Aboard No Boundaries
July 4, 2009
Happy Birthday, America! May you still be the land of the free on your next birthday!
A marvelous thing happens when you exit the C&D Canal and enter Delaware Bay.
As you approach that exit, you are looking forward toward a view defined by the banks of the canal. For a mile or more, you look down that visual funnel toward what looks like a shore with houses and trees. However, before you truly exit the canal, you pass between a pair of stone breakwaters that push out into the Bay. Beyond the breakwaters, you see nothing but water in every direction, including the direction where you once thought you saw houses and trees.
It is waterworld. In fact, the illusion that grips you is a feeling that the water is encroaching on those breakwaters. It is as if you are in the center of a huge encircling wave. As you pass out of the canal and into the Bay, the impression remains that you have entered a world where nothing matters but water. We have been at sea where no land could be seen, and that is an impressive experience the first time it happens. This is different. Somehow, the contours of the canal banks and breakwaters change everything. There seems to be water above and below and all around, and all of it is coming your way. You don’t really escape for probably a mile.
Today we are truly passing out of sight of land. It is just past noon on July 4, and when I was still in the cockpit a few minutes ago, I could see no land except a hazy bubble of trees along the western horizon. We will exit Delaware Bay soon, and eventually every hint of terra firma will fade away. We will truly be at sea.
This is what we worked and dreamed for. When we left Harborview on May 1, we would never have predicted it would take two months to get here. Today the duration of two months fades unimportantly away. We are here. The dream is happening. The champagne is in the fridge. We are moving forward. All around is water, and that is a good thing. Sailboats love water. Our poor sailboat has been a prisoner far too long. It must feel like a bird let out of a cage. I know I do!
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