Pissing About
" How can a yacht*, dwarfed by the waves, survive in these extreme watery Himalayan conditions? "
Sir Robin Knox-Johnson
*Clipper 68'.
This quote is taken from the forward to Lisa Blair's book "Facing Fear".
First of all, I have never, nor do I plan to, sail the Southern Ocean. And yes, I have issues with Sir RKJ's "winning" the inaugural RTW race that included Bernard Moitessier, who was first to round Cape Horn but elected to continue sailing to Tahiti. Ostensibly to avoid the fame and publicity should he sail to the finish line. I've no doubt Sir RKJ sailed a fine race and has since enjoyed yachting stardom that arose from crossing that line. Incidentally, Lisa Blair sailed under Sir RKJ in the Clipper Race before he wrote the forward to her book. No harm in sharing the spotlight ... if you're that way inclined.
Anyway, each to their own, and this is what I want to explore; my own views on "conquering seas". I don't believe humans, any human, can conquer massive ecological entities. We may sail, ride or hike across them or alongside them, but we never beat them into submission. That's just a bullshit arrogant claim. No one (except Moses?) has ever overcome the forces of an entire sea. One rogue wave or entire storm? Nope.
You see, I do have considerable life experience as a surfer. For many years I set off from the shore on a piece of fibreglass and foam little longer than I was tall, to ride waves. Some days, I would let some waves go because they were too steep or powerful and I wasn't in the right position. On other days I wouldn't even get wet because the swell was too big, sloppy or dangerous. But my point is that even on the days I did surf I selected a wave and then glide hard on its shoulder to the shore. That wave may have swelled across hundreds of miles of ocean before it reached, and I rode its last 20 yards. Just the tiniest part of a colossal force. In turn, that wave is one of hundreds or thousands off waves that emerge each day, every day, and night, over millennia, on many shorelines facing that one single ocean. Some of those great forces move on to other oceans around the great capes.
Similarly in a yacht, yes you may be afloat for days or weeks on end, but never millennia, and on only one speck of ocean at any time. In the same way a surfer rides a small segment of one wave for a spec of time, a sailor navigates a part of each wave at any one time. We never take on or conquer, a whole ocean. We mwrely flit about toon out little bit off sea to the best of our abilities. We get our rocks off an leave intact, having had fun, or even a challenge. Not because we are successful, pretty, wealthy or especially talented, because, for the most part like toddlers splashing in the wading pool, we can. The wading pool is not conquered.
