Dave Kruger asked: <Majordomo Snipola> >>>So, how does wilderness travel affect YOU? I'm curious.>>> Good question Dave. Contemplating navels lately? Not that _I_ do that much! :-) Wilderness travel always has affected me in a positive manner, even local wilderness. Traveling along coastal corridors or simply navigating through a plethora of rocks interspersed through some little archipelago has a potentiality unlike any other venue, at least for me. Admittedly the vistas afforded by climbing high cannot be denied, and while mountain climbing or just plain high country rambling has merit and engages many senses, as does river and lake paddling, the sea holds particular fascination for me - and a more lasting effect. I just love the ocean. Not in an oceanographic way, nor that of a what a blue water sailor enjoys (the vastness). No, simply the sea/land interface forever beckons me back, time and time again, rewarding me with a healthy lifestyle of mental and physical wholesomeness, where the ocean waters have a healing quality - a balm for mind and body. Where the sea does meet land, beaches are washed clean by the perpetual cleansing of tide, time, and swell. Contaminants are cleansed by the routine action of breaking waves, the bits and pieces pulled back into the ocean depths. So it is with my soul during my brief soujourns - I am continually cleansed and made sparkling new, like the glimmering, polished stones one sees behind a receding wave. As an avowed antisocial deviate during my 20's, sea kayaking provided the luxuriant delight of solitude - a quietude away from the rat race and bar scene. I quickly developed a true love for the near-shore ocean environment, where ocean waves spoke with greater familiarity than many human ones. I went on to find a certain Nirvana like quality in heavy ocean hydraulics that engaged my mind, body and reflexes, but this was secondary to a simple love of the sea and need to retreat to mental safety. Even the simple sounds of gentle, languorous surge lapping over drying reefs would ease my mind to the hurts of young love turned sour or just a stressful day at the office. One day I might play off the tip of somewhere like Trial Island in ten foot standing waves against the unforgiving blast of a 40 knot gale, only to be forced back in during sustained gusts as my kayak surfed down huge seas - pushed far past her nominal hull speeds. On another day, indeed even the very next day, the nautical capriciousness of my island home allowed me to paddle along in a state of blissful self-abandonment under a hot, dreamy sun with not a hint of wind, allowing magical thoughts to fill my mind until, loosing visual reference on a shimmering sea, I would suddenly almost capsize in my hypnotic trance-like state. I've always come back changed, with a better perspective on life, even after a two hour paddle. And all this, simply from day-tripping. Multi-day/week trips in true wilderness prove even more exponential in their effects. BC'in Ya Doug Lloyd *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Dave Kruger asked: >So, how does wilderness travel affect YOU? I'm curious. I've done a few solo hikes lasting several days without seeing another person. I really enjoyed how everything slowed down to a walking pace. I felt like all my worldly worries were lifted off my shoulders and there was no worries other than finding water, not running out of food and making it to the next shelter. I agree that it does change you. When else can you have the luxury to contemplate the small things from the ants on the ground to the leaves on the trees for days on end? One of things I remember the most was coming out of the woods to my pick up point next to a highway. What a stark contrast it was to see cars zooming by at 50 mph and people all around. It was almost like a sensory overload. Joe *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Joe Brzoza wrote: > > One of things I remember the most was coming out of the woods to my pick up > point next to a highway. What a stark contrast it was to see cars zooming > by at 50 mph and people all around. It was almost like a sensory overload. For me, when I was a backpacker, the differentiator after a week in the wilderness was driving down a logging road at what seemed a "breakneck" speed -- seemed like 40 miles per hour: I'd look down at the speedometer and realize a week of walking had conditioned me for a 3-mile-per-hour pace, and that my car was only really going 10 miles per hour! -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> One of things I remember the most was coming out of the woods to my pick up > point next to a highway. What a stark contrast it was to see cars zooming > by at 50 mph and people all around. It was almost like a sensory overload. Funny I get that feeling just paddling for a few hours in the waters off of Manhattan. This is particularly true if paddling in the relative isolation of an area like along the Palisades cliffs on the Hudson just north of the George Washington Bridge where you may not see a soul for hours if paddling mid-week. It is such a shocker to see people again or get into traffic heading back home. It is one of the great things about urban paddling. Not only is it close but also you can feel a million miles away with a few minutes of casting off from a dock or shore. I always have felt that isolation and adventure is often as much a state of mind as it is a physical reality. There is no question that paddling or hiking in many places like Alaska or the Caribbean can be breathtakingly wonderous but if you can also find something akin to it much closer to home in the waters of NYC or Washington DC, San Francisco, etc. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Nick scriv: >For those of you who are more than mildly interested in the effects of long periods >of isolation in nature, look into the many first-hand accounts of the dozen or so >single-handed sailors who took part in the _Sunday Times_ sponsored Golden Globe >race around the world, circa 1970(?). [snip] >5,000 pounds sterling. It was such a disaster that this race was never attempted >again, to my knowledge. There have been many solo around-the-world races since then, and they continue to this day, under various names (usually a corporate sponsor's name) (ex: the BOC Challenge). There have been many, many successful single-handed round the world sailing voyages. Tania Aebi did it as a teenager, and wrote (sort of) a very nice book called "Maiden Voyage." Hal Roth did at least one solo. And how about Chichester? Don Street? And of course there's the famous original solo sailor, Joshua Slocum. And the wonderful Tristan Jones, who, although it is conceded he "told a tall tail" now and then, was nonetheless a great solo sailor. Richard Hendersen wrote a great book about singlehanded sailing, in which he listed a long list of solo circumnavigators. >Bernard Moitessier could have pulled it off, but after rounding the Horn he was >terrified to go back to the world of men, so sailed another half way around the >world finally putting in at Tahiti out of necessity. But Moitessier was a solo sailor for many years thereafter, and from what I have read was highly regarded and well-liked in the cruising community. >Another (whose name I don't >recall) slowly went mad and apparently just stepped off the rear of his trimaram; >his boat was found with his very weird logs undecipherable (thought he was God or >something). Crowhurst? >Loick Fougeron committed suicide within months of his return. Bill >King never sailed again. The winner, Robin Knox-Johnston, was examined by a >psychiatrist after his return and was pronounced "distressingly normal". Go >figure. Chuckle. Yeah. I think that would be my diagnosis, too. >Most of them didn't have radio, and those that did found them unreliable, so >most/all were out of contact of society for many months. Moitessier's account is >probably the most poetic, but at the end of his book _The Long Way_ he gets very >weird and is writing letters to the Pope. All accounts are very interesting >reading and bizarre, even Knox-Johnstons, probably the only one in the race who >came through it sane. > >I could probably work up a reading list if anyone is interested? It would be fun to do. One book that I have never managed to get through, but which without a doubt is relevant to this discussion, and quite interesting, is "Alone," by Richard Logan. To give you an idea, some chapters are: "Coping with Solitary Ordeals," "The Solitary Quest: Lindbergh, Byrd and Chichester," and "The Psychological Effects of Prolonged Solitary Ordeals." Yikes. I think it would be a solitary ordeal just to manage to read the damn book <g>. I really do agree that the stories of these and other solo sailors are highly relevant to our discussion and very interesting reading. Although not a solo tail, I would like to mention that perhaps my favorite book of all is Sterling Hayden's "Wanderer", recently reprinted (to my great disappointment -- I collect older editions). Yes, it is the actor. He was a great sailor before (and after) being an actor. A wonderful book! Unfortunately, Hayden (and separately the great schooner he owned) came to a sad end. There's also a fascinating video about one of the BOC races called "BOC Knockdown" (focusing on a video segment where the boat does a complete 360 in the Southern Ocean). One of the participants carried video equipment and taped much of his experience. One of the more interesting parts of the video, in my view, is a section where he sets up the camera in the cabin at night and literally cries, talking about how lonely and scared he is. Very "honest" stuff, if you can take it. I periodically put the tape in while a visitor is here, and I get some interesting reactions <g>. So -- I've added nothing to this discussion (sorry), but just wanted to comment on the sailing references - an area I have a little knowledge of, at least. I have thought about chiming in with some of my own thoughts here, but . . . hey, I barely know you guys. :) Anyway, this sure is interesting! Mark L *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
"There have been many solo around-the-world races since then, and they > continue to this day, under various names (usually a corporate sponsor's > name) (ex: the BOC Challenge). There have been many, many successful > single-handed round the world sailing voyages. Tania Aebi did it as a > teenager, and wrote (sort of) a very nice book called "Maiden Voyage." Hal > Roth did at least one solo. And how about Chichester? Don Street? And of > course there's the famous original solo sailor, Joshua Slocum.... Yes, solo circumnavigations are pretty commonplace, even by teenagers, but going 6-9 months without a landfall and without talking to another human being, whew! The BOC challenges and others have a lot of high-tech options such as reliable radio anod radar, e-mail, etc. Talk about sensory privation in the Golden Globe race! Blue water, waves, and only the occasional flying fish on deck to talk to....how does that effect one? > But Moitessier was a solo sailor for many years thereafter, and from what I > have read was highly regarded and well-liked in the cruising community. > A guru and cruising icon yes, but a bit of a weird fish probably before the GG race anyway. Saw his old _Joshua_ in Richmond, CA, up for sale, battered, rusting, and very low-tech elegant a few years ago. > > >Another (whose name I don't > >recall) slowly went mad and apparently just stepped off the rear of his > trimaram; >his boat was found with his very weird logs undecipherable > (thought he was God or >something). > > Crowhurst? > Yes, Donald Crowhurst. A border genius, but a wild character. Thought he'd sail around down around South America, cook his logs, and sail back to win the prize. Something weird brain-wise happened and only his logs remain. > I really do agree that the stories of these and other solo sailors are > highly relevant to our discussion and very interesting reading. It's a bit off topic, and one paddewiser has postied belittling comments about, and situatiouns we'll probably never be in (Doug, want to do a kayak circumnavigation?) but I think interesting. These guys on the GG were really pushing the envelope of human psychology... Those of us who go out for a few days and find the usual urban setting, a bit disturbing after being out, well...? > So -- I've added nothing to this discussion (sorry), but just wanted to > comment on the sailing references - an area I have a little knowledge of, at > least. I have thought about chiming in with some of my own thoughts here, > but . . . hey, I barely know you guys. :) You've added much. Thanks, Mark. -Nick > > *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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