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October 22, 1998
San Francisco to Hawaii, Second Attempt. Update #31
31. Date: Thu, 22 Oct 98 04:01:11 GMT
Latitude: 28 degrees 02.140 minutes North
Longitude: 133 degrees 59.241 minutes West
Wind ??, Calm
Heading 220 degrees(M)
Seems like we've hit the doldrums -in the middle of high pressure that came South and robbed us of any following wind and wave- means we'll just have to pedal instead (er-just kidding!). The wind generator and solar panels haven't kept up so this will be a shortie as power is low.
Yesterday we answerd a question from the Classroom Expedition; What do you VALUE most (on the boat)? Interesting question... Especially as the removal of external distractions and absence of usual chatter of twentyth century living helps to clarify such a key question that rarely gets asked enough on land. The objective of raising such a question -in context with the topic Materials and Goods being studied at present by schools -is to discriminate between our needs vs perceived needs in life, a concept central to the Classroom Expedition project. Our consumption patterns our molded by such discrimination or non-discrimination, and correspondingly the effect they have on other people and the environment both localy and globaly. It's a question that any responsible human being should perhaps ask themselves as often as possible. Our lifestle on Moksha has to be honed down to the bare essentials.
This is a list of what Steve and I curently value on the boat:
1. In some ways we miss the telephone, to hear voices of freends and family. But good to be away from it for a while too, because technology can dominate and take you over sometimes -especialy TV, which is nearly always an escape from life rather than a real value.
2.Jason values fresh bread, M&Ms, cabbage, wooly socks, H20, music, writing mat, laughter and companionship, memorys of friends and family. Steve values Jason, Moksha, H20, fresh food, journal, books, warm jacket, imagination, candy, "trooper" mascot, "Sentry" ship alert and sunshine.
One thing on the boat however ht my partner views as 'low val' is the violin I brought along. Thurday was calm enough to sit out on deck and saw through a couple of blistering renditions of 'Three Blind Mice'. I was informed shortly afterwards that if any mice had been unfortunate enough to be within earshot of such a hellish cacauphony they'd be deaf by now as well as blind -probably dumb too. Genius has to start somewhere I retort -taking comfort in the thought that Mozzart must have sounded like this once too. -Jason
Lewis & Smith,
The Moksha crew
Posted on October 22, 1998 6:10 PM