Sailing, Simplicity and Technology
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler." —Henry David Thoreau
We sailors often like to insist that we have chosen our sailboats because of some aesthetic of simplicity — we're following nature, just blowing along with the wind. But when you look closely at any sailboat, even one based on a design from hundreds of years ago, anyone can see they represent some very complex technology. I must admit, that is part of what I love about sailing: the skill, the art, the secret knowledge.
I am drawn to the ideas and concepts of self reliance and the voluntary simplicity movement. There are days when I feel as though I live on a treadmill set at a pace just above that which I can manage and it takes all my strength to try to keep up. I want to simplify, slow down, savor each day instead of getting whiplash watching them fly by. I like the idea of using fewer resources, leaving a smaller carbon footprint, indulging less in our materialistic society.
So then, how is it I can justify my love and lust for technology? If I believe in simplicity, shouldn't I be a Luddite — against all forms of technology? I don't think so. My inner geek believes there is such a thing as appropriate technology. Is that merely justifying this contradiction? Maybe. But the bow and arrow is technology and it meant that early man didn't have to get as dangerously close to his prey in order to put food on the fire. Today, the Internet can allow telecommuting that will free people from the need to commute on the highway to their workplace — or even allow them to work from a distant anchorage. New battery technologies, solar panels and wind generators can allow cruising sailors to put fewer hours on engines and generators. Ebooks don't require paper mills, printing presses, ink or trucks to transport them across the country. And on a dark night's passage at sea, how I would live to have AIS, GPS, electronic charts, and radar.
Okay, but my iPad? Appropriate technology or rampant consumerism? Given my work as a writer, blogger and online teacher, it has saved me this week. Last Saturday, I moved my boat back to my super-cheap annual dock at the condo complex where I cannot live aboard, and I moved myself and Chip, the Intrepid Seadog, into a tiny studio not much bigger than my boat. I intend to be a land lubber for the next six months — which is a necessary evil or I will lose my slip. I have been trying to get Internet in the studio here for a week, and I learned tonight it's now been rescheduled for Wednesday. My iPad has been my sole connection at home for student emails, and tonight I intend to post this blog, photos and all, via the iPad. This lovely piece of technology has made my life simpler. And I can't wait to take it with me in the direction of my dreams.
Fair winds!
Christine