Rhapsody - Rhapsody - Day Seven: Why do we put ourselves through this?

Ok, I’m gonna be honest here. On more than one occasion over the last few years, mainly during a cold, stormy 4am night watch, I ask myself: “What in the name of God am I doing here? I could be at home, on my comfy sofa in front of the fire, watching reruns of Poirot!”

It’s at this point I remember I no longer have a sofa, a TV or a land home, for that matter. We sold our lovely home to buy a boat so we could stand in the freezing rain in the middle of the night.

I mentioned this thought to my fellow crew the other evening and what followed was a conversation about what an odd sport/hobby/lifestyle sailing is. And what is it about sailing that makes us want to give up the comforts of land life for the open oceans?

Yes, there’s the cliched obvious: the raw beauty of the crashing waves, the unbridled joy of seeing dolphins race alongside or the gentle rocking of the boat that lulls you to sleep. But there must be something more that draws us to cross oceans? To make us give up everything for a sport that really is like no other.

Our conversation got deeper, as it often does at sea, to pointing out just how different sailing or cruising is to any other sport.

For example, what other event would you look forward to so much, in the knowledge that there’s the possibility that you will spend the first 24 hours throwing up? Nobody ever says: “Went camping last week. Spent that first two days puking! Great time. Going again next weekend.”

Then there’s the whole sharing a very small space with a lot of people for a long period of time. What other sport involves hot bunking? What other sport involves going in the wrong direction to get to where you want to go? Or regularly spilling most of your dinner down your front or supping salty coffee thanks to a random wave?

What other sport requires you to pump your poo away? Or guarantees a new cut, bruise or bang everyday? What other sport involves you having to try and fit normal-shaped sheets to odd-shaped beds? Or go weeks without showers? Or use odd words for kitchens and toilets for no apparent reason, apart from tradition? Or have so many superstitions - no bananas - really? Not to mention those who still believe that superstition about having women onboard.

What other sport will there be too little wind, then five seconds later too much wind, then five seconds later…? You get the idea.

And above all else, what other sport encourages long, deep conversations about which superpower you’d want or which food you’d pick if you could only eat one for the rest of your life - whilst sober?

Maybe this is why I endure those 4am watches, because there really is nothing else like sailing and crossing oceans. Nothing that I’ve ever experienced, at least. Friends onboard working together to sail in the wrong direction to the right destination - on this occasion, St Lucia.

Jacqueline and the crew of Rhapsody