A world of pleasant simplicity

18 November 2013

Update by Arnout: “The world here has such a pleasant simplicity. And this is exactly why many of us came here. Of course there are a lot of things that need to happen, such as washing the deck or replacing a broken part. Some jobs are even a lot of work, after hoisting a few sails a whole watch is looking forward to going to their bunks. And there are questions, such as where is my missing sock or which book should I read after finishing this. We even ask ourselves some questions, such as how do I make a grommet or how do the tables of the sextant work? But all these matters can be, and have to be, solved with what we have available here. Because of the great preparation by our crew and the team of the ‘Oosterschelde’, every issue is simply a matter of carefully considering it and then pulling or hitting something.
This gives a sense of calmness, which many of us can’t find back home, where we are connected to the rest of society through all kinds of networks. The simplicity of life here is supported by the routine, which we are really getting the hang of by now. Days are no longer relevant, except for Saturday, which is cleaning day. Watches and meals divide the time.
Because we are free of the worries of everyday life and because of our luxurious system of 4 hours on watch and 8 hours off, we are free to contemplate the important things in life, or nothing at all. There is a lot of reading, writing, talking and debating. We’re learning from each other and from books things we didn’t even know that we wanted to know.
This trip could be described as one big meditation session. But instead of tying ourselves in an impossible knot on a coconut mat, we have dolphins, whales, albatrosses, a mast and a bowsprit to climb, a course to sail, a rainbow at midnight, endless swell and a life vest under our mattress to prevent us from falling out of bed.”