Sailing and Philosophy

[Will Gilmore]

I have been thinking about the relationship of sailing and philosophy and thought it would be great to get a convocation for sailors going on the subject.

My interests and thinking tends to lean towards the ancient Greeks, esp. the Pre-Socratics. Pythagoras coined the word 'philosophy', which breaks down to mean love of wisdom. I think 'philo' actually refers to a more intense devotion kind of love rather than something that one 'loves' to read about or 'loves' to think about. Friendship is a Pythagorean ideal that involves intense devotion.

It is interesting to note how sailing has played a part in the story of Philosophy. Pythagoras got his name because his father was sailing to Delphi on business when he stopped in to pay homage to the Oracle and offer a tribute for a reading. His son's birth was predicted along with his amazing impact on the World. Pythagoras, himself, started his quest for wisdom with a sailing trip to Egypt (He lived on an island, so any trip would start with a sailing trip). He sat and meditated on the deck so oddly, that the sailors who were plotting to kidnap him to sell into slavery decided that he must be related to the gods and delivered him to his destination unmolested.

There is a story of Pythagoras sailing with a student who came to him excited and disturbed by his discovery of irrational numbers. Pythagoras got so upset that he threw the student overboard. However, anyone who deals, even casually, with the mathematics around right triangles, would soon discover the nature of the square root of 2 since it is the result of the Pythagorean Theorem for the unit 45 deg. right triangle.

Then there was Pytheas the Pythagorean from Massalea (Marseille) who embarked on a famous voyage to discover the British Isles and the land of Thule (Iceland). I find it interesting to note that Pytheas met the Northern Europeans who would, in about 200 years, be identified as Vikings. At the time he met them, they were paddling their longboats with paddles instead of oars. I think Pytheas, in his Greek ship, provided the technology for the Viking advancement to oars.

Can one think of a better place to sit and contemplate the nature of the Universe than at the helm of a sailboat?

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[ggrizzard]

Wow, the things you learn here. And no, Can't think of a better place.

 

[Michael Davis]

contemplate the nature of the Universe than at the helm of a sailboat?

....a tall ship and a star to steer her by....

 

[LeslieTroyer]

@Will Gilmore hou really need to get that boat in the water and think about Nothing.

Les

 

[Will Gilmore]

....a tall ship and a star to steer her by....

When we sailed from Florida to Maine for my 14th Summer, my brothers and I took a half a year off from school. In order not to miss out on school we were enrolled in the Calvert Correspondence School. None of us had the discipline to complete it, but I did all the reading including Kidnapped (wonderful). Anyhow, we had an assignment to pick a poem, memorize it and recite it. I chose John Masefield's poem. We were anchored somewhere around North Carolina for an evening of poetry. My older brother hated poetry and my younger brother liked funny poems. He chose The Pelican.

- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Gene Neill]

If only I’d some money.

I’d buy a jolly boat
And get a pair of sea boots
And a furry sort of coat,

A case or two of salted beef
And a seaman’s wooden chest,
And I’d sail away to the North Pole,
Or I’d sail away to the South Pole,
Whichever I thought was best.

I’d get up very early—

They wouldn’t see me go —

Jimmy would be with me,

But no one else would know.

Dogs are very useful,

And I couldn’t part with Jim,

And whether I went to the North Pole,
Or whether I went to the South Pole,

It would be all the same to him.

Perhaps we’d see a mountain
That no one else had seen;

Perhaps we’d find a country
Where no one else had been.

Suppose we climbed an iceberg
And saw the midnight sun!

Oh, whether we went to the North Pole,
Or whether we went to the South Pole,
Wouldn’t it all be fun?

 

[Will Gilmore]

When we moved aboard, I was eleven. We kept my pram tied to the stern most of the time. One of my favorite things to do, ever, was sail solo around Clearwater Bay. There was little traffic on the water and I'd put in miles at a time sailing out. Sometimes I'd sail North, under the bridge or explore a spoil island. Those were times when I would lean back and stare up at the sail and contemplate everything that came to mind.

I spent a lot of time thinking about how the sail trim worked and visualize the air hitting the inside of the sail and bouncing off at an exit angle the lead to forward motion. I know, and I knew then, that it didn't work quite like that, but I was trying to build a simple model in my mind that told me where the best trim was for the wind direction.

I spend many hours in those years just sailing and thinking of abstractions about how the universe might work. Sailing was fundamental to the development of my philosophy. I'm certain that that is true for most of you who have grown up sailing.

Great poem Gene.

- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[jssailem]

Sailing is an enabler.
Some sail for fame, others for profit.
Some sail for discovery, others to escape.
Some sail for money, others for freedom.
Some sail for distraction, others to find themselves.
Sailing is enabling, why do you sail?

 

[Kermit]

..,why do you sail?

I sail, therefore I am.

 

[jssailem]

Why Kermie... a very Existentialists observation.

 

[Will Gilmore]

I sail, therefore I am.

You must be a Cartesian frog.

You are either highly coordinated or all over the map.

- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[jssailem]

Wouldn’t a Cartesian believe... I sail, therefore I am a boat?

 

[Will Gilmore]

Decarte, as a product of the Age of Reason, wanted to answer every mystery the Universe held, like all was just a matter of rational observation and logical connections. The fundamental "universals" were knowable and quantifiable. He proceeded to start at what he felt was an inarguable premise upon which to base all other conclusions. Decarte, being a mathematician and a Geometuer, especially, had reason to believe in the 'completeness' of the Universe. Interestingly. As far as Mathematical systems go. Geometry was considered a complete system in that it held all the rules and values necessary to describe every problem and answer, including those itself presented. Then, Gödel came along, in recent times, and proved that a mathematical system can not be complete. As soon as it attempts to describe itself, it becomes a new system that is no longer part of the system it is trying to describe. Geometry, however, is still considered to be the most complete system mathematical system.
Descartes was unable to proceed any further than his first premise with absolute certainty.
It is my 'thought' (irony here) that Descartes couldn't really even say he thought. So his first premise takes him nowhere from the very beginning.

- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Kermit]

“Geometry, however, is still considered to be the most complete systemmathematical system.”
That explains why I never understood it. Seriously.

 

[Will Gilmore]

“Geometry, however, is still considered to be the most complete systemmathematical system.”
That explains why I never understood it. Seriously.

Oops - "system mathematical system" you know what I mean.

You're a sailor. Geometry should be easy for you. You know how to DR navigate, don't you? I used this to teach Geometry for my masters classes in education. My students were surprised both that it was that easy and that sailors really used it to navigate with. And those guys were adults. You know how many masters students don't know how or when to use a standard deviation? And we all had the same statistics courses. Yet, it was thrown around like first grade reading words.

- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[jssailem]

Spot.. See Jack... See Jack run.. Run Jack Run... Run to the rum.. Run Spot run... See Jack drink the Rum... See Jack stagger...

That will be all boys and girls for today....

 

[Meriachee]

I sail, therefore I am.

Yes but what ever became of the dock about to be hurt in the kite thread?

 

[Sailm8]

Favorite book I re-read every few years:
Sensible Cruising: The Thoreau Approach : A Philosophic and Practical Approach to Cruising

 

[Kermit]

Oops - "system mathematical system" you know what I mean.

Actually, no I don’t. I really don’t. I know what math is but geometry may as well have been advanced nuclear physics. (And nuclear physics is unclear to me.) The only thing I know about geometry is that’s what the acorn said when it looked down at itself after growing a few years.

 

[Kermit]

Yes but what ever became of the dock about to be hurt in the kite thread?

We tied up there this past Sunday to buy ice cream for our grandchildren. The dock is in fine shape.