These seconds when I’m shaking
leave me shuddering for days
- counting crows
Why? Funny question that. One inevitable question we are all asked as we begin a new adventure is, “Why?”. Why do kayakers dream of heading off to unknown lands? Why do they choose to leave the safety of land with nothing but their kayak, a bit of gear, and their wits? Be it a mile or a thousand someone will always ask why. Well, I don’t know. You were looking for wisdom weren’t you!?? Sorry, I have so little. It seems each person has there own goal, their own reasons to head off into the distance. Maybe, “Why” is a question that can’t quite be answered. Often I think we go for the easy response or something quick that makes a good quote. Maybe “why” is just too complicated.

Most of use have all read stories of the many ages of exploration. We can envision such towering names as Marco Polo, Erik the Red, Amundsen, Shackleton, James Cook, Francis Drake, and so many others throughout history. Their stories fire the mind. Even today we can follow along as modern sea kayakers take us places most of us could only dream of. I think of Franz Romer, Paul Caffyn, Chris Duff, Rotem Ron, Pete Bray, Ann Linnea, or Jon Turk just to name a few. Each one an inspiration and a wonder. Does each modern adventurer do it because they were inspired?

Many sea kayakers I think are just romantics at heart. They stand on the beach and are called into the horizon. It’s as if they have no will of their own. When the sea beckons you must go. Romantics see no goal in destinations. The goal is in the journey, the destination is just and excuse to take another stroke. Yet all the while they will be lost in the sounds of the ocean, the glint of the waves, the flickering shadow as a bird glides low over head. In a way they are lost in a dream state and yet, they are hypersensitive to the sea and her tremblings. How much this is like the first time you feel the warm, moist breath of a lover across your face. Something so subtle and yet so deep that it crushes you. To a romantic this is something sacred. Something that fills the soul. Are we longing to feel such deep emotion?

Why am I now bustling around planning my first real journey? I think it’s all these things. I dream of far off lands. I take comfort at times by living on my wits. There is something so alive in knarly sea. I am inspired by those who have done great things. In all honesty, and maybe more than some, I’ve been so close to others great journeys and somehow felt left behind. Maybe I feel like I must earn my way. Grow up in the sport if you will. Silly I suppose. Maybe this is a training mission. Maybe it will be my only real journey. I can’t say I know that now. I’m here today and that’s all I can focus on. But most importantly, and maybe sadly, I am an idealist, a sensualist and a romantic at heart. I do so much want be lost in that sacred place. Since I was a child I have longed for an emotion I believed in but could not feel. I have always longed for the sea. I cannot think of how or why and maybe there are no real answers. Need there be? I only know that on the water I feel part of something bigger than our modern world. Something timeless. Something wonderful.

So I chose an island. A place I know almost nothing about. To me, it could be the New World. I chose a place that would keep me warm. Where the sun could bath my skin and the sea could hold me in her arms without the frosty sting of northern climes. A place were I could engulf myself in a land far different from my home and yet not so far that I could not reach out to those left behind. Puerto Rico is land of deep history and holds a blending of many rich cultures. I only hope as I write I can do it justice. I know as we move forward we will talk of cities, people, numbers, gear, technology and so much that is part of our modern world, and in many ways a blessing. And good fun at that! Yet let’s not forget that this is a tree grown from a very small seed. A passing thought. An emotion becoming a longing. A need to touch something that has sung to the heart of man since the dawn of creation. Why do we do it? Maybe it’s just the clouds, the sands and the sea. What more does there need to be?

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