Sail Far Live Free

Fall storm coming ashore in Grand Haven, Michigan (K. Walters)

"...he has returned to his mother sea only on her own terms. He cannot control or change the ocean as, in his brief tenancy of earth, he has subdued and plundered the continents. In the artificial world of his cities and towns, he often forgets the true nature of his planet and the long vistas of its history, in which the existence of the race of men has occupied a mere moment of time. The sense of all these things comes to him most clearly in the course of a long ocean voyage, when he watches day after day the receding rim of the horizon, ridged and furrowed by waves; when at night he becomes aware of the earth's rotation as the stars pass overhead; or when, alone on this world of water and sky, he feels the loneliness of his earth in space." -Rachel Carson from The Sea Around Us  (1951) I was first introduced to the writing of Rachel Carson back in college when Silent Spring was assigned as the core text for an introductory Fisheries & Wildlife class. Later o...

"If a man does not know to what port he is steering, no wind is favorable to him." -Seneca (Roman philosopher and advisor to emperor Nero) I was in such a good rhythm with my blog postings, cruising along with 1-3 posts per week.  But suddenly, I no longer knew which port I was steering towards. Then I hit an uncharted shoal and grounded out for a while.  It seems an eventful summer was the shoal that put me in this unforeseen blogging sabbatical.   I’ve missed writing and developing my thoughts here on  SailFarLiveFree.com , which makes it even more confounding that I can’t fully explain why it’s taken me so long to get back to writing.   Perhaps the biggest event to report from this summer is the sale of s/v Island Bound and the subsequent purchase our 3 rd  cruising sailboat (more about that later!).  In any case, I’m officially back at the helm of this blog so we can shove off again with new material.  A sneak peek ...

" A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. " - John A. Shedd from Salt from My Attic (1928) Ships safe in the harbor (by K. Walters in Mackinaw City)

"There is a condition worse than blindness, and that is, seeing something that isn't there." -Thomas Hardy (English novelist and poet) Sailing has a way of heightening our senses, both when we're under sail and when we're back on land dreaming of being at sea again. Even so, I think it's far too common to take our senses for granted. With the advent of GPS, AIS, DSC and all the other technological acronyms that abound on today's cruising sailboats, it's no wonder we sometimes numb out to the feel of the wind, the sound of the sea and the sights of a quiet deck watch. Hiro Iwamoto is a sailor who knows the importance of heightened senses better than most. He was born with weak eyesight and became fully blind by middle school. His teenage years were marked with fear and pain but he emerged with determination and a dream. Hiro wants to become a motivational speaker and make a difference in the lives of children who also suffer fr...

"My competition is with myself and the water planet. While sailing, you hang suspended with one hand in the ocean (tiller) and the other hand connected to the sky (mainsheet). You are the pivot point between these two great fluids, the two worlds, and you get to go along for the ride." -Dennis Olson I was reading through a list of favorite quotes that I keep tucked away on my harddrive and was struck by the words above. This particular sailing season has started incredibly slow for me for a variety of reasons and partly for no reason at all. I miss becoming the pivot point. Sometimes life gets in the way of living. Our domestic (mowing the lawn, keeping groceries stocked, laundry, etc.) and career (emails, meetings, reports, etc.) happenings start to blur our passions. But some of us are lucky enough to have passions that come into focus through a career. Others are content to stay in a foggy blur for years and simply hang on to the hope of future clarity....

Life on the Hook (Taken in Bonaire by K. Walters)

"Sailing became a compulsion: there lay the boat, swinging to her mooring, there blew the wind; I had no choice but to go." -E.B. White from The Sea and the Wind that Blows (1977) Sailing means something different to all of us fortunate enough to have ever felt the power of the wind whisking us across the water. For those of us in latitudes far from the equator, the summer season becomes the epicenter of our sailing. It seems fitting to celebrate sailing as a part of our lives during summer. And so, Summer Sailtice was born. Summer Sailstice is the global sailing holiday celebrated on the weekend closest to the summer solstice. This international event was founded in 2001 to connect the global sailing community in a fun, creative, multifaceted, multi-location sailing holiday.  Every year, Summer Sailstice connects over 19,000 sailors all over the world—cruisers, racers and recreational—to celebrate and showcase life under sail.  It has expanded to include par...

A light at the end of the dock (Taken in Saugatuck, MI by K. Walters)

The following is the original draft of an article of mine that recently appeared in BoatU.S. Magazine (April/May 2013 edition). The editors at BoatU.S. Magazine are great to work with and truly do improve my writing, but I'm posting my original draft here without their changes just to keep the blog entirely in my voice. If you want to read the version that appeared in the magazine, click here . Summer School on Lake Michigan by Kevin Walters I have always known boats and water would play a major role in my life.  What I didn’t know was that the more I let those two characters act out, that I would somehow feel fulfillment and yet longing for more all at the same time.  The first clash of these two feelings came during the summer of 2010 when my wife and I and our then only two young daughters (ages 5 and 8) capitalized on an opportunity to try cruising beyond a week here and a weekend there. Our kids, boat and budget were all small but our ambition was grand.  We h...