Nostalgia, sehnsucht, saudade, I suffer from it all. I am a stranger in this world so far removed from my youth. I have not gotten older, but as times have gone by the world have changed. The fundamental things that once were part of my world are no longer here.
Already the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1712 – 1778 thought contemporary society was too removed from nature, so did, Henry David Thoreau 1817 – 1862. I agree.
In my youth world population was two billion now its more than seven billion. This has changed the landscape. Buildings and roads are everywhere and everything is bigger despite the need for smaller things, things more suited to human scale. There is no silence anymore stress is everywhere. A friend crossing the Bay of Biscay told me, when the speed dropped below five knots we started the engine.
Only the true, eternal, endless, blue, wet, deep ocean is the same.
Only the true, eternal, endless, blue, wet, deep ocean can cure me from nostalgia, sehnsucht and saudade and bring me back to the spiritual state of my youth. That’s why I long to be out sailing again.
On the wall of my small flat I have pinned a Admiralty Routing Chart for the month of June covering the North Atlantic. I marked my point of departure and from there I have drawn a circle with a radius of 60 nautical miles, the distance I hope to cover the first day hopefully with the help of a tow.
If all goes well the first day I will have the wide open spaces in front of me three- four- hundred blissful days at sea.
I look at the chart several times a day. It fills my heart with joy.
Departure 1 of June 2018 is near.
To be continued…
Regards Yrvind.