Quotes tagged with 'sailing'

I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it's because in addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light changes, and ships change, it's because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea - whether it is to sail or to watch it - we are going back from whence we came.
—John F. Kennedy / Remarks at the Dinner for the America's Cup Crews sailing

Never lost, just hard to find.
—John Kretschmer sailing

One consistently false notion that new sailors maintain is that their boat has to be strong enough to out-muscle the sea. I am here to tell you that the sea is pretty damn muscular, and any thoughts of bullying it are utterly misguided. You want your boat to make friends with the sea, that’s what an ocean-going design is all about, friendship.
—John Kretschmer / Sailing to the Edge of Time sailing

And time, the most precious commodity of all, far more valuable than gold, has been devalued as people are forced to squander it in a terribly backward equation - trading it for money. Just how crazy is that? Who, when their allotment of time is all but spent, would not trade every bit of gold for just a fraction more time?
—John Kretschmer life philosophy sailing

She loved the sea. She liked the sharp salty smell of the air, and the vastness of the horizons bounded only by a vault of azure sky above. It made her feel small, but free as well.
—George R.R. Martin / A Storm of Swords sailing

The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.
—Christopher Mc Candless life sailing

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
—H. L. Mencken life sailing

That's what sailing is, a dance, and your partner is the sea. And with the sea you never take liberties. You ask her, you don't tell her. You have to remember always that she's the leader, not you. You and your boat are dancing to her tune.
—Michael Morpurgo / Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea sailing

I loved cruising the coast of Maine . For one thing, it helped me conquer my fear of fog. Not that I have learned to feel secure in the fog, but at least I have learned how to grope without panic.
—Herb Payson sailing

All great adventures have moments that are really crap.
—Ellen Potter life sailing