Navigating a sailboat out of the heart of a fierce coastal squall takes a special combination of concentration and skill. But for an extremely weathered yachtsman, surviving tough weather might become a sort of routine, a ritual even. Draw down the mast, bale out the water, hope for the best, pray.
But maintaining that same sort of calm and attention—the kind it takes to successfully ride out the torrent—becomes much more complicated when it is a seafarer’s 200th solo day out on the open ocean, and there’s just been a windless fortnight spent on the equator, baking under the sun. It takes a personality, a special kind of salt, to endure these nautical challenges, especially when they’re part of a larger attempt at circumnavigating the globe, using only two hands and the sails flapping above.
via Pacific Standard
(Photo: 14degrees/Flickr)
