While Dauntless is preparing for her debut, my back is complaining that it can’t support the lifestyle my mind demands.
So I thought the analogy of a car stuck in the snow, with spinning tires was a pretty good. But now I have a little additional bit.
Last night, before bed, I wrote about the simple 3 goals in 3 days’ plan. Still has a ring to it. I got about half a day’s stuff done; only took me 18 hours. At this rate, I have my three days of goals done sometime next month. But I digress.
Well, my mind was having none of it. At 4 a.m. this morning, it decided that I had to also rig the new rocker stoppers. Things that replace the paravanes birds while the boat is at anchor and not moving. So in the dreamy state of half sleep, half awake, my mind started spinning about new riggings.
And spinning and spinning.
Finally, at 5 a.m., still not sleeping, I decided to get up. Within minutes of actually being awake, I realized I had just spent the last hour spinning my wheels fruitlessly.
But then I thought, was I really spinning my wheels? I think in that half-awake state, it’s like the car is still stuck in the snow and you are stepping on the gas, revving the engine, but going no place. But the wheels are not even spinning, you may think they are spinning, but the car is actually not even in gear!
Because within seconds of actually being awake, I realized I had no issue, as I had not planned on rigging the rocker stoppers any time soon any way.
Author: Richard on Dauntless
I’m an eclectic person, who grew up in New York, lived overseas for many years and have a boat, Dauntless, a 42 foot Kadey Krogen trawler yacht. Dauntless enables me to not only live in many different parts of the world, but to do it in a way that is interesting, affordable, with the added spice of a challenge.
Dauntless also allows me to be in touch with nature. As the boat glides through the ocean, you have a sense of being part of a living organism. When dolphins come to frolic, they stay longer if you are out there talking to them, watching them. Birds come by, sometimes looking for a handout; sometimes grateful to find a respite from their long journey.
I grew up on the New York waterfront, in the West Village, when everything west of Hudson St. was related to shipping and cargo from around the world. For a kid, it was an exciting place of warehouses, trucks, and working boats of all kinds: tugs and the barges and ships, cargo and passenger, they were pushing around.
My father was an electrical engineer, my mother an intellectual, I fell in between.
I have always been attracted to Earth’s natural processes, the physical sciences. I was in 8th grade when I decided to be a Meteorologist.
After my career in meteorology, my natural interest in earth sciences: geology, astronomy, geography, earth history, made it a natural for me to become a science teacher in New York City, when I moved back to the Big Apple. Teaching led to becoming a high school principal to have the power to truly help kids learn and to be successful not only in school but in life.
Dauntless is in western Europe now. In May and June, I will be wrapping up the last two years in northern Europe, heading south to spend the rest of the year in Spain & Portugal.
Long term, I’m planning on returning to North American in the fall of 2017 and from there continuing to head west until we’re in Northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, where we will settle for a bit.
But now, my future lies not in NY or even Europe, but back to the water, where at night, when the winds die down, there is no noise, only the silence of the universe. I feel like I am at home, finally.
View all posts by Richard on Dauntless
Dauntless at Sea 
I really like the new paint job!
About thy back, ice packs will do wonders for a sore back. Learned this the hard way with my second back injury which is sorta a long story. Bottom line was to use an ice pack for seven minutes every hour for as many hours a day as I could. I thought the Doc was nuts, and based on previous injuries, I figured I would be in the ER suffering from back pain in 24-36 hours. The ice packs and Ibuprofen worked better than the drug cocktail I used with the first back injury. I did NOT end up in the ER! Woo HOO! 🙂