Preview: Tom Robinson Rows Across the Pacific, Part 11 – The Inner Glow
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August 3, 2023
Email this Video to a FriendTom shows us that being alone at sea alone for five months gives a person a lot of time to think.
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5 Responses So Far to “Tom Robinson Rows Across the Pacific, Part 11 – The Inner Glow”
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David and Margaret Tew says:
Tom’s Inner Glow and thoughts about Death:
At Tom’s age I took the chance to leave college and sail across the Atlantic. I was on a schooner, so it wasn’t a solitary voyage like his but I had similar spiritual moments of contemplation and realization.
There was a singular night just after six bells (11 pm) when I was lying on my pallet mattress atop the nav hut admiring the vastness of the Milky Way. It was a moonless night without a cloud in the sky. The span of stars was so bright that had I a book in my hands I could have read by them. A light breeze set the masthead circling overhead, the mainsheet creaking and blocks on deck rattling softly as they were lifted and fell.
The man at the helm was softly humming to himself in the red shimmer of the compass light as he turned a few spokes to respond to the ship’s wandering path. Our bosun appeared on deck stepping over the polished brass step of the scuttle on the foredeck to have a look around and speak quietly to the lookout aloft. Satisfied he backed down into the forepeak, has face alight from below, relaxed and warmed.
It’s not too much to say I experienced these almost as hallucinations: they are marvelously vivid even now. I was there; I was but a speck in the universe. Things were far realer, far more in detail, far richer than life. And I believed in the moment I could go on until there was no end to it, even beyond death.
David and Margaret Tew says:
I happened to notice something odd on Tom’s Livetracker. It seems there are two distinct and different Tongas shown in the Pacific; One northeast of where he is now and the other southeast. Does anyone know if that’s correct?
Dave Mitchell says:
The thing I miss the most about boat life, having done it for nearly 20 years, is that simplicity, and the bond that builds in a couple who spend so much time together. Now we live in a house and the demands on our time for just the day to day stuff is a very big part of every day.
So keep on rowing Tom, you’ll miss it when it’s over, but I’m sure there is more adventures ahead.
Scott barnaby says:
Huzzah Tom……for sharing your inner life…..being vulnerable. Many thanks!
Ed Altonji says:
The positive influence this young man has and will have on the world around him is amazing. Tom may not fully grasp that at the moment – I’m glad for that.