What is it about sailing that you don’t get? The
years I devoted to Maestro had more to do with my learning how to show up and
do something. The relationship between the sleek wooden sloop and my character
expanded me. I became a more complete sailor. I learned that I could handle a
lot of things I didn’t think I could handle. Some days I was lost. Some days I
didn’t know what to do next. Some days I’d spend the whole day doing something
I thought I was going to be done with in less than ten minutes. Hah! What I
believe happens to a sailor who repairs their own wooden boat is that the relationship
between the sailor and boat is more intimate. You come to know every plank,
every screw, every part of every inch that is the boat you sail. And then
sailing does one of the best parts of what sailing can do and that is teach us
more about ourselves, teach us about our capacity to learn. Another piece in
the puzzle is the pleasure that wooden boat is as an experience when actually
being sailed. They have their own motion, they make their own sounds. The
reality is that the whole thing is so temporary, a paint job lasts a year or
two. Everything is from the first day forward in decline and the end of a boat
is not lost from the sailor’s sight. It is the metaphysics of the boat, her
soul, her temporary visit into your life, and the certainty of her final demise
that turns the whole experience into something precious and to be cherished.
Much of this journey will come to be felt as a pain, a vivid sharp pain in your
ass. But, isn’t it always like that?
BANKRUPT HEART THE SECOND NOVEL
Something
about purpose that gets a man’s juices flowing. Project like this fills a mind
with planning. There was a new project, unexpected surprises. He had seen
drawings of what his boats hull looked like, but this would be Ry’s first
opportunity to see her out of the water, to see her lines, her shape, what
condition she was in. He sat down with his yellow pad and pencil and began
making a list of the tasks he’d face, tools he’d need and the supplies to buy. Ry
began imagining that Jasmine would
soon be set loose from her dock and that her sails would be hoisted, the wind
would blow, and she would sail. It had been such a long haul. One task at a
time; and with that task now completed it was the appropriate moment to begin
to plan for the next.
Bankrupt Heart Copyright © 2011 by Dana Smith
