Singing About Sailing (2007-07-14/17)

Sunday I noticed that many of my recently-purchased songs mentioned sailing. Beginning with the songs iTunes says I play most, below are my favorites:

1. Blue October, "Into the Ocean", Foiled

   Now waking to the sun I calculate what I had done
   Like jumping from the bow (yeah)
   Just to prove that I knew how (yeah)
   It’s midnight’s late reminder of
   The loss of her the one I love
   My will to quickly end it all
   Sat front row in my need to fall
   Into the ocean end it all
   Into the ocean end it all

   "Into the Ocean" is the top of my list because I like the happy tune (despite the sad lyrics) and rapid verses. It's not merely the mention of flotsam and jetsam that leads me to like it.
   

2. Crosby, Stills & Nash, "Southern Cross", Daylight Again

   When you see the Southern Cross for the first time,
   You understand now why you came this way.

   "Southern Cross" often goes through my mind while sailing, as my quote in an earlier post might suggest. Seeing the southern cross would be new and adventurous.
   

3. Fleetwood Mac, "Landslide", Fleetwood Mac

   "Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?" is the only reference to sailing, but nevertheless "Landslide" is one of my melancholy favorites. I especially like the character of Stevie Nicks' voice.
   

4. Mark Knopfler, "Sailing To Philadelphia", Sailing To Philadelphia

   Now hold your head up, Mason
   See America lies there
   The morning tide has raised
   The capes of Delaware
   Come up and feel the sun
   A new morning is begun
   Another day will make it clear
   Why your stars should guide us here

   I've mentioned my folk rock guitar interest, including Dire Straits, James Taylor, and Mark Knopfler. In addition to guitar, "Sailing To Philadelphia" includes both James Taylor and Mark Knopfler.
   

5. Christopher Cross, "Sailing", Christopher Cross

   And if the wind is right
   You can sail away
   To find serenity
   Oh the canvas can do miracles
   Just you wait and see

   The mellow music and lyrics of this song come to mind when there's little to do but enjoy the wind and water. A breeze and gentle rocking is relaxing.
   

6. Styx, "Come Sail Away", Come Sail Away - The Styx Anthology

   Come sail away, come sail away
   Come sail away with me

   Like "Southern Cross", "Landslide", "Sailing", and "Cool Change", "Come Sail Away" is a sailing song of my childhood. It rocks.
   

7. Little River Band, "Cool Change", Little River Band: Greatest Hits (Expanded Edition)

   Well I was born in the sign of water
   And it's there that I feel my best
   The albatross and the whales they are my brothers
   It's kind of a special feeling
   When you're out on the sea alone
   Staring at the full moon, like a lover

   I was actually born in a fire sign, and rarely go out to sea, or sail alone. However, I do find sailing produces a special feeling.
   

On the Seattle Times Front Page (2007-07-17)

I am amused to learn from Allan and his friends that a photograph in a front page article of yesterday's Seattle Times shows his boat on the far right. The photographer confirmed taking the picture on July 10, so I was aboard--perhaps crouching on the starboard side--with the friends mentioned in my previous post. It appears the sailboats in the photograph are the "half fast" boats of second start positioning to cross the starting line between the committee boat and the duck.

Demonstrating Sailing on Duck Dodge (2007-07-10)

Got out of town on a boat goin' to southern islands
Sailing a reach before a followin' sea
She was makin' for the trades on the outside
And the downhill run to Papeete

Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas
We got eighty feet of waterline, nicely making way
In a noisy bar in Avalon I tried to call you
But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away

--Crosby, Stills and Nash, "Southern Cross"

(Despite the lack of link, "making way" in "Southern Cross" is also a sailing term.) As my previous post on sailing may show, after the exhilaration of the wind in my hair and the bouncing bow beneath my feet, the next most enjoyable aspect of sailing may be explaining it, beginning with sailing terminology:

• starboard and port,
• fore and aft,
• bow and stern,
• beam,
• mast,
• boom,
• lines (sheets--main and jib--, halyard, shrouds, stays, downhaul, cunningham),
• parts of a sail (tack, clew, head, luff, leech, foot),
• windward and leeward,
  
• what to do when the skipper calls out "Ready about" and "Helm's a-lee", or "Ready to jibe" and "Jibe ho",
• points of sail (close hauled, reach--close, beam, and broad--, running), etc.

The July 17, 2007 Seattle Times article on Duck Dodge suggests that this aspect of sailing fascinates observers as well. Like the June 6, 2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer article, the Times also mentions the "raft up" party afterwards (like what I wrote about last week).

At last week's Duck Dodge I spent most of my time instructing, since of Allan's usual crew I was the only one present. Allan filled the boat with friends from Banya 5, except for my guest J. Behmer and his friend. (I bring a guest each Tuesday, and whenever else we sail.) In the middle of a tack I announced, "I'm not usually this directive in social situations." My friend responded, "You, get me a beer! You, get some chips! You, make smalltalk!" pointing to a different crew member for each command.

(Switching from sailing geek to technology geek, I'll credit John with a photograph taken by his Treo and located precisely on the map of Lake Union using Allan's eTrex Vista® Cx.)

[Updated 2007-07-18 to remove redundant words.]

Singing on Lake Union (2007-07-03)

"If I had $1000000, I'd buy your love."--Barenaked Ladies, "If I Had $1000000"

It was Fourth of July Eve and the evening sun of northern latitudes was fading behind Queen Anne hill as I danced under a disco ball illuminated by a flashlight lashed to the mast. Under my sandaled feet the deck of the sailboat sloped towards port, not heeling in the wind but rather tipping under the weight of skippers and crew gathered there. Like me they had clambered across the rafted sailboats--lashed together (lines around cleats) for the party after sailing--to hear Gertrude's Hearse. Surely this crew of of S/V Distance was the most original in the Duck Dodge?

"If I had a million dollars" I sang in response to the lead singer's call, then listened, as Yusuf Kilgore played an electric guitar solo from a boatswain's chair suspended between mast and forestay of S/V Distance, or Keith Stone played saxophone from the roof of M/V Steel Drum. The movement of dancing, the fresh wind that had powered the earlier race, the red vodka Jell-O shot in my stomach, the enjoyment of the music, and the energy of the crowd all warmed me.

Sailing on Lake Union (2007-06-26)

Tuesday nights during the summer I'll often be with Allan's crew on his sailboat on Lake Union in Seattle, WA instead of elsewhere in the world. I love the wind and water; sailing is adventurous to me. This night stronger winds added exercise to my relaxation. As yet we've won no more black ducks, however.

Winning a Bronze Duck (2005-08-09)

This week Allan's boat Great Expectations won third place in Duck Dodge! Our crew sailed well, despite the spinnaker halyard detaching, requiring Ratna to retrieve it.

[Updated 2007-07-18, changing title from "Black" to "Bronze".]