Waiting is never easy, and when it is for the next big thing in your life – in our case what we think is our ultimate cruising machine – it is even harder.
From a design and scheduling standpoint the march of time conflicts with the goal of getting every detail right. This is impossible of course, but we are closer now than ever. Is it worth the six to nine months required to attain this goal that are now gone forever from our cruising lives? The more we mature, the shorter the time left, the more difficult the wait.
The days end used to be unremarked save for glorious colors, often the case at sea, and in our beloved Southwestern US. But at some point the unending supply of sunsets becomes finite.
The portion of life where you can do what you want ebbs with time.
The longer you wait the harder it is to sit back and just enjoy being. The older you are the more anchors there are holding you back.
Rather than driving yourself to distraction reaching for the unobtainable, leave a bit on the table and get on with it (in other words do as we say not as we do).
The time to smell the flowers is now.
Taking off appears hard until you’ve done it.
But once free, routine decisions that seemed impossible become as easy as flapping your wings. The more delay the more reasons to delay further. Children, then grandchildren, aging family, physical limitations, the desire for more “comfort” that comes with age, combine to force us to need more to to reach our goal. It is so much easier when the bloom of youth is still present.
We can tell you with absolute certainty that it is better to go sooner rather than later. Instead of reaching for the moon, go with what you can afford today.
Routine is a jail for dreams. It is ugly, creeps up and ensnares the unwary. It has had us in its grip these past few years and we know better.
Now that we’ve stopped the incessant search for perfection, and gotten on with building, we might just escape one more time, if we are quick about it.
The days left to the bouquet that is the cruising life are never numerous enough. It is time for us to get going before the bloom fades… forever
Posted by Steve Dashew (December 30, 2014)
December 30th, 2014 at 4:49 pm
Go, the sooner, the better … not just for yourselves but for us as well. We grow old too…even older than you and we live your adventures as though they were our own…Your designs, your details put us to sleep gently, but we long as well to share your view of land fading, the excitement of the future cresting ahead with your hand firmly on the throttle, your magnificent photos and beautiful writing bringing smiles and satisfaction to our being…
Have a Happy and Healthy New Year…
December 30th, 2014 at 8:22 pm
Thanks David…
January 1st, 2015 at 12:32 am
David, that was a lovely tribute. Please allow me to second every word.
December 30th, 2014 at 5:19 pm
Dear Ms. and Mr. Dashew and the Team in NZ
Stunning Pictures. I love it. Sometimes life is wonderful at least for your dog. Ours would not have had the discipline and he was a German :-)).
I wish you all a very fruitful new year.
December 30th, 2014 at 8:25 pm
Hello Bernd:
We are forced to admit that Luca, the wonderdog, waited until the family was seated at dinner before helping himself to piece of turkey.
December 31st, 2014 at 5:10 am
Steve and Linda,
What wonderful words of inspiration coupled with beautiful photographs.
Best wishes to you both for 2015 and your FPB78 launch date.
Sincerely
Jim Buchanan, Canberra, Australia
December 31st, 2014 at 3:40 pm
It’s 7.38am on January 1st as I read your poignant reminder of the passing of time and realise that you can read my mind. Thank you for your stories and exquisite photos throughout 2014 and previous years. Routine is indeed a jail for dreams… let’s change that in 2015. Best, Warren
December 31st, 2014 at 11:11 pm
There is something unspoken in Steve’s words long distance cruisers understand which most folks who haven’t done the deal don’t know. What we gently aging cruisers want is not necessarily more years, it’s just there is so much we haven’t seen and we want to see and do absolutely as much as possible. We all start at the beginning working hard to have the horsepower to play. Dirt dwelling and boring routine is normal but if you are lucky enough to escape, you can’t imagine how long distance cruising changes your life. Material things mean little. Freedom and adventure with your new group of intrepid, like minded peer group of adventurers is life itself. Your life long friends will always be friends, your business associates will become a distant memory and the only folks you can really talk to without feeling pretentious is your peer group of long distance cruisers, power or sail. The rest want to know about pirates and big waves. 2 minutes and they’re done while you are exploding with enthusiasm.
Hummm, let’s see; you can watch mind numbing TV, eat at your favorite restaurant (boring and predictable), thumb the idiotic electronic gizmo looking at a tiny screen, or you can live your life as Steve said and get after it. Fortunately for we cruisers the far majority of folks are all compfy – wumphy wallowing in ever-tightening, choking routine, otherwise the anchorages of the world will be full.
I began an article once, Life Begins Beyond Your Comfort Zone; Live or Wonder. It sorta sums it up.
Good luck. Actually you make your own luck. (You can tell its New Years Eve and perhaps we had a touch of rum so we say what we think)
S.
January 2nd, 2015 at 9:56 pm
Hi Steve and Linda,
I have been listening to your preaching for a while now. We did bite the bullet a few years ago and bought the best aluminum sailboat we could afford at the time. And I thank you for it. NO, she is not perfect, she is not necessarily pretty but she keeps us safe and comfortable. That counts for us more than the esthetics. Of course we would have loved a new boat but it would have meant waiting several years for events to unfold and with your advice to hurry up, we did.
Thanks again for your good advice and we wish you both all the best in the coming years.
January 11th, 2015 at 8:41 pm
Well said. There is no time like the present.
January 21st, 2015 at 11:23 am
Hi Steve… You’ve given tons of great advice over the decades-thank you! “Don’t Wait-Go Now” may be the best thing you’ve ever written.! I’ve been following you since the beginning when I bought Circumnavigators Handbook..which was the first time I ever read those words. As a teen, they’ve had a fantastic effect on me ever since. I still have that book, as well as most of your other books–but after a number of ocean crossings & three decades it’s pretty beat up. But those words — your words–inspired me upon Ocean Passages in the Pacific that so far… have been some of my most proud lifetime accomplishments.
We’ve never met, but once when I ordered a book (1987ish)- we talked a bit about my passage back from Hawaii on a Cal39. You seemed land based in Ojai at the time. You asked, “How was it coming back?”. I was proud of my fast 19 day trip, but you said . “No how was it coming back-into society?”
J.Cousteau summed it up nicely.. “The Sea once it casts it’s spell holds one in it’s wonders forever.!
Thanks again for the inspiration & All the Best.!