Why I Am A Cruiser -- Richard Halliburton

Amateur self-psychoanalysis is a risky business. Another wisdom, from the Greeks, is: "Know thyself!" Do these views conflict? In any event:

While we were in Vancouver BC last month, I toured two local used book stores. In one of them I found, but did not buy, a book about Richard Halliburton. Never heard of him? I think few folks today would recognize the name. He was very popular in the 1920s and 30s. My elementary school library had some of his books. I read them in the fifth grade and was a fan.

Halliburton was an adventurer, mostly by water, who wrote books about his odd ball adventures, many of which involved water. Examples:
Diving into the lake in which the Aztecs sacrificed virgins;
Swimming in the pools of the gardens of the Taj Mahal;
Swimming the length of the Panama Canal during two days, and, since they charged by displacement, paying the lowest passage fee in the history of the Canal. I remember his report on how much his muscles were restored during his night of sleep.
I had nor known until I looked him up that he lost his life at age 39 in 1939 aboard a Chinese junk that he had caused to built and was sailing from China to San Francisco when it was confronted by a typhoon.

I was a fan and wanted to have watery adventures too. And now I am enjoying them.

My first overnight hike with the Boy Scouts was at age 11, in a camp on Staten Island. My Mom looked at me from the window of our apartment in Washington Heights as I headed off to join the troop. Decades later she told me that I surprised her by never looking back. I like adventures. But I also like to return home.

Racing in sailboats around the bouys is fun and exciting but does not get you away from home enough. Cruising does. And doing so with the one you love is ideal.