Dreams fulfilled, sailors return to an unsteady terra firma
Issue 111: Nov/Dec 2016
Odysseus, I was recently reminded, eventually got so fed up with his sea travels that he wanted to walk inland carrying an oar on his shoulder. When someone asked what the thing on his shoulder was, he’d stop and make that place his home. Or so the story goes. I’ve also heard tales about carrying anchors inland until they are no longer recognized. Having raised many anchors manually, I would choose to carry the oar.
All world cruisers eventually come home from the sea. It’s understandable. No matter how luxurious a cruising sailboat may be, long-term cruising brings associated hassles and discomfort. Living in a small space. Limited storage. Bureaucracy and paperwork. Availability of groceries. Obtaining fuel, water, and other supplies. Climates that are too hot. Or too cold. Rolly anchorages. Doing laundry. Making repairs in exotic places. Longing for a hot bath or a luxurious shower. We can all deal with some hassle and discomfort some of the time. But having to launch a dinghy and land it in the surf just to go ashore can get tiring. Waiting to for a necessary boat part to be cleared through customs is like being held hostage. The ongoing combination of these small things can make any sailor weary.
Yet I have long thought that to experience the most remote and beautiful locations, one must earn that opportunity, perhaps with a long or uncomfortable passage or months of excessive heat, bugs, or breakdowns. After all, if getting there or staying there wasn’t somewhat arduous, would that location be remote and beautiful? In the end, we all must invest in some way to achieve our dreams. That is perhaps the nutshell definition of the human condition. Achieving any dream comes with some cost, and that cost is more tolerable to some than to others. What is worthwhile is never easy or free.
But when the dream is over, it’s time to come home. Some plan for this eventuality. Some are surprised by it. Lin and Larry Pardey planned for it. They frequently said they’d continue cruising as long as it was fun. Before they’d been under way very many years, they chose a home base on New Zealand’s Kawau Island and invested a lot of time and money in improving that site for their future. They are ashore now and Taleisin has new owners.
The Pardeys are just one example. Many legendary cruisers have gone around the world once or twice — or as Jerry likes to say, around in the world — for a few years or many years before putting down roots . . . sometimes back where they started, sometimes in a place along the way that called to them.
I am completely understanding when a cruising couple or family decides they have been there, done that, and will welcome a change, even though the transition back to land is often an unpleasant shock. When salty sailors come home from the sea, remember that they are not abandoning their dream. They have lived it.
Jerry says he won’t cruise without a shop at home to support all those modifications and repairs that a sailboat inevitably requires. I say it’s nice (OK, it’s mandatory) after many weeks aboard, to return to the comforts of home. Both of us agree that we breathe easier when we’re warm and dry and secure in a house that can withstand a blow and won’t drag anchor. Perhaps we coastal cruisers have the best of both worlds. We come home from the sea when we need to, we return to the sea when we need to. We’ll never be driven to carry an oar inland.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
