Shell Ampitheater ( Moon eclipsed . We finally made Nawilwili Harbor! The Skipper tried to give us his boat saying, " It's trying to kill me"! We watched him go stark raving mad not even realising that had we got caught in the channel current we were on our way to Japan! Remember it was the 60's and we were going to see Hendrix. I left out some of the good stuff but I will make up for it later!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

What Sailing Is

August 1, 2009
What Sailing Is

Captain James Cook didn't start out as a Captain. Think about the time and the world view of his day! He loved his country and his queen. Nothing has changed. Any man or women who decides to sever for ever the tie to land because he has tasted a freedom that only comes once one has felt the release of the tensions that land locks or imprisons a sailor onto! And yet, because you are a sailor you are compelled to always search out the micro and macrocosims of a world that can only be defined by voyagers in ideas who challenge the traditional realities, tilt them, question a status quo until nothing is left but a complete anialation of social mores and taboos that have always allowed a " Gentle Society ", to thrive on the agreements and contracts that any student of history (of the world ) or Human Nature ( sociology, anthropology, psychology, etc )knows only leads to I'm out of here!!!! Captain Cook sailed from England three times and did not have the luxury of the Panama Canal so he did " The Horn"! He didn't have the charts that we have today. Duh! He and his guys created them! What's a compass rose? What is variation? What is deviation? He and the people that sailed with him not only were naming and creating the charts of places that had no names except named by the so-called indigenious peoples that were on these islands or continents at the time of his exploration! Shoot, the Maori's of New Zealand wasted the people that were there before they arrived! What is an indigenous people? England gave Israel back to who? Is a Russian Jew and a Spanish Jew and a New York Jew Isreal? I'm part Indian! Don't ask me which part! No, in all seriousness I have only a few hero's in my life. My dad is one and James Cook is another. The reason is What Sailing Is. It is not for everyone. The Oceans of this world are so vast that there is no desert that even compares to the isolation and vastness, an expanse, a view, a vista, a format of endless possibillities and probabillities. The power, force of weathers, swells so large they defy description, and yet you by the grace of God survive but also thrive on ship, captain and crew. Yes,I have seen people weep when all around was what appeared to be chaos and I also have enjoyed a beam reach with a following sea and a sunset that no painters brush or photographer's lense could have done justice with. Captain Cook defined an idea. He truly went, did and brought the best people to discover what was there to be discovered! They didn't invent what was there! They were excited about new horizons. They witnessed and recorded. I'm telling you now that nothing has changed from then to now. The world out there is as special, original and unique as it was in the day of Cook! What I am writing isn't just about sailing. It isn't for everyone because life is about exploration. I'm not a mountain climber but I sure love to hear a mountain climber tell about his hero's and the mountains he has climbed! So you all go out there! Step away just for a brief moment. Take a deep breath and find a moment where, by yourself, you can look at the moon and realize that without the sun it would be invisable to your eye. It is cold and lifeless and yet reflects in it's endless pursuit the majesty of a continual explosion without which life as we know it ceases. Can you imagine the fear of early sailors knowing that to sail beyond a certain point would sail them off of a flat Earth? I tell you nothing has changed. But it will!
Posted by Robbin

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