Why did you run away to sea?

[Eben]

While I can see many reasons for why a person would want to run away to sea, I was hoping some of you would share some of the reasons that you personally had for running away to sea.

I know the obvious answer is: Why not? Surely there's some entertaining stories to be told here!

Oh and if this thread has been done to death just ignore it.

[FollowingCs]

Uh...... I'm trying to run TO the sea... not running 'away' from anything. Always been drawn to it. There have been books and poems written about this, much more eloquently than most of us will be i'm guessing.

~ Following Cs ~

[Eben]

Apparently everybody who goes to sea "runs away to sea" at least that's what a wise sage once told me.

I'm not looking for elegant well written and thought out poems or books. I'm looking for real people and real experiences. I bet almost everybody has got a story to tell, but they might not think it's worthy of a book...

[Capt Phil]

Quite simple... My stepfather kept beating the **** out of me and I figured if I was at sea, he'd never find me! I was right... Phil

[gamayun]

A story, huh? I was a high school drop out at 15, a mother at 18 and a biologist at 24. Crawled my way out of poverty and always had a jar on the counter that was called "the boat fund" that my son would roll the coins every several months so he could have a few dollars in spending money. Took many years to get son on his successful way and myself to the point where I could spend money on a sailboat. Took three years of planning to buy the one that could be all things: easy to sail as a newbie, good for racing, platform for diving, and a comfortable home to cross oceans. I've always been a wanderer and had always talked about back-packing Europe, joining the Peace Corps, living on a deserted island; when I was 12, I convinced my mother to let me wall paper my bedroom in a beach scene with only a single palm tree to break the monotony of blue sky and white sand. Though I have since traveled the world for my career and as a tourist, I am now close to slipping off the comfortable edge of "settled life" and going walkabout.

[laika]

At 32, I'd like to think so far I've gotten a taste for good number of different things. Mountain living, farming, long term relationships and something resembling a career. Right now, there's nothing I'd rather be doing. I consider myself one of the lucky few who, on my own terms, has actually gotten the chance to do it. Cruising is a wonderful way to live and see the world. The people and places you see you could not find any other way. And in some ways, it's the last true bastion of freedom and discovery one can experience on this planet.

"To see new things, and live day to day, is better than wine or poppy, and fitter for a man." (Theseus)

[Bertie68]

Originally Posted by FollowingCs

Uh...... I'm trying to run TO the sea... not running 'away' from anything. Always been drawn to it. There have been books and poems written about this, much more eloquently than most of us will be i'm guessing.

Yeah, it's something unexplainable. I fit just in the 'wannabee' category for now; I learned when I was 14. Then I got an inland skipper license in Poland 15 years ago, but never had a chance to sail again until this last summer in Italy... and heck, after that I've found myself thinking all the time about how to get a boat, to the point I sometimes think it must be some kind of obsessive mental disorder.

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

Sea fever, by John Masefield

[FollowingCs]

Originally Posted by Eben

Apparently everybody who goes to sea "runs away to sea" at least that's what a wise sage once told me.

Per usual, I'm probably doing it wrong then... my plan is to get the frac out of Ohio and get to a liveaboard status somewhere near salt water, preferably warm but Chesapeake isn't out of the question yet. I won't get to 'run away' for another 7 or 8 years.

~ Following Cs ~

[Eben]

Originally Posted by FollowingCs

Per usual, I'm probably doing it wrong then... my plan is to get the frac out of Ohio and get to a liveaboard status somewhere near salt water, preferably warm but Chesapeake isn't out of the question yet. I won't get to 'run away' for another 7 or 8 years.

~ Following Cs ~

I don't really think there's a right way to do it, it's either do or do not...

I'm after the reasons why people do...

Some great replies so far! Keep 'em coming!!!

[Canibul]

I've always been aware of being water. Some of my earliest memories are of shucking my clothes and running down the wet beach at the waterline along the Texas coast at Padre Island National Seashore. I remember stamping my feet on the wet sand at night and seeing it light up from bioluminescence. My parents tell me that summer I was 3. My family were boaters, and my mother says I was swimming before I was walking. My favorite television show was Sea Hunt. An ex-Navy UDT friend of my fathers taught me to SCUBA dive when I was 12, using an old Healthways double hose regulator. I swam, surfed, and dove my way around the world. My career was in oceanographic surveys, and mine countermeasures and ROVs and sonars and sub bottom profilers, and I spent over 30 years working on or under the ocean.

Now I'm retired. I live on an island in the tropics. My wife and I moved onboard a 30 ft. sailboat we're refitting here, and put our house overlooking the ocean up for sale. I can fall asleep underwater.

Why this ocean thing?

I have no idea why. It just is.

[sharkbait]

When construction cratered in 08 I had nothing better to do. Sooo. I flew out to Frisco and bought a boat
Then taught myself to sail while refitting it, 18 months and several beers later I was on my way to Mexico.
Its a good way to have fun and keep life pleasantly interesting for not too much money.

[s/v Beth]

For peace and solitude. It hurts to see people tear each other up. Sometimes I am just so sad, and I don't understand why there is so much anger. A quiet anchorage refreshes me, reminds me of the beauty of this life.
It really is a beautiful world.

[valhalla360]

Every person I've met who "ran away" is miserable because the grass isn't any greener (sea isn't any bluer?)

It's usually pretty easy to pick out those running to something and those running away.

[Pelagic]

Once I found out I could hold my breath under water almost twice as long as anyone else.....Well...it just seemed logical....

Seriously, I just knew that I had this natural affinity with the Sea, above and below, so decided to make a career out of introducing watersports to people who could reward me well for just doing what I love.

Incidentally at age 5, I decided on 2nd day of school to avoid running "to" or "away" from other people's rules....to simply just follow my own.

[Hudson Force]

"running away to sea".... I've met those that have run away,- from a failed marriage, from a job they hate, from a government that they blame, from depression, from boredom, from the "rat race", from the crowded city....

I have no understanding or experience with this. I always loved my job ashore, enjoyed my shore side upbringing and enjoy my shore destinations. I can spend a month or two at one port, but after that I do feel restless and long for cruising, but I'm not off for many days at sea on long passages. I'm just in for the adventure, the independence, the self-reliance, the beauty of the natural world and the peace of isolation. There's a different dark night sky and an added rhythm of nature besides just day and night that many people never experience.

No, I don't have any experience with "running away".