Song of the Sirens

Ernest K. Gann:

One of the greatest blessings the oceans bestow upon man is a sense of everlasting permanence. The oceans do change, but they take their time about it and a thousand years is only an interval. Time apparently stands still for the oceans - and the play of liquid, the sounds and scent of salt air, and the inhabitants are basically the same as they were long ago. Thus modern man needs the oceans more than ever, for the minute slice of earth upon which he dwells changes constantly and sometimes overwhelmingly. 

Where is the house of my childhood? Where is the building in which I found my first job, the church in which I was married, the park where the team played, the fields where we used to hunt, and the ponds where there were so many fish? Torn down, burned down, occupied by a shopping center, laid out in a housing development, polluted - all changed since only yesterday. 

This is very hard on a normal man's deep yearning for stability. Many simply cannot endure such accelerating progress and try desperately to lose themselves in nostalgia or hurl themselves into personal tragedy. Familiarity with the oceans can do much to reassure that part of us which instinctively fears change.

Today the seasons changed over Sozadee. 

Saturday was balmy and becalmed. Late in the evening there was a hint of a Santana. The morning dawned with a brisk 30+ knot northerly. Off Ledbetter beach there were two large yacht races scheduled. In my race, out of the usual 22 boats, only three started and none finished. Before the day was over, crews were in the water and in the hospital. My circumstances, age and injuries, kept me far from the cusp of making the wrong decision. I called the team early to cancel.

In the past, I've always said it always pays to under-estimate adverse sea conditions and sail because your scores in any series will put you in the silver over the faint-hearted crews. Currently? I'm trending toward caution.

And today? I took my banged & bruised sorry old ass down close to the water, but kept it dry. Ballou had the same idea.