114. Crossing Oceans

I love crossing oceans. Heading towards new adventures on another continent. Long passages give me a feeling of purpose and commitment. I’m on my way somewhere and there is no turning back. You generally pick a departure date that you think will offer the best conditions for the direction that you are going. Not so much for the opposite direction. I can only recall one time when I felt I had to turn around. When Saoirse and Traveller decided that a day beating against wind and currents back to Tonga was better than trying to stay ahead of Cyclone Lola and get to New Zealand. I guess I find the point of no return concept appealing in some way. When there is no point in dwelling on the decision to go. You’re pregnant with it, deal with it!

I usually set off on a long crossing with great intentions of things that I will do or fix. This last time, for instance, I had planned to sand and varnish my cockpit table, make some textile repairs and write a long overdue article that I’ve promised the editor of a magazine. I ended up doing none of that. In fact, I ended up doing nothing at all. At least nothing that I can recall. I only watched or listened to a fraction of what I had downloaded, I didn’t pick up a book and I certainly didn’t start any home improvement projects. And the only person I talked to was myself. I’m happy to admit that I do a lot of that. I tell myself that talking to yourself is a sign of sanity rather than that you’re losing your mind. It usually starts after a few days when I just tell myself what I need to do but it doesn’t take long until it develops into entire conversations where I play both parts. It could start with a ‘bless you’ after a sneeze and a ‘thank you’ in response. After that I could say ‘that’s very polite of you, you don’t hear a lot of that nowadays’ and respond ‘well, that’s the way I’ve been brought up’. Or I could scream at myself when I do something stupid. Like ‘You’d think you’d know better by now! You have opposable thumbs and consider yourself to be a part of a learning species! When the f**k are you going to learn?’. My buddy Mike on Picasso has witnessed this at first hand. He joined me on the crossing from Australia to Indonesia and frequently added to my private discussions. Unannounced and out of nowhere. Something that scared the living daylights out of me when I’d forgotten that I wasn’t alone onboard.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that ocean crossings offer me a rare opportunity to just zone out. To just exist, allow myself to clear my mind and make space for new thoughts, to just focus on the task at hand and, at times, allow myself to just be bored. I’ve never really been into meditation but I guess this is my form of mindfulness.

I’ve just finished an eleven day crossing from Thailand to the Maldives. Technically I’m still in Asia so I only crossed half of the Indian Ocean. But it was my third longest crossing, after the ones across the Atlantic and the Pacific. I don’t have a lot to report from the passage. Other than that it was fairly uneventful and a little slower than expected. I didn’t break anything vital and I arrived rested and ready for new adventures in my new home. A home consisting of 26 atolls and with the highest natural peak, Mount Villingili, standing a staggering 5 meters above sea level. A country where most attractions lie below the same sea level. There will be a lot of snorkelling and diving over the next couple of months. Before it’s time to continue towards Africa. Sail, repair, explore, repeat!