In the Great
Age of Exploration, all sea voyages were adventures, of course. Charts, such as
they were, were marked with areas that said “Here be dragons,” and “Terra
Incognita.” Fearsome sea creatures—krakens and giant octopuses—adorned the
borders. But now we know what to expect. The dragons these days come in the
form of government officials, greater regulation, more rules, and more
paperwork.
Nevertheless,
in an age of ease and luxury enjoyed by many, it’s not so easy to have a real
adventure nowadays unless you try very hard. A rifle and $5 in cash don’t make
it any more.
Cruising
under sail these days is split into two categories: 1. The liveaboard
wanderers, and 2. The dedicated adventurers.
They’re not
hard to tell apart.
The
wanderers are probably older, richer, and more cautious. They own
over-appointed and complicated boats.
They don’t like to be confronted by the unexpected. They prefer an
orderly, regulated life and no surprises — or at least, just little adventures,
if any. They spend a lot of time planning.
The dedicated
adventurers are usually fewer, younger, poorer, and less worried about taking
risks. Their boats are simpler and more Spartan. They live on adrenalin. They
thrive on not knowing what’s going to happen next. They cultivate an almost
carefree confidence in their ability to cope with any sudden new
circumstances. To them, just about
everything is unexpected. And exciting.
My
dictionary describes an adventure as a “daring enterprise, an unexpected or
exciting incident, a hazardous activity.”
It sounds very much like something parents strive hard to prevent
happening to their children.
I would
class Eric and Susan Hiscock as liveaboard wanderers (in fact, they had boats
called Wanderer) and Bernard
Moitessier as an adventurer. The Hiscocks planned meticulously and worked hard
to bring their plans to a successful conclusion. Moitessier, on the other hand,
was a nautical hippie who shot cormorants for the pot with a catapult. He gathered the eggs of protected sea-birds
and begged a dog-food manufacturer for free samples of their product for his
pantry.
They say
that poor preparation and lack of experience are the parents of adventure, and
there’s no gainsaying the fact that a modicum of planning is necessary for any
sensible sea voyage, if only to avoid being in hurricane territory at the wrong
time of the year.
But we also
need the adventurers. Human beings have a unremitting urge to explore the
limits of their accomplishments. Every year we break records. We run faster, we
jump higher, we climb taller mountains, and we reach farther into the
stars. We constantly transcend
ourselves.
And in the
small world of ocean cruising, we need the dedicated few to go out and throw
themselves fearlessly into adventure, to discover, to explore new horizons.
It’s our small contribution to the store of human knowledge and experience that
will enable us one far-off day to make the greatest discovery mankind can ever
hope for — to know who we are, where we came from, and where we’re going.
Ø
Dana Lamb’s book, Enchanted Vagabonds,
is now available as a print-on-demand volume. If your local bookseller can’t
print it, go to abebooks.com
Today’s Thought
Life ought to be a struggle of desire toward
adventures whose nobility will fertilize the soul.— Rebecca West
Tailpiece
“I want one
of those new terrorist stoves.”“What the heck’s that?”
“One with an eye-level guerilla.”
(Drop by
every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)
