“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
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| My new home, SV/Serenade |
Sailing To Serve - How it began:
"Sailing To Serve" = Paying it forward in a marine environment. Let me explain.
I feel very fortunate to own my current vessel, an Island Packet 35 that I lovingly call Serenade. As I prepare now to embark on an extended period of cruising aboard Serenade, I am humbled and grateful that circumstances have aligned which allow me to pursue the cruising lifestyle. I bask in gratitude which has led me to initiate the concept of Sailing To Serve.
Sailing to Serve has become my personal philosophy to intentionally give back to the universe for all the blessings I embrace wholeheartedly. I am not a wealthy yachtsman by any means. I buy used boats and pour my heart into them. I fix most everything myself and I inherited my Dad's thriftiness and do-it-yourself philosophy.
I never ever want to view the cruising lifestyle as a self indulgent means to see the world. There is more to than that. I get to do this, hence I am called to serve.
As I enter new ports of call it has become routine to see the sights, tastes the foods, meet the locals while trying to contain my giddy gratitude. As I proceed in this mission it has become my mission to always seek out ways to serve others by paying it forward while in new ports of call.
In the spirit of Sailing to Serve I initially committed myself to purposely seeking out at least one random act of kindness each day. I've had some success doing such. But idealistically as that may sound, I found it quite challenging to complete such a feat of random kindness on a daily basis. Still, I keep that concept at the front of my heart although I don't always meet the mark.
During my career, I worked hard as a school teacher before retiring in 2012. Retirement has set me free again and has allowed me to get to a place where I can now openly explore the world amid the excitement, risks, and uncertainties that are all a part of the sailing lifestyle.
Ghandi said "Be the change you want to see in the world." Sailing to Serve will continue to be my personal method to complete that mission. I am the change. This has opened my eyes to the many blessings in my world as well as the not so great plight I have witnessed in others along my travels.
Sailing To Serve is an evolving concept that I ponder often. It's an open ended ray of light that just happens to set its own tone given the proper mindset and desire to be a servant of mankind. It grows everyday but here are some typical opportunities I see in Sailing Serve :
Be Open: Keep a watchful eye for those in need whether they realize it or not. Be open to getting outside my comfort zone whenever and wherever the opportunity arises. Take risks, extend a hand, extend an ear, make things happen that need to happen. Everybody is going through something and some are reluctant to share it. Listen.
Service Through Volunteering. Offering help in any situation serves everybody whether they ask for it or not. Going out of your way to size up a situation and quietly making a difference is appreciated even if not noticed or rewarded. Volunteering can be as simple as holding a door for a stranger or recognizing a need most anywhere you go... It could be at an anchorage, a library, a street corner, a grocery store, a bar, a church, anywhere at all where a need is present. Sometimes you have to look hard. But keeping ones' eyes open to the unabashed need around you is a full time job. When you see it don't let it slip away. Act.
Serving Homeless. Unfortunately, these people seem to be far too many in my travels. It's a sad plight in our society and I wrestle with how to do my part while encouraging success without fostering the epidemic.
Each homeless person has a different story and it's the kind soul who will see them as decent people, greet them and recognize them at every opportunity. Little tricks like surprising them with food or clothing creates a glow to remember. It's easy to ignore panhandlers and homeless people because we are often are afraid to engage with them. Even just a friendly acknowledgment of themselves as a worthy person goes a long way. I feel their pain although my life is so far removed from theirs. Each of them has their own story and path of hard knocks, bad decisions and just unexplainable karma. Who am I to think of them as a weed with no purpose?
I've yet to offer a visit or sail on my boat to a homeless person but I don't rule it out. There's still areas that I am growing in slower than I would like to admit.
Serving Up Smiles. Everybody I meet or cross paths with gets a free smile. Strangers, children, pets, policemen, clerks, servers, even assholes. Smiles melt barriers and invite good will. Don't ever let a day slip away where you don't smile out loud. It's all a part of Sailing to Serve.
Serving through Music. Whether it be street singing or playing some tunes for children or the elderly, music is an international language. Songs I write and people I play for are really more like gifts to myself. Music heals and opens up hearts and I do my best to give freely through music. Open mics are a great way to meet folks in a new town and a great way to identify hidden needs in others. Don't hold back. Give freely.
Serving Through Secrets. Sometimes serving others is not intended to be openly displayed. Unique opportunities often present themselves where we can be an instrument of love to others who never even knew we had a part in it. These are my favorites. Again no party is exempt or left out of the possibilities. Service can and should be undercover sometimes. I don't need to pat myself on the back to validate anything. Go undercover.
Serving With Kindness. Be humble and kind in all situations and your light will shine into others. Kindness is contagious. I believe Kindness is only second to love in God's eyes. There's always room to add more love. I love this song:
Humble and Kind by Tim McGraw
Serving by Helping Out. Whether it be picking up trash that is not yours or just leaving things better than you found them you have made a difference. There's no room to let up here. Always pitch in more than your share. It'll work out. Always does.
And last but not least Serving The Sea. Conscious environmental stewardship is a service to the entire world. There's so many avenues to express your part for healing the sea one day at a time. Treating our mother ocean like the precious jewel she is starts with little things that everybody can do. The ocean is the vast frontier that feeds us and transports us physically and spiritually.
I can only do my part and lead by example. One by one we will get there through service to the sea.
Service is noble and selfless and each of us is called if we can only stop and listen. It is wide open as long as there is a will in the heart and a desire in the soul and patience for it all to unfold in the perfect plan.
In conclusion, Sailing to Serve is hard for me to really define. It is still evolving and I make a point to allow it to flow seamlessly into whatever direction I am called. How to better serve others is the unfolding and sustained mission of my little concept called Sailing To Serve.
I am here now and my time on this earth is not quite what it used to be. I realize most of my life is over. Therefore my purpose has to be intentional, sensitive, empathetic, alert and open to recognizing a personal or community need and to act on it without hesitation or thinking only of myself. I expect nothing in return.
My dad lit the spark in my heart that I embrace through sailing. It's the least I can do to think less of my blessings and more towards the needs of those who did not have the ideal childhood and life I have been blessed with.
Sailing to Serve is simply my philosophy for a selfless mission. I am blessed beyond words and I must do my part to gratify my blessings whatever it takes.
And if I am lucky, at the end of the day, I get to go back to the comfort and magic of my own sailing vessel home where another of God's incredible sunsets will be displayed. And another morning to serve will be God's gift to me.
“No one has ever become poor by giving.”
― Anne Frank, diary of Anne Frank: the play
So How did it start???
Everything starts with something. A Genesis.
The sailing bug bit me sometime during my late teenage years and it has never let go. I have to credit my Dad for that.
Growing up in a small rural community in Georgia was a blessing in itself. But to have youthful parents who raised us on the water was an extra bonus. I recall a long series of modest power boats during my youth before Dad decided to take up sailing later in his life. That was the beginning of a love relationship between me and the wind.
The first time I felt that summer breeze move our little boat atop the water, I was immediately hooked. Neither Dad nor I knew diddly squat about sailing when he purchased a small sailboat for us to use on Georgia's Lake Lanier. But that didn't stop us from figuring it out.
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| My Dad. The boat was appropriately named Genesis. |
At the time Dad bought the first sailboat we teased him because everybody knew he bought a sailboat since the wind is free and there would be no fuel to purchase!
Cha-Ching!
And so we learned sailing by trial an error although we did receive a couple of basic lessons from an elderly neighbor, Mr. Buck. This neighbor understood the zen of sailing and the hook was immediately set for a bright eyed high school kid like me.
Suddenly tricking the wind to gracefully move a chunk of fiberglass across the water sparked a fire in me and continues to resonate as one of my deepest passions 50 years later.
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| My Dad, Harold Green. "The Man with the Plan." |
Our family continued to sail a few different boats on Lake Lanier while honing our sailing skills through a long series of screw ups and mistakes on the water. Things like wildly swinging booms, uncontrolled jibes, runaway jib sheets and snapped shackles were just a few of the mishaps that trained us for the patience and planning required in sailing. Sometimes it only takes a certain mistake one time to head it off from ever occurring again. Like loosing your grip on the main halyard as it gets pulled to the top of the mast is a mistake you'll only make once.
Before long we got better at it, and the quiet beauty of a gentle broad reach soon became just as exciting as water pouring in over the gunnels while beating into a stiff head wind to clear a rocky shoreline on a single tack.
I like to think dear old Dad would be proud that I have carried on the sailing tradition that he planted within me. I like to think he's at the helm with me now as I cross inlets and oceans chasing new discoveries that grow within me and outside me.
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| We miss you Dad. Love always. |
For the next 3 decades I worked an enjoyable career as a horticulturist and passionate school teacher. And during all those years of employment I immersed myself into studying for my life long dream of sailing. Voraciously, I read all the cruising magazines cover to cover. I spent summers chartering sailboats and crewing with friends.
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| This early boat was called The Little Professor |
Through the years I owned several small sailboats from trailerable ones to coastal cruisers. Six sailboats later I purchased my first ocean cruiser, Glory Days, a Pearson 33. Damn good boat she was. She carried me safety over 5000 miles and to countless memorable anchorages that furthered my desire to explore the coasts in my own vessel.
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| SV/Glory Days |
She was a very able vessel and the things I learned while outfitting her are invaluable. Suddenly you have to become an electrician, a plumber, a mechanic, a carpenter, and a navigator. Glory Days took me safely to my first trip to the Bahamas as a single handler.
Still, as good as she was, I felt the need to upgrade one more time after four years and 5000 miles sailing together.
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| Glory Days - Pearson 33 - what a boat she was.
Suddenly I found myself in a similar position as my Dad when my daughter came to visit me on Glory Days in the Bahamas. It's a parental thing I suppose!
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| Glory Days in Bahamas 2014 |
Since this is the first post on my new blog for SV/Serenade I hope you'll follow future posts if you are inclined. All 109 action packed blog posts from my former love, Glory Days, can be viewed at this link:
Sailing Vessel Glory Days
Bigger, better, faster, more led me to my next boat, an Island Packet 35. Stay tuned please.
EPILOGUE:
Tonight at 2200 hours I pull up the anchor and begin my trek 148 nautical miles towards Bullock Cay in the Bahamas. I'll buddy boating alongside two chaps I met yesterday in their boats.... Stay tuned for Episode 2.... onward.
