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Category: Sailing Life

In Which We Don’t Sail Into the Sunset

a sailing chart
January 21, 2026January 21, 2026 ~ Kana Smith ~ 21 Comments

Last weekend we drove one last time to our boat, to finish cleaning it out. My mom and I had gotten the bulk of things moved out, a couple months back. She and I were there for a "girls' weekend" when I arrived at the realization that we should probably sell it---an epiphany that had … Continue reading In Which We Don’t Sail Into the Sunset

Podcast Debrief

cartoon of a woman standing in a rowboat holding a fishing pole with a white whale on the other end, saying "NOW what?"
October 28, 2025November 6, 2025 ~ Kana Smith ~ 3 Comments

For all my angst-ing ahead of time ("On the Subject of Being the Subject"), I very much enjoyed my conversation with Josh Pantalleresco of "Just Joshing". Although it occurs to me that I did rather deflect from being-the-subject by asking him questions... You would too, I think---he's literally walking and hitching across continents (Canada, then … Continue reading Podcast Debrief

The Turtle-Shell Autobiography

drawing of a sea turtle
October 15, 2025October 23, 2025 ~ Kana Smith ~ 1 Comment

Baby green sea turtles hatch on the beaches of Baja California on the Sea of Cortez, hump their way toward the water, and vanish in the surf. They vanish for five years, before they return to those beaches to lay their own eggs. In his achingly lyrical Telling Our Way to the Sea, Aaron Hirsch … Continue reading The Turtle-Shell Autobiography

On Hobbits & Hobbit-Holes

a marine-themed study
October 11, 2025October 11, 2025 ~ Kana Smith ~ 4 Comments

One of my favorite coffee mugs was a gift from my sister, covered all over with "famous first lines" of novels. I have a degree in English literature, and I still had to look a few of them up---I guess they can't all be "Call me Ishmael." But I do think there's one first line … Continue reading On Hobbits & Hobbit-Holes

What Dreams are Shaped Like

sailing chart atop a sailboat cabin
October 7, 2025October 7, 2025 ~ Kana Smith ~ 4 Comments

The summer I was 17, my uncle took my younger sister and me for a live-aboard week sailing around Lake Michigan. It was the beginning of my love-affair. I was already on a course toward Marine Biology studies, didn't yet have "my" lighthouse tattooed on my arm, but was on that course too, captivated by … Continue reading What Dreams are Shaped Like

“This is What We Do.”

September 11, 2023September 12, 2023 ~ Kana Smith ~ 1 Comment

I've been obsessed with the ocean since before my teens, but it was my Uncle Dick who "infected" me with the love of sailing. I took the official ASA courses later on in adulthood, but it was my uncle & aunt ("Captain Grunk" & "First Mate Cookie," as they have ever-after been known to us) … Continue reading “This is What We Do.”

The Ship’s Cat Wants a Ship’s Goose

July 12, 2023July 15, 2023 ~ Kana Smith ~ 3 Comments

Our boat is in her slip at Tacoma, motorsailed there last week from Seattle by our boat-broker, Lee, with "a couple he knows from O-Dock" (I love the community-ness of docks-and-boaters). Lee took this photo of Seattle's skyline from our boat.. This is the busiest, craziest, hardest month for us to get away from the … Continue reading The Ship’s Cat Wants a Ship’s Goose

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"As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas, and land on barbarous coasts."

~ Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

  1. yusefasabiyah's avatar
    yusefasabiyah on In Which We Don’t Sail Into the SunsetFebruary 16, 2026

    Owning the boat was associated with beautiful dreams of romance and adventure. If you sell the boat, you'll have a…

  2. judy thompson's avatar
    judy thompson on The Accidental Cat LadyFebruary 3, 2026

    I suspect we have a magic 'hobo' sign on our mailbox, for forty + years cats have wandered up our…

  3. Metal Odyssey's avatar
    Metal Odyssey on What is WRONG With People?January 31, 2026

    After reading this, all I can say is you have a soul of gold to put up with such Neanderthal…

  4. Jimena's avatar
    Jimena on In Which We Don’t Sail Into the SunsetJanuary 29, 2026

    It looks good on you ;) In my case, it"s not like it has completely disappeared from my belongings... Once…

  5. Kana Smith's avatar
    Kana Smith on In Which We Don’t Sail Into the SunsetJanuary 29, 2026

    My "teal phase" has lasted four decades, and shows no sign of waning. ;)

"It is not down on any map; true places never are"

~ Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

What is WRONG With People? A Pain in the Neck If the Present is a Gift, so is the Past Cow Physiology 101 The “Year in Books” On the Palm Tree as an Antidepressant Untitled Dragon Biography The Christmas-Tree Trade-In
  • When you Assume... you make an ASS out of U & ME
  • Hunting for Answers in Pink Camo: Why is it...
  • Marginalia & Time-Travel
  • Mythbusters Edition: "Depression is Just in Your Head"
  • Looking for YA Reading Recommendations
  • On the Ethics of Storytelling, and the Art of Making Shit Up
  • One of My Very Bad Habits
  • History of a Helm-Hog
  • Pushed Over the Edge?
  • Burning the Script

"Not all those who wander are lost."

~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

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