Sailing PRIDE
Damion Sailors, Bosun
24 April 1998
Why do we do it? Why do we immerse ourselves in the uncomfortably wet realm of sailing PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II, where we spend our days and nights subjecting ourselves to the unending cycle of standing night watch and the Zen mastery of coiling and recoiling line after line? Why do we find joy in the throes of a storm-tossed, wind-raped sea, seeking refuge in the wind, aboard a vessel that demands so much of her crew? Is it for our captain? ourselves? our career? It certainly isn't for the money. No, simply put: it's for the ship, for she is everything to the sailor.
To describe PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II is to say she's like some lengthy dagger that parts the water in front of her with the ease of a biblical prophet. She is born of wood, endlessly creaking and groaning to the rhythm of Neptune's roll. Her masts are raked so far aft that she appears to be constantly ascending toward the very same celestial realm by which her crew navigates, and the merest whisper of wind emboldens her with speed. She is one with her element and she dances.
Damion Sailors
