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sailing a spiritual experience

2K views 20 replies 17 participants last post by  JonEisberg 
#1 ·
I have asked this question on other fora

I myself do not believe in the hairy man in the sky

I am an ag engineer who has ended up as a hack and a cameraman

but sometimes while sailing solo I have been so overcome with the perfection of the physics and fluid dynamics going on around me and this miraculous organic machine that I get close to having a spiritual experience

I can feel a blog coming on and would welcome your thoughts

Dylan

PS I did pose the same question on a mobo forum and was told that I was a bit of prat (I paraphrase for the sake of brevity and decency)
 
#2 ·
I think most of us have a religious need as part of our human nature, and look for something to fill it. Thus all the searching.

For me it was and is religion. For others it could be the beauty of nature, or of the precision of science, reflected in what we see, hear, and feel. Sailing is likely one of those reflections.

This is as complicated as my thinking gets.
 
#3 ·
I think everyone has their own reaction of sailing, nature, beauty, etc. Here is a non-theist Quaker's thoughts (not my words):

As 24 year old George Fox sat by the fire one morning in the Vale of Belvoir, he wondered if "All things come by Nature." I would reply, "Yes, they do and what a marvelous world it is!" I love nature above all else. The world known to our senses and the inferences we draw by reason and intuition are enough for me. Our intimations of the divine, our spiritual natures, our creative insights and the urge to love - these all exist and are important, but they are natural phenomena, they are humans responding to their environments.
 
#4 ·
Hey Dylan, nice to see you, so to speak.

This comes down to the old "I'm not religious but I am spiritual" discussion which we won't go into here cos the thread will end up banished to Off Topic.

However, even the hardest of hearts, in the most cynical of rodents cannot but be moved by the wonders we see around us. I look on this in the same way I can be moved by music, the written word, film, naked women and small fluffy animals. Not I hasten to add all at the same time.

There are of course few things more likely to stir the inner self than being on board a boat, camping out in a wilderness or simply sitting on a beach at dawn. On a boat it can be dawn breaking after a wild night at sea, dolphins playing in the phosphorescence as you drift through a dead calm sea or sunset in a perfect anchorage. For us, all that in the last few weeks and a boat is a damn fine platform for such reverie. Belief in sky pixies, not necessary.

Cheers DW.

Andrew B
 
#5 ·
Sailing can sometimes we incredible. Had a remarkable experience approaching South Africa last year. After a miserable night, dark as the inside of a cow, raining, winds to 40 knots, it cleared with the dawn and the winds dropped to 25 to 30 on a broad reach. We spotted land and had the remarkable realization that we had crossed the Indian Ocean and were looking at Africa - could almost see the elephants and lions from ten miles away. We were in the Agulhas Current which helped us average about nine knots - and then the whales appeared. We saw a pod of right whales and then half dozen humpbacks in mating rituals including jumping put of the water. June and I looked at each other and didn't have to say anything - it didn't get any better than this.
 
#6 · (Edited)
When I am sailing and everything is just right, I am at one with nature (the wind and the water) and the boat. The only thing that matters is the moment.

For a guy with a history major as an undergrad and future studies as a grad, that is exquisite. The past and the future get lost for a while.

BTW - read my signature.
 
#8 ·
I certainly expect it would be spiritual to many, both in times of perfect weather and in the middle of nature's fury. Perhaps it is the sense of harnessing the immense power of the wind and sea, but knowing that at any moment Mother Nature can turn the tables most viciously. Or perhaps for some the sense of "oneness" with the world around us that many seek. When you complete your blog post please come back and share the link.
 
#12 ·
will do

gonna think this through - so many great perspectives from my fellow sailors

it is good to know that I am not alone if occasionally becoming overwhelmed with the glory of the experience

Incidentally I did ask some moboists - they just didn't get it

the blog is a work in progress

but it is here

sailing as a spiritual experience « Keep Turning Left
 
#9 · (Edited)
Sailing at night under a sky filled to the rim with stars.

Sailing at night with lightning crashing around 360 degrees.

Watching the first glow of the coming sunrise lighten the horizon.

All these big obvious sailing moments can inspire, if not spiritual or religious feelings, at least a reminder of our relative size and importance in the universe.

But then, so can the smaller moments: ghosting along on a sunny afternoon, in light winds on a bay full of sunlight sparkles. Those subtle moments, when the wind that moves your boat isn't massive and obviously powerful, but almost unnoticeable and yet your sails still move you, are simultaneously easier and harder to comprehend. That is where the real magic happens.

Dylan, my colleague Sarita Suzanne at Monkey's Fist is looking for blog posts about the singlehanding experience, may I give her your link? The Monkey's Fist: Collecting Cruisers' Perspectives: Going It Alone

Edit: Oops, sorry, looks like she was posting while I was composing - great minds, and all that.
 
#10 ·
Stop once in a while and look around...everyday you can have what could be defined as a "spiritual" experience in my opinion. The water does make it easier to see the bigger picture sometimes though;)
 
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#16 · (Edited)
Yeah, that's at the heart of it, for me... The 'spiritual' aspect of sailing is definitely heightened when out of sight of land, and particularly at night, when shore-based light pollution is eliminated... When it's just you, the boat, and the 'everything' around you is reduced, as much as possible, to NOTHING...

And, when you become as much as one with that Nothingness as one can be on a small boat at sea... I think with all of today's modern trends, sailing is becoming somewhat less "spiritual" in this regard, for most... For example, I was struck in the thread on CA how many people mentioned the magnificence of sailing offshore at night, beneath the stars, or a bright moon... And yet, the increasing popularity of stuff like full cockpit enclosures that further insulate and separate us from our surroundings continues, unabated... Go figure...(grin)

It's no coincidence that modern gadgetry such as electronic navigation has diminished the magical/spiritual aspect of sailing to a certain degree... Finding your way to a place like Bermuda has become little more than Plug-n-Play, entirely different than the reliance upon the geometric interplay of sun and stars and time... It's no surprise, that there are far fewer Moitessiers out there, today...

As for me, I lost forever whatever modicum of religious belief or faith I might have had after my father died when I was 12... But, I never feel closer to him than when I'm at sea, under sail, with nothing between me and the heavens above...

'Nuff said...
 
#14 ·
There are times when I feel this very strange euphoria. It is hard to explain but it has warmed me on the coldest of days. It does not always happen when I sail but if "things" are lined up well enough it feels intoxicating. Literally, intoxicating. I just know that at that point I am exactly where I need to be and doing exactly what I should be doing. Again, very hard to explain.
 
#15 ·
I just feel better when I'm on or around the water, and this time of year I really miss it.
 
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#17 ·
Jon

Technology has created a separation between humans and nature.

It is hard to feel at one with the boat when the autopilot is on; I don't even like the sound they make.

I have mixed feeling about the moon. On one hand I will always remember trimming the spinnaker in the light of a full moon on the last leg of the 2007 Van Isle 360. Nor will I forget laying in the cockpit last summer in the mid Pacific watching the Perseids meteor shower with no moon in sight.
 
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#19 · (Edited)
I do a bunch of different outdoor things and am LUCKY enough that my wife is able to do them with me other than the bicycle



Be it a relaxing day sail



And epic hike up a difficult peak



Or a race that takes complete and total effort we completely turnoff any outside distractions and LIVE that moment



There is still nothing better in life than taking a child sailing



A few hundred mile race with your friends is a close second :)
 
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