Across Islands and Oceans

by James Baldwin

“Why go against the wind to certain islands if there are some equally beautiful ones to leeward?”

There is no solace for us, For such as we, Who search for some hidden city We shall never see … Instead there is only the road, The Dawn and the Wind and the Rain And the Watchfire under the stars, Then sleep… And the road again.

There is something about the hard physical effort to gain a summit that restores the spirit of a man – and being alone, no one can dilute the experience.

I continued looking aft, feeling oddly like my stay there had all been a pleasant dream from which I was slowly awakening.

I indulged my thoughts, as a disciple of Thoreau, somewhat out of step with the majority of society and feeling the better for it.

Everything can be found at sea, according to the spirit of your quest. -Conrad’s “Mirror Of The Sea”

A sailor will go to sea again and again because the accumulated burdens and distractions of shore life seldom satisfy our genetic desire to roam through the world, experiencing nature one-on-one. At sea our expectations dwindle to the essentials and the immediate: are the sails trimmed and the boat on course, will we clear that reef off the bow, is the squall on the horizon heading our way?

a sailor..