I published and am about to publish another nonfiction adventure sailing book and I just realized that I left out an important element in the whole narrative: The empty sea.

Imagine leaving for a long passage, trans-Atlantic or from Brazil to Florida. Weeks at sea without a landfall can be pretty romantic…At times, not all the time. Most of us have a pretty good handle on what the ocean is. Coral reefs, beautiful sunsets, catching fish, eating fish are all on our menu.

However, the fact is that most all of the things that tweak our romance button about the sea occur near the shore. After a week on a long voyage, especially if no storms come up, we start to realize that the view remains the same, not much different from running a tractor in Kansas.

Sunset and sunrise last about an hour each, that’s two hours a day of something to look at. If you are lucky enough to be sailing with your lover then there is another hour of sex each day if you are on good terms and the seas state permits. Navigation and cooking count for another two hours.

So, now we’re up to five out of twenty-four hours each day.

Just how long can you stare at an empty horizon??