Big Ocean. Big Sky. Small Minds.
I asked Radu the night before last, if he was ready to go again. The next leg was our third 30 hour passage and the seas were big the last times making our sails exhausting. Yes, he said, he was alright and I was too, so we left Bahia Magdalena yesterday early morning. The water in the Bahia was mirror calm reflecting a stunning sunrise. While leaving the bay for the open sea, the air was warm and pleasant.
The waves out on the ocean were small, we were sailing and enjoying moderate speeds around 6 knots. When pushed by waves we reached about 7-8 knots. Easy sailing with a bit of side to side rolling like a lullaby. The moon played pick-a-boo behind large dark clouds and I was surrounded by darkness on my night watches. That seemed to set the mood because all I thought of were people who owe me money or had wronged me in the past years. Some thought I am wealthy and wanted to profit.
It is true that I was lucky with some money dealings, but in essence I am generous, not rich and probably would give away my last shirt. This is not out of naiveté, I believe in generosity. Generosity could heal a lot of our problems like poverty and also induce progress. I have met people in power: heads of businesses, countries, city governments. All well-meaning, but in the end, few really want progress and rather stick to the status quo. Even organizations, including environmental ones with the explicit mandate to bring about change, are mostly run by small minds. It seems more important to them to run their organization and to harness the little power that comes with it, than to be open to possibilities of collaboration and expansion. Especially mind boggling because we have so little time left to bring about significant change to have an impact on the world. Most efforts get stuck in the mud of territorialism and the egos of small minds. Small minds who stick by rules of behavior conceived during the last century – a century of two world wars, the atom bomb and asbestos and not fitting one bit the world we live in now and where we need to go!
Once we will start to collaborate to find solutions, I believe, we will be on our way. Once we value a ‘we’ over ‘I’, can we be generous with ourselves and our opinions and create. Creativity lives in openness. I wish little minds had less power so that we could move on faster! I must also move on from people and disappointments to be fully present for all there is to come and be open to embrace new opportunities and possibilities.
Sailing slower tonight was fine by me. I needed time to vent my thoughts and find some closure. Slow was just the right speed to get to Porto San Juan del Cabo after all the fast sailing the last weeks. In the morning we rounded the corner with Cabo San Lucas to our port (left) side. We turned away from the pounding Pacific Ocean into the Sea of Cortez. The waves calmed and heat set in. Within an hour, we changed from our fleece into summer clothes.
Oh, how I wish this would be a metaphor for this still new century! Changing from fleece and foulies into shorts and sombreros – from defensive protection into open generosity!
We skipped Cabo San Lucas and all its big hotels, nightlife and high rollers for the quieter Puerto San Juan del Cabo with a resort style marina. We checked in and gave the Imagine a thorough wash and sewed a couple of mosquito nets for our hatches before heading out the next day for a series of day-sails to small coves on our way North to La Paz.
Cabo in sight
Katja Negru Perrey