The thing that gets me about sailing is the freedom it offers for not just the body, but also the soul. You can't tell me there is any greater way to commune with nature than to lash your body and fortune to the fickle fluctuations of the Earth's atmosphere and pray that God sends you far and fast to a place better than the one you are presently stationed. At least that is what our ancestors thought when they hopped a boat from some perfectly suitable land in favor of going to some other unknown, hostile frontier. That was what brought me to CCB- I was the urban pioneer set out to sail to some hostile land of my ancestors in the hopes that I might return it to some sort of its former glory. I failed in grand achillessene fashion sending my home into foreclosure, my credit into the toilet and nearly losing my life all over a piece of water I wanted to claim for my people.
Fast forward a year later and I am now just awakening from a fitful slumber of impoverished nightmares and the idea of tomorrow is just lightening in my eye. What next?
For starters, I'm a captain and I need a boat. The way a child needs his binky or the way a woman clutches her purse, I NEED a boat. It has so many uses for me- a home, a warehouse, a safety release valve, a revenue source. I really dont know how I made it as a youth without one, but now that I am a man and have lived a few long decades with one, I do not now know how I could ever do without one.
The vessel in question is a 36' 1972 Morgan. Its a go fast boat. Sparse on luxuries like double wide berths and refrigerators, this vessel was built to go between the buoys faster than anyone else on the course. It sports a deep fin keel to go to wind like a champ, a big assortment of newish sails and enough lines to tweek the mast, boom, main and jib so that you could spend a full day tackling a rats nest if one forgot for a second to properly coil a single line. The boat as it now stands is tucked away on a quiet island in the lower Cheasapeake Bay, just outside DC. It has been laying at dock for many moons or so it appears from the moldy running rigging and the rotten cabin sole. MY goal for this vessel will be to bring her back to life and by doing so, bring back to life an idea I long had thought died in me.
The idea was that everyone deserved a chance to enjoy the water. Not just the wealthy or elite, not just the ones whose Daddy's stuck around long enough to teach them port from starboard- the water belongs to everyone. BUT wind is FREE.
I tack that last part on now because that never really occurred to me to be all that important when I was spouting off about no child left ashore. You see at that time, I had never really known about hunger, loss or poverty. I had always had the money to do what I wanted to and to go where I wanted to go. I never was stuck in one place simply because I couldn't afford the gas to go to another. And because I came from such plentifulness, I just assumed it was my role to save the children and tailor a program geared towards the poor kids of the inner city. And it was good. But it wouldn't last because while water belonged to everyone, I failed to recognize that money was the fuel that made it accessible. Water was only part of the equation, money was the fuel to make it accessible- without a means of propulsion, water is just a lovely greeting card to look at.
Money is what makes water accessible- its why pirates hoarded treasure, why nations conquered nations and why certain global leaders think they need to tame the Middle East- Money does indeed make the world go round. But for the true sailor, money is just the incidental element of the craft. A true sailor, uses money, but needs wind. And wind it seems to me is so much more important now that we are in the wake of recession and the age of global warming.
Wind will always be free and sailing will always be freeing. As long as you have a hull, a rudder, a few stiches of cloth and mast, you can go anywhere, do anything and be anyone you want. Does money make it easier- you bet. But do you need it? Certainly not.
The first cromagnon man to feel the breeze and look out across the sea had the capacity to sail. I dare say sailing is older than the oldest profession and even birds, bugs and fish know how to harness it to aid their travel. Sailing is part of our genetic code and while some do it faster or better than others, the act of harnessing wind and water to purposefully go from one place to another is something that predates even the most basic human functions like farming or maybe even fire- we as a species have been doing it that long- so why should it cost us so much more now that we are in our "advanced" state of society?
No, if cave men with dug out canoes and calf skin sails could populate Asia and Europe, why cant we as a people enjoy our greatest natural resource and culturally reconnect with the Seas without the benefit of the almighty dollar?
And why focus on the water, when it is the wind that makes the water accessible to us all regardless of wealth or income? Wind is akin to the breath of God. Wine is the blood, bread is the body, but wind is His breath and while they can lock the gates and charge for parking, they can never charge you for the feel of the wind.
Prisoners in Alcatraz, had no light, no freedom, no friends and nothing to live for, but they did have the wind
every day to let them know they were still alive. I picture Nelson Madela on Robben Island off the coast of South Africa, his face covered in lime dust and his soul under a crush of apartheid, turning to feel the sea breeze winding through a crack in the wall of one of his cells. And certainly Napleon on the Isle of Elba as life left his body, he could feel the breeze mixing with his last breaths. Wind is the the thing that makes broken men breath, new babies quicken and mixes old men's ashes in with the sands of time.
If you hadn't guessed it already, this next evolution will involve the wind. Oh yes there will be plenty of salt, sun and seas, but it is the wind where I plan to put my focus. And the spirit of CCB will once again rise up with its can-do community togetherness and good old American self-sufficiency. The mission will still work to share the sport of sailing with kids, but maybe not so much emphasis on the water and children, and a bit more emphasis on the wind and the children inside all of us. Because after all it is the young child who wanders down to the sea to stare out and imgaine catching the breeze and sailing off to St. Somewhereland. And it is that child and that wonder that will set us all on a course for tomorrow.
Wanna go sailing?
Fast forward a year later and I am now just awakening from a fitful slumber of impoverished nightmares and the idea of tomorrow is just lightening in my eye. What next?
For starters, I'm a captain and I need a boat. The way a child needs his binky or the way a woman clutches her purse, I NEED a boat. It has so many uses for me- a home, a warehouse, a safety release valve, a revenue source. I really dont know how I made it as a youth without one, but now that I am a man and have lived a few long decades with one, I do not now know how I could ever do without one.
The vessel in question is a 36' 1972 Morgan. Its a go fast boat. Sparse on luxuries like double wide berths and refrigerators, this vessel was built to go between the buoys faster than anyone else on the course. It sports a deep fin keel to go to wind like a champ, a big assortment of newish sails and enough lines to tweek the mast, boom, main and jib so that you could spend a full day tackling a rats nest if one forgot for a second to properly coil a single line. The boat as it now stands is tucked away on a quiet island in the lower Cheasapeake Bay, just outside DC. It has been laying at dock for many moons or so it appears from the moldy running rigging and the rotten cabin sole. MY goal for this vessel will be to bring her back to life and by doing so, bring back to life an idea I long had thought died in me.
I tack that last part on now because that never really occurred to me to be all that important when I was spouting off about no child left ashore. You see at that time, I had never really known about hunger, loss or poverty. I had always had the money to do what I wanted to and to go where I wanted to go. I never was stuck in one place simply because I couldn't afford the gas to go to another. And because I came from such plentifulness, I just assumed it was my role to save the children and tailor a program geared towards the poor kids of the inner city. And it was good. But it wouldn't last because while water belonged to everyone, I failed to recognize that money was the fuel that made it accessible. Water was only part of the equation, money was the fuel to make it accessible- without a means of propulsion, water is just a lovely greeting card to look at.
 |
| Morning Light was Disney McSailing Venture that took a few dozen "inexperienced" but otherwise loaded rich kids sailing on a budget busting adventure in high end sailing. Ah making bringing sailing to the masses! Thanks Disney! |
Wind will always be free and sailing will always be freeing. As long as you have a hull, a rudder, a few stiches of cloth and mast, you can go anywhere, do anything and be anyone you want. Does money make it easier- you bet. But do you need it? Certainly not.
The first cromagnon man to feel the breeze and look out across the sea had the capacity to sail. I dare say sailing is older than the oldest profession and even birds, bugs and fish know how to harness it to aid their travel. Sailing is part of our genetic code and while some do it faster or better than others, the act of harnessing wind and water to purposefully go from one place to another is something that predates even the most basic human functions like farming or maybe even fire- we as a species have been doing it that long- so why should it cost us so much more now that we are in our "advanced" state of society?
No, if cave men with dug out canoes and calf skin sails could populate Asia and Europe, why cant we as a people enjoy our greatest natural resource and culturally reconnect with the Seas without the benefit of the almighty dollar?
 |
| The Viking Age, that goes approximately from 793 to 1066 AD built this vessel capable of sailing 75 miles (121 km) in one day and held a crew of about 20 to 30 men. Found in the Mississippi River - See more at: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/usa-viking-ship-discovered-near-mississipi-river/#sthash.XPdTC18j.dpuf |
And why focus on the water, when it is the wind that makes the water accessible to us all regardless of wealth or income? Wind is akin to the breath of God. Wine is the blood, bread is the body, but wind is His breath and while they can lock the gates and charge for parking, they can never charge you for the feel of the wind.
Prisoners in Alcatraz, had no light, no freedom, no friends and nothing to live for, but they did have the windevery day to let them know they were still alive. I picture Nelson Madela on Robben Island off the coast of South Africa, his face covered in lime dust and his soul under a crush of apartheid, turning to feel the sea breeze winding through a crack in the wall of one of his cells. And certainly Napleon on the Isle of Elba as life left his body, he could feel the breeze mixing with his last breaths. Wind is the the thing that makes broken men breath, new babies quicken and mixes old men's ashes in with the sands of time.
If you hadn't guessed it already, this next evolution will involve the wind. Oh yes there will be plenty of salt, sun and seas, but it is the wind where I plan to put my focus. And the spirit of CCB will once again rise up with its can-do community togetherness and good old American self-sufficiency. The mission will still work to share the sport of sailing with kids, but maybe not so much emphasis on the water and children, and a bit more emphasis on the wind and the children inside all of us. Because after all it is the young child who wanders down to the sea to stare out and imgaine catching the breeze and sailing off to St. Somewhereland. And it is that child and that wonder that will set us all on a course for tomorrow.Wanna go sailing?
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