This weekend I participated in a sailboat race - Around the Rocks (starts in Rockland, leave Metinicus to port, round MDI rock back to Metinicus rock leave to starboard and finish in Rockland. The race is sailed solo or double handed. Needless to say, it is an event in which participants are in close proximity to nature and rely on technology along the way.
This got me to thinking how I like a balance in my life between the "silence" of being in nature (very calming to me) and the usefulness of technology (noisy and distracting). Yin / yang-- I try to keep the two in a symbiotic relationship.
While sailing continuously for 24 hours I felt very peaceful being at sea. The weather, wildlife, sounds, sights, smells and tastes of the sea were intoxicating. When needed it was also reassuring to flip on the gps to assist with navigation (keep us off the rocks) to turn on the radar at night for collision avoidance, and switch on the cell phone to report our position to the race committee and reassure my wife that all was ducky!
So, while going into the abyss, I bring the tech gear to insure sage passage, but it sure is nice to unplug and soak up a sunset with the distractions that said tech. gear can create.
Sailing with my husband over the years, we've had discussions about the role of technology, always resisting it at first--the GPS, the cell phone on the boat--but eventually seeing it's inevitability. I loved it when we heard all the conversations via Channel 16 (or was it 26) and the Camden marine operator. ah technology, something lost, something gained.
ReplyDeleteI think it was channel 26 -camden marine operator. Is till remember my dad's first boat's call letters- whiskey yankee charlie 6998
DeleteLove this entry, Pete. Thanks for sharing this amazing (to me) experience of sailing (for 24 hours! really?!) as well as the perspective on being comforted by the presence of technology. What must it have been like in the old days.
ReplyDeleteTechnology has at times entered our quiet places, too. We always carry the SAT phone with us now when we are in the woods, barrens.. as a safety precaution. However, we consciously left the laptops and other blinking lights behind when we went on a fly fishing trip last summer. At first, we both were almost anxious from not being plugged in, but the tech distraction was quickly replaced by being in the moment.
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