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Meerkat
08-10-2004, 01:53 AM
To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... "cruising" it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

"I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?

-- Sterling Hayden

You wuz warned! ;)

Phil Young
08-10-2004, 10:03 PM
I think he was right. But it takes some strength to follow that good advice.

Matt J.
08-11-2004, 01:12 PM
Thanks, Meer :mad: :rolleyes: . Finally trying to get my head around this ADD thing... and there it goes, wandering again. :D

That's probably one of my favorite pieces of prose, even though the book wasn't as good.

And, Phil, you said it. Seems so simple, but it's just so complicated.

George.
08-11-2004, 03:03 PM
Originally posted by Meerkat:
To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. And here I was thinking that my spit-and-string rigging and no-budget cruising was just irresponsible. I feel better now!

Scott Rosen
08-11-2004, 04:29 PM
To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. The bankruptcy lawyer's credo. I couldn't agree more. The key to a challenging, but satisfying, voyage is to make sure that the financial unrest is someone else's, not your own. :D

Wild Wassa
08-11-2004, 04:50 PM
Players and risk takers will always find reasons why something difficult can be done. Spectators will generally remain spectators.

Warren.

George.
08-11-2004, 05:09 PM
You cast off the mooring line, and it seems you cast off your troubles. You still worry about weather, and that old and worn lashing on the topsail halyard block, and that old battery that is just dying to die on you, and being run down by a carrier doing 30+ knots, but the stressful money and work and debt issues are left at the mooring buoy. You have rope and can tie a new lashing, you can anchor under sail, and if that carrier runs you down, at least you will die quickly, and in nature. You are your own man, in your own boat, the sea is yours, and with luck your woman is beside you, and the wind is behind you.

But when you pick up that buoy again at the end of the voyage it all comes back so fast...

Captain Pre-Capsize
08-11-2004, 07:52 PM
I carry this quote attributed to Mark Twain in my wallet:

"Years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the tradewinds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Edited to add my favorite quote by Goethe:

"The dangers in life are infinite, and safety is among them."

[ 08-11-2004, 08:53 PM: Message edited by: Captain Pre-Capsize ]

Norske3
08-11-2004, 09:12 PM
Hayden was talking about this 'ole man of the sea.....he had a whole lot of strength. web page (http://www.joshuaslocumsocietyintl.org/) smile.gif

[ 08-11-2004, 10:18 PM: Message edited by: Norske3 ]