Ashore at San Miguel in the Channel Islands


I can’t imagine many who would


“Unshrinking” the Planet


disagree that a bit of adventure isn’t good for them. Adventure is one of those things at the heart of what makes us feel more alive. Adventuring by sea is one of many ways to do this, by living big, full-sized days on your own terms, aboard your own boat no matter how small or humble. Being self-reliant and beholden to no one, even if only for a brief afternoon, is especially sweet in these complex times. These times can overwhelm, with


their blizzard of information overload. When you’ve been out sailing in the REAL world and you come ashore and watch a typical evening news broadcast with all its “If it bleeds, it leads” negativity, doesn’t it make you want to escape right back to sea again? Fresh, salt air is a great antidote to disillusionment and disempowerment. Politicians have been arguing and


There’s never been a better time to go sailing. Maybe it’s because there’s something almost revolutionary in choosing to see the world at five knots instead of fifty, or five hundred. It’s a kind of defiant embrace of the archaic. Learning how to live by your wits on the wind is a poke in the eye of a crowded, hopped-up world that wants you to download the latest version of Stress 6.0. The best part of going to sea is that you never stop learning. No one is ever over-qualified to go sailing.


By Karen Sullivan


fighting for centuries. That probably won’t change anytime soon. Opposing factions will probably never love each other, scandal and intrigue aren’t going away, and bombardment by dense daily doses of advertising, sensationalized news, shouted opinion, and rude behavior will likely continue to assault common sense in intrusive ways unimaginable a few decades ago. The concept that “the world has


shrunk” may be true for convenience’s sake, and the planet is indeed more crowded now, but it’s a very costly phrase in terms of sustaining a sense of wonder. I dislike it because it implies that my horizons have shrunk, too. It’s as if someone went and shrank the world while I wasn’t looking, and, through no fault of my own, I missed something important and irrecoverable. But by choosing to go sailing, I’m reclaiming the awe of big horizons that beckon, the excitement of unknown places to explore, the joy of making new friends in different cultures, and the twin thrills of self-reliance and accomplishment. Self-reliance for a sailor often includes the satisfaction of living more lightly by using less water and less fossil


48° NORTH, DECEMBER 2011 PAGE 28


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