Compelling Images
For each challenging journey I have taken, a single compelling image or vision sustained me during the months - or even years - of preparation and anticipation.
For Pacific Solo I have three. But one stands out.
Image 1:
Sailing out of Tokyo Bay waving goodbye to family and friends knowing that I will not see land or people again for two or possibly three months.
Image 2:
Arriving to English Bay in Vancouver, Canada with friends and family (particularly my 90 + year old mother) on my friend Andrew’s boat to greet me. Relief and gratitude, I suspect, will be the overriding emotions.
Image 3:
This is the stunner: being by myself in my boat
, in the middle of the North Pacific, gazing at the heights above and pondering the depths below. Over the last few months, I have reflected much on this image, which dominates my thoughts and dreams as I sleep. It has made me realize that my real destination is not Vancouver but exactly where this vision has me: in the middle of the Pacific, or what I am calling “Nemo North,” or the place in the North Pacific farthest from land in every direction.
Why has this image captured me, while at the same time felt so unsettling? For now, at least, I expect that while I’m in that place of Nemo North, I will experience three things:
Grief:
Right there in the middle of the North Pacific Garbage Patch, or what I visualize as a massive trash vortex, I will take a moment to grieve and repent for the non-renewable waste we have created.
Joy:
To see the starry firmament above without the impediment of ambient light and to experience “Ocean,” which is what our planet truly could be called rather than “Earth.” I have experienced a lot of Planet Earth but not so much of Planet Ocean. I do not want to die without having had this experience
Awe:
If awe is a spectrum in which at one end is ecstatic bliss and the other is failing terror, I suspect the awe I will feel will be closer to the terror side than the bliss side. The reason? Because out there, at Nemo North, I will be alone. So not only will I have to ponder that which is around me, and below me, and above me, but I suspect I will have to explore that which is within me with no other voices of comfort, or rebuke, or shared celebration. Just me.
Alain de Botton said that " journeys are the midwives of thought.
"
I trust that is true for me on this journey.
I hope to explore and chronicle various themes as I prepare for the Pacific Solo Challenge. These will include:
- Oceans and our view of them
- Garbage
- Solitude and spirituality
- Navigation
- Mechanics of a boat and all its part
- Mental and physical fitness
- The art of goal setting and achievement
