Friday, April 6, 2007

Passage making and fear

06 01 S
102 46 W

This ocean passage is sometimes referred to as the coconut milk run. The idea is that if you drop a coconut in the ocean off the coast of South America and give it enough time it will end up in French Polynesia. The current is pretty consistent and the trade winds are prevalent. Blue sky sailing all the way.

I have to say that I am not generally a fearful guy on land and I haven't been on this trip as a rule. This isn't a lack of respect, but just not nail biting mortal fear day in and day out. When a big swell buries one rail and then the other or a wave curls against the side of the boat, spraying everything in its wake, it is not fear but a sense of exhilaration and a feeling of being alive that I feel. With wheel in hand at a dead run with 35 kts of wind at your back feels a bit disconcerting, but in the end its just good times. (One exception: the heads kind of scare me)

During a pretty fierce electrical storm when lightning strikes about 3 miles behind you at 4:00am, with a sound that you can feel in your eyes; I know fear. I have briefly witnessed the intense sense of isolation and insignificance that I've read described in every sailing story out
there. Barely scratching the surface of the power that is all around me, I am gaining a deeper respect for the ocean and sailing that is growing each day.

This may be a statistically easy ocean passage and there are plenty of places that have a better chance of biting me in the ass. Maybe if had been nothing but a 1000 shades of blue with strong, persistent, favorable winds with nice predictable swell and dancing mermaids for 20 days then I might also agree that this is nothing more than a milk run. However, with my limited experience of such things, I can only attest to the fact that this has not been a walk in the park on my part. From any aspect; including the physical, emotional and technical. I don't think that I need anything more "hard core" than this right now in my sailing career. The Capes can wait, possibly for ever.

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