During our early travels in a moment of crisis, Eric made his way to the mast and had a moment with the powers that be. A message came to him in his mind:

“Sail the wind you have, not the wind you want!”

Very recently, Eric was talking with some close friends about this message. These friends are equestrian lovers – there is a similar idea related to riding horses:

“Ride the horse you’re on, not someone else’s.”

The message Eric received has been an important one aboard Kandu for all four of us. Crew RigneysKandu holds onto that idea along with two others: the Sea Bee motto, “We Kandu!” and the Boy Scout Motto, “Be Prepared!” along with a strong understanding that “Change is Constant.”

While recently helping my parents move from their home in Oakland, in conversation with an older gentleman, I recited Eric’s phrase “Sail the wind you have, not the wind you want,” and he immediately started to recite the following poem:

Tis the Set of the Sail: One Ship Sails East

But to every mind there openeth,
A way, and way, and away,
A high soul climbs the highway,
And the low soul gropes the low,
And in between on the misty flats,
The rest drift to and fro.

But to every man there openeth,
A high way and a low,
And every mind decideth,
The way his soul shall go.

One ship sails East,
And another West,
By the self-same winds that blow,
‘Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales,
That tells the way we go.

Like the winds of the sea
Are the waves of time,
As we journey along through life,
‘Tis the set of the soul,
That determines the goal,
And not the calm or the strife.