May 5th Moon Paddle

May full moon paddle

two friends, myriad bat rays,

coyote, osprey.

Quotes

 A 70 year-old wooden 110 keelboat sailing in Tomales Bay out of Inverness Yacht Club

Two quotes have been rattling around in my head of late. The first is by E.B. White, my favorite American essayist who shared my obsession with sailing:

"If a man must be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most. A small sailing craft is not only beautiful, it is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble." -- E.B. White

The second passage, this one by Joseph Campbell, points at something I suspect is true:

People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life...I think that what we're really seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on a purely physical plane will have resonance within our innermost being and reality, so that we can actually feel the rapture of being alive. --Joseph Campbell

The experience of being fully alive is available everywhere, of course. For me, it is readily accessible while sailing a boat moving in the confluence of flowing wind and water.

There's nothing obviously meaningful about sailing; it's simply exhilarating beyond measure.

25,200 Seconds of Bliss

Look! The shore on the right is the Pacific Plate.
The shore on the left the North American Plate.
The water is covering the San Andreas Fault.

Nothing—absolutely nothing—concentrates my mind so naturally as sailing my Laser on Tomales Bay.

It's a multi-sensory extravaganza. Eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind. Stunning visual beauty surrounds me as the Pacific Plate bumps against the North American plate along a flooded section of the San Andreas Fault, all of it protected as part of our National Seashore. The Laser sailboat adds a symphony of sounds, a Concerto for Winds and Waves. The salt air is scented sweet with Bishop Pine and sharp with seaweed. I taste the tang of this hyper-saline sea as I hold the mainsheet in my teeth, my third hand when one hand holds the tiller as the other takes in more line. The boat rocks, pitches, and rolls, especially when the wind kicks up. Mind. Laser sailing keeps my mind in the present moment. If I wander away mentally for even a second, the boat calls my attention back to sailing by heeling over or chattering the main.

Best of all, there's company. Human company, yes, and—thanks to the National Seashore—none of it on Jetskis. Kayaks, fishing skiffs, and an assortment of sailing dinghies. And the company of animal friends: jellyfish, Halibut, Herring, Pelicans, Seagulls, Bat Rays, Seals, and Sealions, Leopard Sharks, and ominously occasionally, Great Whites patrolling the mouth of the Bay. Really. I've seen them all except the GW.

It's all part of the wonder, mystery and present-moment suchness that is sailing on the Bay.

Here's less than 90 seconds of the fun I got to have yesterday--



Enjoy!!!

Feeling 30 years Younger

With the school year just a long weekend away, I wanted to do something to make myself feel young, footloose and free...so I went sailing.

I don't sail a boat made for men my age—oh, no.

I sail a Laser! Lasers are intended as a young man's first real racing sailboat. I bought this one 30 years ago, when I was a young man. Sailingwise, I just never grew up.

When I go out on it, the years drop away like magic and I feel 27 again.

I sailed over to my favorite secluded beach on the protected western shore and had a nice lunch.


When having lunch I tip my boat on its side to keep the rocks in the sand from scratching the bottom of the hull. It also keeps the sail quiet.

I was all alone. I enjoyed a sandwich, some bean salad, and a smoothie I made at home.

Then a visitor came to share my lunch spot with me.



After lunch, the sailing gods turned the wind up full blast—a steady 20 knots with more than 30 knot gusts. It blew me back into my launching beach. All the regular sailboats disappeared from the bay.

The only guy out there when I left at 4 PM was this windsurfer.

Tomales Bay

All covered up from the bright sun

Ted

Got a chance to paddle with Ted on Tomales Bay this morning.

Very calm and quite warm for Tomales. We launched from a new spot along Highway One, a turnout a little ways south of Nick's Cove. We paddled down to Cypress Grove and then went across the Bay to Marshall Beach. We paddled along the western shore until almost Hog's Island before crossing back to the eastern shore.