I Could Be Wrong, But...
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Sailing Alone Around the World
©2009 David Boyne
“… I studied with diligence Neptune's laws, and these laws I tried to obey when I sailed overseas; it was worth the while… And now, without having wearied my friends, I hope, with detailed scientific accounts, theories, or deductions, I will only say that I have endeavored to tell just the story of the adventure itself.”
Captain Joshua Slocum, Master Mariner
Come.
Step aboard.
Let us aweigh all anchors and set sail on an island-hopping voyage of discovery. Our mission? To roughly chart the Terra Incognita of man’s bipolar relationship with the Past. Don’t worry; it won’t take long. Unlike Darwin on HMS Beagle, we’ll be back in time for lunch.
I could be wrong, but in my half-century of sailing experience, I have found there is a World of difference between Looking at the past, and Living in it.
But hold that thought. We’ll sail back to it.
Like every dedicated, self-taught naturalist, I carry with me at all times, as I sail through this wild, wind-tossed world of forms, a notepad and pen. This is why, when suddenly seeing a connection between seemingly unconnected things, I let go of the helm—no matter where I may be sailing—and with great urgency, I write a description of what I am observing, before it darts, soars, or submerges, back from whence it came.
So it happened that on April 11, 2008, while sailing my trusty Volvo on the routine 1.7 mile voyage homeward from the gym, I pulled over not once, but three times, and with great urgency made notes on three startling observations. Each time that I suddenly swerved to the side of the road, the sailor behind me was compelled to perform a complicated evasive maneuver. With one hand they steered hard to port, with the other hand they first blared their vessel’s horn, then communicated with semaphore (waving a rigidly extended middle finger at me), all while cursing like—what else?—a sailor. Satisfied with having assassinated my character, and the character of every ancestor who had sexually transmitted Life to me, they continued on their separate voyage of discovery.
Being an experienced and disciplined naturalist, these distractions did not distract me...
Read the rest of Sailing Alone Around the World in the ebook, Quo Vadis, Dude?
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