Rose Passage
We provisioned and prepared as best we could for the 3000 nautical mile passage ahead. The quaint Mexican metropolis of La Paz provided ample varieties of canned beans, spices, sauces and fresh produce from the market. Abundance overflowed from the local convenience stores onto the decks, into the cockpit, and eventually methodically into the nooks, crannies, and even the bilges of the boat. The only thing missing on my list, however, was a specialty item, a tropical plant that couldn’t be procured from the barren, cactus-studded cliffs of the Baja Peninsula.
But the universe has a way of providing exactly what we need, when we need it. And, when sailing, there comes a definitive moment in time when the stars align, a weather window opens up, and you just gotta go. So, you go with what you got.
The last time I set sail on the s/v Ticket To Ride was from Hanalei Bay, Kauai one year prior. To bless our voyage north to Alaska, we were gifted a bundle of lau kī, or ti leaves (Cordyline terminalis) from the sacred-kept grounds of the Princeville Botanical Gardens. As a part of the traditional Hawaiian Ho’ola’la Wa’a (canoe blessing ceremony), the four corners of Ticket were adorned with lau kĪ for protection. For, lau kī imbues qualities of resilience, good fortune, and mana (divine power or life force).
This time, as the s/v Ticket To Ride set sail from Baja, Mexico bearing south towards French Polynesia, our bundle of sacred lau kī was substituted for a bouquet of roses from Walmart.
In their own way, both lau kī and rose offer protection. While one is an esoteric Polynesian panacea, the other is an international phenomena. Roses have been revered throughout human history, recorded in ancient texts and sacred scrolls and venerable medicinal practices. Rose symbology spans generations, cultures, and religions. And today, as science begins to bridge the connection between spiritual sentiment and quantifiable reason, we can acknowledge rose for emitting an electromagnetic frequency of 320 MHz, the highest vibration of all flowers.
Fastened to the bow, rose seemed to clear the skies and part the seas as we made headway. Squalls loomed on the horizon and storms appeared on our radar, but no more than a light sprinkle and slight wind surge dusted the decks. Even the infamously treacherous weather systems of the ITCZ skirted around the periphery of our course, allowing us to cruise along the rhumb line unscathed.
I’m not claiming that the ceremonial application of rose determined the outcome of our passage, but I am expressing an observation of vibrational correlation. It was as if we were shielded from foreboding forces, allowing fair winds, following seas and sunshine to be the reality our elemental experience.
Granted, we were set up for success. We were operating as a cohesive team of four, with areas of expertise delegated appropriately and precise navigational instrumentation at our fingertips. We were aboard an elite, high-performance sailing catamaran capable of pinching upwind at 40° TWA (resulting 25-30° AWA), surfing 20+ foot swell, and pushing a 25+ knot boat speed without blinking an eye. We had everything we needed to maneuver through whatever weather was thrown our way. Regardless of the elements at play, as our captain liked to say, “the conditions [were always] perfect.”
Like rose projects a particular aroma into the atmosphere, as does our perspective. The term rose colored lens is layered with meaning. We see what we want to see, right? Well, there’s also something to be said about perspective and, therein, the energy (which can now be scientifically measured) that we project into the world around us. Because the world around us is as alive as we are. It responds and reacts and engages as much as we do. Plants breathe. The sea heaves. Weather systems swirl in a coordinated calibration with currents converging and diverging across the globe.
So, perhaps our idyllic voyage was a combination of all the cooperative components involved: the vessel, its impressive means of propulsion, nourishing provisions, good-hearted people, collective perspective, and agreeable weather patterns. One way or another, we made landfall in Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia safely, soundly and with a few rose petals still standing guard.
For a more comprehensive review of our passage from Mexico to the Marquesas, Mary Grace’s has covered it all here: https://hh55tickettoride.com/
