Sailing, surfing, scuba, kayaking, water sports. Sailing Nashville and Seattle. Sailing solo across pacific. Motivational true life story, my story. 2018 vid...

Closed Captions (CC):
all right here goes nothing ahoy mate

remember mr. toad that Wild Ride going

nowhere that ended in help or that

scream machine roller coaster ride that

unfortunately always ended where you

started or perhaps a Hydra or mind

bender so you could go stand in line

again and wait I hope you brought the

duct tape a really big one then in time

your life was reduced to cheap thrills

weaklings and paychecks having been cut

off from the ocean for three years I

needed to find a way back to throw or

hurl myself to it again somehow I had to

rediscover my skill set purpose and

passion plus rediscover my will to live

and love the ocean and time would once

again become my greatest lover and

friend I knew what it was to be a

captain Rescue Diver marine naturalist

activist seer surfer I was about to

discover what the ultimate surfer is

there are those who surf dive studies

sail and play in the ocean then there

are the big wave surfers pelagic

Waterman and new water sailors who live

in the liquid life we are ocean

Mavericks mermen and mermaids I soon

found myself locked into the ultimate

adventure engaged with the sea as a

merman sailor surfer both to ride and

wipeout into her the freedom and embrace

of the endless ocean is a wild bliss

beyond that of landlubbing orgasms I'd

operated hundreds of power boards or

vessels and small ships but never

hoisted a sail the harness the energy of

the wind and ride the waves across the

greatest wilderness known to humankind

the Pacific Ocean that covers half the

planet 20 years earlier I had a dream

and the night the black sailboat in the

tropical Pacific I had no idea that was

in the makings as reality that finally

for the first time I own my own house

come home to say

I was fortunate to be one of only two

captains in the 30-year history of a

hundred thousand passengers and numerous

charter vessels to have never had an

incident with this case boats have sunk

gone aground severely damaged people

died and been hospitalized it's located

in the roughest channel of the Isles of

Hawaii and between swells that fill

compressed clothes and blow out to our

sort windows of time to get in and get

out

this cave maneuver was stopped and may

be illegal by the US Coast Guard while I

was still recovering from my own cage

I was thriving had a happy life on Maui

Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean as a charter

boat captain want to be edgy entertainer

and naturalist I got hurt really bad

a left shoulder socket dislocated got

jammed under my shoulder blade 270

degrees slap tear Bankart lesion had to

undergo surgery frozen shoulder torn

twisted tissues and nerves across my

back gave way to a cease and pain for

two years that literally dropped me off

to the ground when a flare-up came out

of nowhere

my employer wrongfully and prematurely

terminated estoppel medical coverage

early on a year and a half prior to

recovery no one's seemed to believe I

would recover the suffocating darkness

of tragedy continued the Great Recession

torched the economy any chance I had

going forward to work otherwise vanished

a girlfriend partner promised to be

faded as a long dark night of the soul

wore on I found myself alone at the

swimming pool in Nashville I looked at

the pool barely able to eke out a side

stroke and stated and three months I

will swim a mile using every stroke

often I cried at nights and agonizing

pain dreaming and longing to be with my

wild dolphin whale steel turtle fish and

shark fins my surgeon and therapists had

no idea

I dare not ask to reveal my pool

undertakings two and a half months later

I swam a mile using every stroke in 30

minutes I imagined my sea critter

friends with me

six months later I swam a mile in 27

minutes once I felt good and totally

lost only then could I discover what

otherwise I'd never know it's like

finding an island not on the charts far

away from my homeland a few friends

introduced me to sailing on what I

called Lake Tennessee

having been a captain for many years I

got a little dinghy plus a 48-foot

Skookum sailboat to fix up and go sail

half the planet I've always liked boats

especially ocean-going ones because in

many ways they're like a good woman they

like it rough

get emotional like to be touched want

attention if you take good care of such

it'll save your life sooner than later

or later than sooner together we would

mend one another after a cold winter in

Seattle I host a sail for the first time

in my life into the Summer Sun sailing

is very intimidating especially on the

open ocean I did not know where I was

going except I was on my way to go south

with a few month pitstop haul out in the

story of Oregon that maybe Mexico Tahiti

in her Isles Hawaii or some other place

with a stop in Southern California

perhaps it was midlife crisis and like

many teenagers have asked where are you

going my answer out what are you doing

nothing when will you be back don't know

the first night brought a strong Gale

from the Pacific into the strait so I

entered down inside the Lee of Dungeness

spit waited to the second day to

navigate the notoriously rough waters

usually serving as a blockade to the

Pacific surprisingly a welcoming calm

opened the gateway to half the planet

[Applause]

we make our way out of the straightest

there is a us contrary to what some

thought I was not running away I was

running towards something I had no sense

of daring death though others saw this

is some ultimate game or a dance with

death

I simply had decided I'd rather die

living than live dying sometimes a man

just has to do but he must against the

odds and alone otherwise a man he will

not be sometimes sailing away has

nothing to do with weakness and

everything to do a strength we walk or

sail away not because we want others to

realize our Worth and value but because

we finally realize our own and need to

spread our wings from a dark hakuna into

the gardens

you