Description
This volume reveals the wisdom we can learn from sailing, a sport that pits human skills against the elements, tests the mettle and is a rich source of valuable lessons in life.
- Unravels the philosophical mysteries behind one of the oldest organized human activities
- Features contributions from philosophers and academics as well as from sailors themselves
- Enriches appreciation of the sport by probing its meaning and value
- Brings to life the many applications of philosophy to sailing and the profound lessons it can teach us
- A thought-provoking read for sailors and philosophers alike
Table of Contents
Foreword: The Craft and the Mystery viii
John Rousmaniere
The Philosophical Sailor: An Introduction to Sailing – Philosophy for Everyone xiv
Patrick Goold
Acknowledgments xxiii
Part 1 Passing Through Pain and Fear In the Place of Perpetual Undulation 1
1 Ships of Wood and Men of Iron: Voyaging the Old-Fashioned Way and Seeking Meaning in Adversity 3
Jack Stillwaggon
2 Winning Philosophy: Developing Patience, Inner Strength, and an Eye for the Good Lanes 12
Gary Jobson
3 “Hard a’ Lee”: Why the Work of Sailing Can Be Great Fun 23
Crista Lebens
4 Solo Sailing as Spiritual Practice: A Phenomenology of Mastery and Failure at Sea 36
Richard Hutch
Part 2 the Meaning of the Boat Three Schools of Thought 47
5 Buddha’s Boat: The Practice of Zen in Sailing 49
James Whitehill
6 Freedom of the Seas: The Stoic Sailor 61
Gregory Bassham and Tod Bassham
7 Sailors of the Third Kind: Sailing and Self-Becoming in the Shadow of Heraclitus 72
Steven Horrobin
Part 3 Beauty and other Aesthetic Aspects Of the Sailing Experience 83
8 What the Race to Mackinac Means 85
Nicholas Hayes
9 Sailing, Flow, and Fulfillment 96
Steve Matthews
10 On the Crest of the Wave: The Sublime, Tempestuous, Graceful, and Existential Facets of Sailing 109
Jesús Ilundáin-Agurruza, Luísa Gagliardini Graça, and José Ángel Jáuregui-Olaiz
11 Navigating What Is Valuable and Steering a Course in Pursuit of Happiness 122
Jesse Steinberg and Michael Stuckart
Part 4 Physics and Metaphysics for The Philosophical Sailor 133
12 Do You Have to Be (an) Einstein to Understand Sailing? 135
Sebastian Kuhn
13 Paradoxes of Sailing: The Physics of Sailing and the Import of Thought Experiments 148
John D. Norton
14 The Necessity of Sailing: Of Gods, Fate, and the Sea 164
Tamar M. Rudavsky and Nathaniel Rudavsky-Brody
15 The Channel: An Old Drama by Which the Soul of a Healthy Man is Kept Alive 176
Hilaire Belloc
Notes on Contributors 180
