Is the World Big or Small?
April 17, 2019
Day 194
Noon Position: 13 36S 23 578W
Course(t)/Speed(kts): WNW 6
Wind(t/tws): E 10-12
Sea(t/ft): E 4
Sky: Clear
10ths Cloud Cover: 0
Bar(mb): 1016 (up and down between ’14 and ’18)
Cabin Temp(f): 86
Water Temp(f): 83
Relative Humidity(%): 67
Sail: Working sail full, reaching on starboard
Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 149
Miles since departure: 26, 484
Avg. Miles/Day: 137
Leg North Days: 28
Leg North Miles: 3,534
Avg. Miles/Day: 126
Wind still steady from the east or just north of. I’ve been running more north than is strictly necessary now just for the speed and ease of balance. Mo loves apparent wind just forward of the beam; it’s her fastest point of sail. And she (or Monte) actively dislikes it just aft of the beam and tends to wander off. Aft of the beam is the course we want; forward of the beam is the speed we want. Speed wins another day or two.
—
One question from the Figure 8 comments section I thought deserved to be singled out.
Forthwith…
Michael La Guardia wrote:
One question that struck me the other day as I thought about your journey: does the world feel bigger or smaller? On the bigger side, you’re taking the true measure of the globe. You know it mile by mile, and wave by wave. Getting around is taking a long time and requiring incredible persistence. But on the smaller side, you now have a complete circumnavigation of a continent under your belt and are half-way-ish through two more. I know the more places I visit, the less they seem unknown and far off. So how is it for you? Bigger or smaller?
Randall: A well posed and interesting question. Given that I remain in the throws of the adventure, my ability to reflect upon it is limited. It’s like asking a marathoner on mile 17 what he thinks of his experience. That said, here are a few disconnected thoughts near the topic you pose if not directly on it. Again, thank you for the thoughtful question.
-The south still feels big and raw and unpredictably powerful. I have no sense of having taken the measure of that ocean at all. Spending time there is the closest I’ve ever come to experiencing the uncut wildness of the world, for which I am utterly grateful. Its beauty is as beyond description as is its utter inhospitability. I was excited to enter, was thoroughly ready to exit while could, and would return in a heartbeat (later).
-One’s world on a boat at sea is really the boat and, on clear days, three to five miles in any direction. When beyond the sight of land so long, one loses the sense of bigger or smaller as, within a range, each day is much the same. Sure, bigger seas, smaller seas; bigger cloud, smaller. Blue sea, green sea. Many birds, few birds. Cold, hot. But the ocean world never gets bigger than the visible horizon and the boat only gets smaller and smaller.
On many days there is the sense of being on a conveyor belt; that is, being stationary as the world flows by you. The days pass. The sun rises and sets. The moon waxes and wains. And the water keeps flowing, always flowing. The world is infinite water, from all observation, but only three to five miles in diameter.
-Bigger: for all my time out here, the size of the ocean continues to surpass my comprehension. It just goes on and on. The surface area of the Pacific alone is sixteen times larger than the area of the continental US. The earth has no bigger feature than ocean; in fact, there is no other feature remotely competitive with it.
-Smaller: it can be sailed, explored, circumnavigated by a vessel whose average speed is less than 6 knots. The earth must be a small place if I can get around it in Mo inside a year!
-Vast: some of my favorites are the clear, moonless nights when Mo is creaming along and the black sky above is luminous with stars from horizon to horizon. The Milky Way is a bright river and there are so many points of light that the constellations are overwhelmed. Even Orion is hard to find. On nights like this Mo and I are not sailing the ocean so much as the heavens. On nights like this one can almost feel the vastness of the universe and its desire to be explored.
A great question and an enthralling response. Your descriptions of the oceans – experiencing the uncut wildness of the world and the final paragraph speak of your deep connection and understanding of your world, always very interesting and a pleasure to read.
I think this post is one of my favorites. Of course, I love the wandering albatross, the man struggling against nature, the conversations with Monte the 1st mate, and the lessons in seamanship from afar, but this one struck a chord. What a wonderful mid-journey reflection of our little (or big) blue marble.
I thoroughly enjoy keeping on top of your adventures and whereabouts on the planet. Thank you for sharing it so we can really be virtual voyagers! I periodically share details with my 15 and 13 year old, and it’s interesting to get their perspectives as well.
My 15 year old is studying Human Geography in high school which focuses on the evolution of modern civilization. Sailing, both oceans and rivers, has had a huge (if not the biggest) impact on how humans have spread around the globe. We discuss how the early explorers set off into the unknown, without timekeeping, longitude, sextants, etc, (we learned about this in detail at the Royal Observatory museum in Greenwich) and your bravery for doing this in a small boat, solo.
My 13 year old once asked me, “Why is he doing this? It’s not like it’s going to make him famous.” I could share my disappointment and go on how we discussed personal goals, the importance of challenging ones self, and notoriety not being the sole driver of one’s worth, but I’d love to hear in your own words to share with him… Why are you doing this?
Such an eloquent response, Randall. Your description of the sea passing like a conveyor belt is so apt; on long passages I have often thought the same. And your description of sailing on a moonless night – that sense of sailing right through the stars – nearly brought me to tears. Thank you for sharing your take on the big/small of this planet/universe. Incidentally, now that you are finally out of the Southern Ocean I have begun to feel jealous rather than “better you than me”. Fair winds – we continue to follow you progress regularly!
Great cloud formation photos!. I wish I had taken notes of what my imagination made them in to during a pac cup crossing. Happy Mo is floating well. You are passing all of the 6 month maintenance windows on the bukh and everything else. Impressive to do that while underway! I am very curious how your keel cooler is holding up. And the standpipe joints (corrosion?) Does “standpipes instead of thru-hulls” mean no through hulls and sea cocks and failing hoses? I thought you would have at least one thru-hull to worry about? And of course the other valves, not to bring up Murre.29n161w 🙂
Randall, thank you, thank you for your kind and thoughtful reply. I’ll toss in one more piece of evidence for a small(er) world that still feels impossibly big. We were able to shake hands across continents, oceans, starlight and clouds. I hope to shake your hand in person one day back in San Francisco when you make it around. Fair winds!