Losing It After 1,000 Days at Sea?

[David M]

Wait until he gets back to the dock expecting massive adulation from thousands of fans and the only person there is a junior staff writer for the National Enquirer offering a hand with his dock lines.

[s/v 'Faith']

I think he is clearly nuts.

I am not sure that is any change from the state he started in.

[Islandmike]

I for one, wish him the best of luck. I think his journey has been a tough one, and I admifre his ability to keep his boat sailing. I look forward to seeing his interviews after he docks. I think nuts may be a bit harsh, however, I do agree that he was probably a rather ecentric person from the start....

[Ram]

Originally Posted by HobieFan

It's a VERY standard Buddhist practice of "mindfulness". These are the phrases that a Buddhist monk would repeat to himself, or imagery he would imagine in order to focus on meditation.

A guided meditation might sound EXACTLY like his post. Having practiced this kind of meditation, I found the post to be really beautiful.

Apparently, others don't agree. That's too bad.

Your Right!!

[Tellie]

A thousand days at sea is something I would have no interest in myself. But how he sees it or what spirituality works for him is fine with me. I don't get scared or even nervous around people who think, see, or believe different than I do. No more than I do around people who think power boats or RVs are better than sail boats. He's no more nuts than the rest of us.

[kevingy]

Originally Posted by sneuman

The 1,000 days at sea guy looks to be edging dangerously close to pulling a Donald Crowhurst.

From what I've read on the guy, IMO, he was already half way to "losing it" before he left the dock. He would have made it all the way if he were at sea or at the local 7-11.

[sec906]

Originally Posted by Lodesman

Didn't Crowhurst start talking to the fish? This guy's gone one better - he's talking to his keel and his GPS. Or rather, imagining he's talking to his keel and GPS

I've talked to my GPS before...talk to my computer all the time...usually cursing at them.

[Reality Check]

Everyone needs to have some "point" to their lives.... he just seems to have picked a rather meanless one.

Being out for 1000 days just to have been out for 1000 days really does not ring my bell or have any level of interest, but heck... to each his own as long as it does not harm anyone else.

[Bash]

you don't need to worry about talking to your keel, unless of course it talks back.

[mbianka]

I've been following Reid every couple of weeks. I'm not so sure he will be fit for land after this voyage. Coming back to his wife, baby (Whaaa!) and all the hoopla is going to be a BIG change from the solitude of the sea. I remember coming back from just a three week cruise in Long Island Sound, Cuttyhunk, Nantucket etc... where we where mostly anchored or on moorings. We came back and docked in New York City and decided to go to restaurant for dinner. A most disturbing experience after only a few weeks of semi-solitude cruising. The noise and the crowd in the restaurant was unerving and that was before I got the bill. I don't think Reid will pull a Crowhurst but, perhaps a Slocum. He will be off again ASAP!

Capt. Mike
THE BIANKA LOG BLOG

[s/v Beth]

He won't be the first one to prefer the ocean to society. That I understand. Communicating with the GPS on a spiritual level- that I don't get. Now if he was talking to his sextant and meditating over his reduction tables...

[sarafina]

Originally Posted by HobieFan

It's a VERY standard Buddhist practice of "mindfulness". These are the phrases that a Buddhist monk would repeat to himself, or imagery he would imagine in order to focus on meditation.

A guided meditation might sound EXACTLY like his post. Having practiced this kind of meditation, I found the post to be really beautiful.

Apparently, others don't agree. That's too bad.

yeah, more often I am checkin in and giving thanks for my daughter finishing her homework, or for my hips not hurting or for some other thing that is central in my daily life, but that is a pretty standard Pranayama Yoga.

and after that long on a boat I can see how it would become an extension of yourself, and how the way it takes care of it's cargo (namely the guy doing his yoga on the deck) would become something to be thankful for.

I have often read and heard sailors refer to a vessel 'taking care of her crew'. You could look at this as a sailor being grateful for that care. Maybe less weird sounding if you put it in that light.

What I noticed is interesting is that after such a long sail he has arrived close to where he wishes to end his journey and is just sort of sailing around, marking time, until the 1000 days are up. I expect that the sharing of his yoga practice on his blog might be related to how he is internally reviewing the experience, and a sort of ramping down of the constant maintenance and task oriented mind set that must have driven the long weeks and months at sea.

A friend of mine, who is from a sailing family and has done numerous long legs of water sailing">blue water sailing (the family boat has circumnavigated 3 and a half times now, with various family members taking legs on it as life and circumstances allow) has often spoken of the mental challenge inherent in long open water passages, and how you must become sort of one with the boat and that the creation of a routine is what keeps you sane. My friend deliberately takes the night watch for instance. He says it allows him mental space while everyone else is sleeping, to just *be*. and the added benefit of having a berth empty when he wants to sleep while they are all up and about their business is a plus as well.But he makes it clear how challenging, mentally, this kind of sailing is.

I can see how a solid yoga practice would help to create that sort of mental stability.

I think that as a 1000 days approaches he must be preparing himself to make the shift back to dirtside, and I expect it will be, in its own way, as challenging as the adjustment to the solitude of his sailing.

[s/v 'Faith']

Originally Posted by Island Mike

... I think nuts may be a bit harsh, however, I do agree that he was probably a rather ecentric person from the start....

Oh, nuts is not necessarily a derogatory term. Some of my best friends (real and imagined) are nuts.

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by mbianka

I've been following Reid every couple of weeks. I'm not so sure he will be fit for land after this voyage. Coming back to his wife, baby (Whaaa!) and all the hoopla is going to be a BIG change from the solitude of the sea. I remember coming back from just a three week cruise in Long Island Sound, Cuttyhunk, Nantucket etc... where we where mostly anchored or on moorings. We came back and docked in New York City and decided to go to restaurant for dinner. A most disturbing experience after only a few weeks of semi-solitude cruising. The noise and the crowd in the restaurant was unerving and that was before I got the bill. I don't think Reid will pull a Crowhurst but, perhaps a Slocum. He will be off again ASAP!

Capt. Mike
THE BIANKA LOG BLOG

Or maybe a Moitessier ... and just keep going!

[Canibul]

I spent a thousand days in Fourchon Louisiana one night....