This volume reveals the wisdom we can learn from sailing, a sport
that pits human skills against the elements, tests the mettle and
is a rich source of valuable lessons in life.
* Unravels the philosophical mysteries behind one of the oldest
organized human activities
* Features contributions from philosophers and academics as well
as from sailors themselves
* Enriches appreciation of the sport by probing its meaning and
value
* Brings to life the many applications of philosophy to sailing
and the profound lessons it can teach us
* A thought-provoking read for sailors and philosophers
alike
Table of Content
Foreword: The Craft and the Mystery viii
John Rousmaniere
The Philosophical Sailor: An Introduction to Sailing – Philosophy for Everyone xiv
Patrick Goold
Acknowledgments xxiii
Part 1 Passing Through Pain and Fear In the Place of Perpetual Undulation 1
1 Ships of Wood and Men of Iron: Voyaging the Old-Fashioned Way and Seeking Meaning in Adversity 3
Jack Stillwaggon
2 Winning Philosophy: Developing Patience, Inner Strength, and an Eye for the Good Lanes 12
Gary Jobson
3 ‘Hard a’ Lee’: Why the Work of Sailing Can Be Great Fun 23
Crista Lebens
4 Solo Sailing as Spiritual Practice: A Phenomenology of Mastery and Failure at Sea 36
Richard Hutch
Part 2 the Meaning of the Boat Three Schools of Thought 47
5 Buddha’s Boat: The Practice of Zen in Sailing 49
James Whitehill
6 Freedom of the Seas: The Stoic Sailor 61
Gregory Bassham and Tod Bassham
7 Sailors of the Third Kind: Sailing and Self-Becoming in the Shadow of Heraclitus 72
Steven Horrobin
Part 3 Beauty and other Aesthetic Aspects Of the Sailing Experience 83
8 What the Race to Mackinac Means 85
Nicholas Hayes
9 Sailing, Flow, and Fulfillment 96
Steve Matthews
10 On the Crest of the Wave: The Sublime, Tempestuous, Graceful, and Existential Facets of Sailing 109
Jesús Ilundáin-Agurruza, Luísa Gagliardini Graça, and José Ángel Jáuregui-Olaiz
11 Navigating What Is Valuable and Steering a Course in Pursuit of Happiness 122
Jesse Steinberg and Michael Stuckart
Part 4 Physics and Metaphysics for The Philosophical Sailor 133
12 Do You Have to Be (an) Einstein to Understand Sailing? 135
Sebastian Kuhn
13 Paradoxes of Sailing: The Physics of Sailing and the Import of Thought Experiments 148
John D. Norton
14 The Necessity of Sailing: Of Gods, Fate, and the Sea 164
Tamar M. Rudavsky and Nathaniel Rudavsky-Brody
15 The Channel: An Old Drama by Which the Soul of a Healthy Man is Kept Alive 176
Hilaire Belloc
Notes on Contributors 180
About the author
Editor
Patrick Goold is Associate Professor of Philosophy at
Virginia Wesleyan College. His current research focuses on defining
rationality. He is co-editor with Steven Emmanuel of the Blackwell
anthology Modern Philosophy from Descartes to Nietzsche.
Patrick is passionate about sailing, and, in addition to
maintaining a small daysailer and a cruising boat of his own,
frequently crews on the boats of others. The bays and sounds of
Virginia and North Carolina are his home waters but he has sailed
the length of the East Coast of the United States from Hilton Head
to Long Island Sound, made a Bermuda crossing, done club racing in
Brittany, and cruised in the Lesser Antilles.
Series Editor
Fritz Allhoff is an Associate Professor in the Philosophy
department at Western Michigan University, as well as a senior
research fellow at the Australian National University’s
Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics. In addition
to editing the Philosophy for Everyone series, he is also
the volume editor or co-editor for several titles, including
Wine and Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007), Whiskey and
Philosophy (with Marcus P. Adams, Wiley, 2009), and Food and
Philosophy (with Dave Monroe, Wiley-Blackwell,
2007). His academic research interests engage various
facets of applied ethics, ethical theory, and the history and
philosophy of science.
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