Reflections on Water
I’ve radically shifted my life in the past 2.5 years to live with the water. We all live with water, yet I knew that it was time for me to live ON the water after an 8 day sailing trip with friends in the US Virgin Islands aboard a liveaboard Pearson 34. We sailed beautiful days, navigated squalls and 8-10 foot waves with flying fish jumpin across the boat, jumped into crystal Caribbean seas and swam with schools of fish & turtles & squid & rays & more. I swam to shore to hike, we made delicious dinners on the boat, I slept so well & hardly slept, and I realized slowly that this was what I wanted to do.
And I knew nothing about boating, sailing, or being on the water.
Burningman and Festival kitchen life had prepared me for radical self reliance, conservation + management of resources (fuel, water, electricity, cooking fuel, food stuffs, money, etc..) and planning well for off-grid situations. I had always been excited about solar power & off-grid living and intended to do it.
The time, apparently, was now. My soul sang for the sea. I longed to whizz across water with lines holding sails & knowhow steering us well.
And so, I did. My best friend Kiki encouraged me to go DO IT. She had lived on a boat for a while, and told me that I could - nonchalantly - and that lots of people did. We looked at boats for sale, drove past marinas, and she entertained all my dreams and stories. Back in Chicago, I announced to my friends one by one on the dance floor at a huge party that I was… moving out of Chicago to live on a sailboat. No surprise to them… I was an adventurer and a creatrix. They saw how tracks with the trajectory of my life. My family was the same.
So, with blessings abounding I slowly gave away my things and extricated myself from the artist’s loft Eco Collective that I had been managing/co-managing for almost 14 years. I signed up for sailing lessons with Sail Chicago Collective, and started apprenticing/sailing with my dear friend Coelti’s connection, Kent, on his Morgan OutIsland 33 from 1977 up in Montrose Harbor.
I couldn’t get enough.
Meanwhile, I was falling deeply in love with Laine Bones. We talked each day and slowly realized we had the same dream of living on a sailboat and sailing the world. So, we merged dreams as our relationship grew strong and healthy and I decided to move in with her to look for a boat… in Florida.
It’s new years eve, and all my things are packed in storage. Many tearful goodbyes later, my dear friend Jessica & my mother drive with me south to Florida.
Laine and i find a van instead of a boat - Aruna! we use her to look for a boat. :) Many adventures later - we arrive in Chicago and Kent offers to give us Uptown Girl - the very Morgan sailboat I already knew and loved. We scoped her out (all summer) and finally accepted. We had our eyes on a bigger boat - a 41 or 45 foot - but realized that Uptown Girl was a great freshwater Great Lakes boat and ready for us to go… with a LOT of repairs and upgrades to be done.
all the while, I was reveling in this magnificent change in my life. Before, I had so much STUFF. I managed many roommates and a huge vintage building, I had a giant costume closet and creation studio for fabric arts, I performed and taught almost every day of the week, I had camping gear and catering gear and and and ….
life was simpler.
cue laughter — because fixing up a sailboat and learning the captain a vessel is never simple. But it is REFRESHING.
and the water keeps teaching me, grounding me, freeing my soul.
Now, 2 years later, we’ve brought our boat to Florida through the Inland Rivers of the US & sailed our first 325 mile Gulf Crossing. I am proud, I am grateful, I am truly in awe of what a life surrendered to listening to intuition will do. I see our grit, our tenacity, our charm, our laughter. I feel alive and excited for what’s ahead.
So, as I reflect :
FOLLOW YOUR HEART.
CHANGE YOUR LIFE (it’s worth it).
LEARN AND STUDY ALL-WAYS.
TRUST YOURSELF. trust yourself. TRUST YOURSELF.
BE KIND.
MOVE IN LOVE.
and let the WATER MOVE YOU.
Follow us at RadicalMoonLove on youtube for all the adventures :)
More on sailing musings soon.
And thanks to Simon Rubenstein for all these incredible photos!
xoxo
gaea
