Voyage of Loneliness

Dedicated To: Oralia Culler

Author's Note
The Ultimate Solo Challenge will soon begin, this around the world yacht race is called VELUX 5 OCEANS, is one of the most established, continuously run, single-handed round the world yacht race. It has taken place every four years since 1982. The race is the longest and toughest event, for any individual in any sport, October 22, of 2006, the race will begin, and the skippers will sail over 30,000 miles of ocean alone, facing all the extremes that nature can throw at them, this poem is dedicated in to these few brave men who dare to challenge nature, and all its elements.....

I've seen the majestic stars twinkling brightly, beneath the shadows of a moonless night
Watched the sparkles of the Northern Lights, in the coldness of a Norwegian fjord

I've crossed the oceans, so many times without the feel of solid ground, to support my aging feet
And seen so many different sites in my travels around this world

For I've sailed upon the seven seas, watching swells of cresting waves, swirling within the undulations, of a unforgiving mass
But what I remember most, which remains deep within my thoughts

Is the loneliness felt, in the vastness of the ocean, which lies beneath my keel
Its been six weeks since I left Bilbao, Spain, on an early October morn on route to Fremantle, Australia, by early December, on the first leg of the race

With a lay over to rest my weary bones, I'll pursue a trek towards America
On the banks of the Chesapeake Bay, hoping to make Norfolk, by mid March in the early part of next year

Then cross the wild Atlantic, back to Bilbao, to claim the prize I hope to win by the middle of April, I pray
That is if I'm able to keep my sanity, in this God forsaken abyss

Which is to be my home for the next six months, how lonely will I be
As I ponder aboard my solo yacht, which protects me from the mysteries which lie below the water line, within this endless wake

I think of God so high above, and say a prayer to him, please dear Lord, give me strength to cope with the feelings I have inside my heart
Alone at sea without a friend to convey the many thoughts, which resides so deep in me

If you could keep me in a frame of mind, which will hold me in one piece
And let me finish, what I've started, to reach the end I seek

Then I'll know I've given my best, win or lose, I've been faithful to the quest
And passed the test, and the prize called life, I've won

Written by: Roland R. Ruiz
September 04, 2006