Cruising Friends

Our very good friends aboard s/v Earthling sailing alongside us.

It is no secret that one of the perks of cruising life is the fact that you get to meet some pretty incredible people.  We've shared drinks and meals with poets, writers, eccentrics, enthusiasts, anarchists, intellects and everything in between.  Friendships are born fast out here.  One minute your helping someone with their dock lines or asking them about an anchorage over the VHF, and the next minute you are laughing, hugging and sharing life details over a communal happy hour - calling each other, in earnest, friend. 

Anyone who has travelled alone out of a backpack knows this as well, there is a mindset among travelers, an understanding.  A shared experience that a sun bleached backpack and tussled head of hair give away.  C.S Lewis once said:  

"Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another, 'What, you too?  I thought I was the only one!'".  

Out here we all have the similar experiences, similar stories.  We all have parallel woes.  We all have to fix our engines, we all get slammed by weather, we all revel in the beauty of nature. We all, pun intended, are in the same boat.  Classism and ageism do not exist.  If you were a CEO or a shoe salesman, if your boat is sixty feet or twenty, if you are thirty or sixty-five, it just. doesn't. matter.  The social mores that inhibit us on land disappear.  At the very core of this is the fact that we as cruisers are all dreamers with an unyielding urge for something more - and for that, we respect each other.  I have experienced more kindness, generosity and human goodness on this trip than I have in all my years combined.  In a world that feels very much on the brink of folding to hate and ignorance, this is a wonderful experience to be a part of.

It's a shame that this is not the norm. It's a shame that our vastly different lives, social classes, experiences, religions and customs prevent us from finding common ground and connecting with so many others in life.  That the simple experience of being human is not enough.  We have connected with so many wonderful people on this trip - people that we never would have had we not had this commonality of being "cruisers" - and no matter where the wind or water take us all, we will always call them friends.

Love,

Brittany & Scott