At Sea
Across the wine dark sea we are traveling towards the setting sun, yet in every direction there is just endless horizon.
For thousands of years before us, seafarers must have experienced this same sense of infinite space while at the same time felt a profound sense of solitude as they scanned the horizon to glimpse, perchance another sail, a dancing dolphin or a mythical mermaid. Buffeted by the strong west winds, the bow of the Endeavour plunges through the white-capped seas. The clouds of spray, caught in the sun, create a thousand tiny rainbows, a million twinkling stars before vanishing into vapor. Today, there are no clouds to hide the sun; there will be no clouds to hide the evening stars, just the winds and the sounds of the sirens if we listen well.
Sails are sighted on the horizon just before the noon watch change. First a single mast – then three - all with fours sails run out to take the maximum advantage of the wind at her stern. Bearing down on us at 10 knots, we pass just a few 100 meters apart. Her sleek white hull slices through the wine dark sea. A doze sheets caught first sunlight, then in silhouette, as she moves past on a southeasterly tack. Silent - just the wind and the creaking sound of taut ropes. The Ukrainian barque, Xercohec out of Kersk on the Black Sea, briefly shared our sea-lane affording us a momentary encounter with fellow sailors.
Off our starboard, the shadowy peaks of the southern shores of Sardinia could be seen for some hours. Comforting that there is land near, yet uninviting and mysterious, as the island remained veiled, its headlands and shore, shrouded in low mist.
The rhythm and vibration of the ship has become familiar, the patterns of our days at sea, settled, as we sail west across the wine dark sea.
Across the wine dark sea we are traveling towards the setting sun, yet in every direction there is just endless horizon.
For thousands of years before us, seafarers must have experienced this same sense of infinite space while at the same time felt a profound sense of solitude as they scanned the horizon to glimpse, perchance another sail, a dancing dolphin or a mythical mermaid. Buffeted by the strong west winds, the bow of the Endeavour plunges through the white-capped seas. The clouds of spray, caught in the sun, create a thousand tiny rainbows, a million twinkling stars before vanishing into vapor. Today, there are no clouds to hide the sun; there will be no clouds to hide the evening stars, just the winds and the sounds of the sirens if we listen well.
Sails are sighted on the horizon just before the noon watch change. First a single mast – then three - all with fours sails run out to take the maximum advantage of the wind at her stern. Bearing down on us at 10 knots, we pass just a few 100 meters apart. Her sleek white hull slices through the wine dark sea. A doze sheets caught first sunlight, then in silhouette, as she moves past on a southeasterly tack. Silent - just the wind and the creaking sound of taut ropes. The Ukrainian barque, Xercohec out of Kersk on the Black Sea, briefly shared our sea-lane affording us a momentary encounter with fellow sailors.
Off our starboard, the shadowy peaks of the southern shores of Sardinia could be seen for some hours. Comforting that there is land near, yet uninviting and mysterious, as the island remained veiled, its headlands and shore, shrouded in low mist.
The rhythm and vibration of the ship has become familiar, the patterns of our days at sea, settled, as we sail west across the wine dark sea.
