First day sailing – The Cabin Boy’s letter
From L’Escala to somewhere north Balearic Islands, south french coast
Sincerely, I don’t know how to start these letters. In the stories you told it would be something like «Dear Father, I write these lines ….». Anyway, I don’t even know when I’ll send them, I’m not exactly going into the jungle, but since I can hardly find mailboxes in our neighborhood, imagine how will I to find them in another country. Nevertheless, I’ll stick with your idea of writing a little every day so I can send everything once I find a mailbox or something similar.
As I told you in my previous letter, we set sail from L’Escala this morning and the “Mare Nostrum” has welcomed us with open arms. With a splendid day, with the sun reflecting in the waves, with a refreshing breeze which barely blew the sails of the Acrobat, so soft that we needed help from the engine room to get some speed.
That first contact with the sea was very good. The truth is I’ve enjoyed the first teachings of Diego and
Fernando, understanding the real meaning of some terminology that I already knew by word from books and movies:starboard, larboard, bow, stern, jib…
I’ve learned some maneuvers and very basic concepts of navigation. I also got ready the daily tasks of reviewing onboard technologies that I’ll repeat several times a day, every day. We just stopped to ate something, the afternoon came and I still was spellbound.
By nightfall, with no land in sight, sitting on the deck and watching the sunset behind Fernando, who was at
the helm while Diego was resting for a while at the cabin, a harrowing thought came to my head. Only then,
despite having read about it hundreds of times and having heard you say it as many others, I became
aware of the immensity of the sea and that only a few centimeters of different materials separated us from a
hostile environment for human beings.
Far from freaking out, the fact is that the first thing that came to my mind was the idea of someone, not very different from me (perhaps with more hair), thinking long time ago that the fish are larger the farther you throw the net and that maybe if he could ride in that trunk left by the tide into the water…
A deep marine thinking
Almost at the same time, I remembered a phrase Diego said this very morning, during his «accelerated
navigation course for earthlings», one of those that sounds recited from teacher to student through
generations:»The rudder is what makes a floating thing a boat».
So I realized that is wasn’t the few centimeters of fiberglass, wood and metal which were protecting us from an environment that is not our own, it is our expertise which allows us to master the sea, seize its currents, use the wind and twist it to lead us where we want to go …
Adieu
That’s how I conclude my first writing night, perhaps comforted by some beverage I could drink as I am exempted from this first watch, reconciled with a humanity that has learned to adapt to his environment and
overcome natural barriers, transcending them as a species. If we managed to accomplish that, how much
easier it would be to overcome the barriers that we have set ourselves and become a better society.
Tomorrow more, now I’m going to bed and let Poseidon cradle me while he is benevolent to our boat.
Juan Sebastian Pym
Spanish 
English