Chew It!
Published: Tuesday, October 22, 2019
By: Bob Bitchin
When you set out on a cruise, it's a lot like any journey. It begins with the first step, or in this case, the first day. One of the first things that a new cruiser has to overcome is that feeling of needing to accomplish something. To cruise and look for results would be sentencing yourself to constant frustration. The only sure reward will be found in the day-to-day life you will be living, not in what the cruise will accomplish.
The amazing thing is, when I look back at some of the voyages I've made, it seems like they were humongous feats. To cross an ocean, to weather a storm; these things, when you look back at them, look like you actually did something. But the reality is, I can recall with vivid clarity many of the single days that ran together to make a specific adventure, and each one was… well, just another day!
Here's a specific: a little trip we made on Lost Soul from Pago Pago, American Samoa, to Christmas Island in the Line Islands. When we left Samoa we knew the winds would not be favorable, but as each day passed the winds increased and moved more and more onto our nose.
Since this passage was the first part of a two-month passage to Hawaii in the North Pacific from the Central South Pacific, we knew we would have to sail as much as possible to conserve fuel. And so it was, day after day for over 900 miles, we sailed as tight on the wind as we could.
The seas were high and choppy and the winds were squally, going from 30-45 knots over the first five or six days. I can recall being hunkered down behind the dodger with the boat heeling over so far that we had to close our sink petcock, as it was filling with seawater and overflowing. Jody would call up to me a couple times a day to run off the wind for a few minutes, so we could open the petcock and drain the sink when we'd do dishes.
I learned a very large lesson on that particular passage. We had been out for a little over a year at the time we did it, and we had experienced some heavy weather and other trials and tribulations, but this one was a real bummer. We knew we would be sailing hard to weather for at least a week. The crossing was not easy, nor was it an enjoyable part of the voyage. BUT (huge word!) had we not done it, we would never have been able to enjoy the day after we arrived on Christmas Island.
I remember waking the morning after we arrived. It had been our first night at anchor in the lee of the island and I remember feeling the pure joy of the day as I walked out on deck and looked at a hundred shades of blue turning crystal clear as it approached the beautiful, white sand beach, and the towering palm trees waving in the breeze. The same breeze, by the way, that for seven days kicked our butts! Had we not attempted the voyage, which was a real possibility, then we never would have lived that day.
The thing that touches me the most – as I sit here years later and look back at that voyage – is the fact that I barely remember the bad days of the trip. Yet, looking back, I can still feel the joy of standing on the deck of Lost Soul watching the white terns glide between the emerald green treetops, and feeling as if I had truly conquered something. For years after that, whenever I would consider postponing a trip because it might be difficult, I would think back to that day.
It's like I always say: you can't do anything about how long your life might be, but the width of that life is what counts. In order to live wide, you must attempt what is difficult in order to obtain what is hard won. Or, as good old Benjamin Franklin once said, "Well done is better than well said."
More recently, I was fortunate to be sitting and listening to Jimmy Cornell talk about a sail he made to Antarctica. It seemed like a formidable voyage, but listening to him recount the adventure, I knew that he was better off for making that trip.
I myself had been planning to take the boat for a little "trip around the Horn" but had decided that maybe I was getting a little old for such things. In my mind, I had decided that maybe I'd just transit the Canal instead. Why tempt the sea gods, right? But, after being reminded of the journey, I have once again taken out the old charts and started to look into just what it might take to "do the Horn," and maybe to take a little side trip to Antarctica.
Difficulties should raise your spirits and not discourage you. I think the human spirit grows strong by conflict. As a wise person once said, "If you bite off more than you can chew, then chew it.”
This article first appeared in the Fall Issue (Sep/Oct) 2019 of Great Lakes Scuttlebutt magazine.
tags: Feel Good Story, Lifestyle, Sailing
