blue boat home
For over a decade, Mak-eh-nuk's Fin has carried me on adventures, mostly in my own backyard of the Chesapeake Bay and southcentral PA, as well as the east coast barrier islands of Assateague and Chincoteague. I grew up a drylandlubber, on a horse, and like Horse, the Kayak carries you on the Journey. In a kayak... or a wooden boat with sails... you feel the wind and the shape of the waves, you see the diving tern and the eagle circling overhead, hear the wail of the gulls in the dark. There's no engine roar, no smell of deisel, only the real world. There's a folk song by Peter Mayer called Blue Boat Home which sums it all up... (click on the pic above for a youtube video of the song).
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Set to the hymn Hyfrydol by Rowland Huw Prichard.
Though below me I feel no motion Standing on these mountains and plains Far away from the rolling ocean Still my dry land heart can say I've been sailing all my life now Never harbor nor port have I known The wide universe is the ocean I travel And the Earth is my blue boat home Sun, my sail and moon, my rudder As I ply the starry sea Leaning over the edge in wonder Casting questions into the deep Drifting here with my ship's companions All we kindred pilgrim souls Making our way by the lights of the heavens In our beautiful blue boat home 
Viking Longship Sae Hrafn. longshipco.org, Oakley Maryland. We like the public to come row...er..sail with us. Fun crew of knowledgeable amateur historians, and one rocket scientist.
Over the bow of Mak-eh-nuk's Fin at Point Lookout State Park, mouth of the Potomac River, where it meets the Chesapeake Bay.
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I give thanks to the waves upholding me Hail the great winds urging me on Greet the infinite sea before me Sing the sky my sailor's song I was born upon the fathoms Never harbor or port have I known The wide universe is the ocean I travel And the Earth is my blue boat home The wide universe is the ocean I travel And the Earth is my blue boat home 
Kalmar Nyckel: Delaware's tall ship. Reproduction of the ship which brought colonists to Wilmington in the 1630s. Does great pirate sails for the public.
Kalmar Nyckel is carved and painted in the style of Dutch ships of the 1600s... and unusual in her blueness. No one painted ships blue: blue ships attracted blue water and sank. Only the Dutch seemed to ignore this legend of the sea.
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