Key West

Some good friends of mine are heading to Key West today. I was there with them a couple of years ago and we sailed on the Appledore. I don’t know if it’s still docked in Key West, but I hope it is. It’s a good memory for me to recall.

At first it was the sound. Creaks and cricks and moaning groans of teak wood joints in the planking of the deck as the internal timbers torqued from the blowing stress of wind in the sails. Wood on wood, a sound all sailors know.

Straining lines answered back to the groans.

I knew we were underway, but soon the splashing spray and snapping sails confirmed it. Then commands from the Captain to trim the mizzen sheet before he shouts, “ready to come about”.

The Schooner Appledore, an 86 foot wooden Windjammer, glided or’ and through the wave swells and white caps in the confluence of the Gulf and Atlantic waters. The spray was salty, but warm since the air was cold. The sun lowered closer to its green splash of light in the distant sea; its celestial candle dimmed for the coming dusk then darkened for the hours till dawn.

I am not a sailor, but I love to sail. My poets mind translates the wind to grace as I let it carry me to the lost horizons of time and the wonderment of what’s there.

The salted spray with its mist and aroma ignited my spirit in a liquid flame of awe and I felt my other lives and places on and near the sea.

The mighty clapping flaps of canvas slapped me back to the NOW and to the gusty folds of waning winds that heeled the boat to an awkward tilt. I stand with my back braced to the main mast and knees bent ready for instantaneous adjustments in balance. Shanty words come from somewhere in my mind.

“Hi Lo High, sailors cry when God’s on the water”.

The sea has always been measured by the sadness of time and tide and in the cries of separation. Family here, future there. Vast waves of hopes and wishes in between. Adventure? Yes! Fearful too, especially for those who love the result, but know not the process.

I am far more appreciative now of the early explorers who mastered the seas and set humankind on the path of expansion.