Quote:
Originally Posted by lesterbutch
What defines “a sailor” I think it’s difficult too say what it takes too be ranked as a sailor! There are many kinds of sailors over the world, there is certainly the trans-oceanic sailor who has circumnavigated and spent countless years at sea. Not many of us get that title, there are “coastal sailors who have ranged coast to coast along the continents, I was one of those, and there are local sailors who rarely leave there home waters. One thing I think certain is that that we all love the sea, the challenges and the adventure of finding new and interesting places and especially the friendships we make along the way!
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This is an interesting point.
Sailors are not all the same.
Recently one very late afternoon I was
racing near the
California shore, hiked out hip-to-hip with 6 other crew on an upwind leg in 12 knots, enjoying the gentle ride. It was a 36' racer/cruiser mono, which was waaaay too skinny to properly
cruise IMO.
There was something mystical about the horizon that day in the fading light, beckoning even. This soggy-shoe crew's collective gaze was quietly fixed on that curiously colorful line where sea and sky meet. Speaking very softly (so that our steering-challenged
skipper didn't yell at us again to be quiet so he could concentrate), my words were tinged with a smile:
"You know... we could just keep going.
Tahiti is over there."
I pointed with a slight up-nod of the chin.
The guy to my right grinned at the fanciful suggestion, his body bent under the upper lifeline, belly hugging the lower. "Let's go. We can stop along the way in a noisy bar in
Avalon." At the time, I didn't get the song reference, but it felt like I was definitely in the presence of a like-minded adventurer.
The guy to my left scowled. "Nooo WAY. I need a
shower and my own
bed, not a 3 week camping trip. I'll fly there."
My surprise was a little naive, i guess. I assumed the
racing crew onboard was just like me- sailing any way I could, until land-based issues (like work) are sorted enough to go cruising.
I learned that that it is not EVERY sailor that longs for the horizon. That's okay. Those of us that do share a trait that is hard to describe. I hear the word "romantic" to describe our ilk. Hmmm. That just doesn't seem to fit for me, in the sentimentalist, idealist sense. I guess I don't have a good
single word for this draw of the horizon.
"Cruiser" is a fair label, I suppose.