The romance of it all. Remembering why you began

Sailing.

We are now bombing towards the coast of Brazil—specifically a small town on the chart named - Enseada dos Patos. Unfortunately, we will not be touching down there. We are in search of the NBC. Honestly, who is not trying to find NBC? We hear it is about 200 nm off the coast and moving at this time of year. The NBC for those playing at home is the northern Brazilian current. And it whips up the coast at almost 2 knots. As sailors, we love a current that is going in the right direction. It is functional sailing 101.

For some people, the romantic idea of sailing is a monohull moored in the Mediterranean. For others, sailing is one part swashbuckling captain, one part parrot, and one part rum.

REIMAGINED is a sailing catamaran, and you can—and we have—just grab the wheel and sail it. It is not like the J24 I sail in Lake Ontario or New York harbour, but you sail it with the same basic wind-based principles.

But today, these boats are so much more complex. The amount of technology is staggering. We have multiple multi-functional displays, sailing computers, autopilots, radar, infrared cameras, water makers, an entire off-grid solar array and lithium battery bank, Starlink, an induction cooktop, an oven, a barbecue, and even air conditioning. And they all get connected. The electrical and plumbing system is as complex as a house.

You can easily get overwhelmed or get too focused on each part and forget the idea is for it to work as a system. When at its best, each piece disappears, and you can just focus on sailing.

Too often, we lose sight of the bigger mission and get focused on details. Details do, for sure, matter, but only because their mission is to make the whole work. Focusing on the macro-level mission is a skill—one I am practicing.

At its best, sailing becomes almost meditative—the wind, the waves, the current, and, of course, three seabirds have joined the crew and made our boat their home.