From a landlubber's perspective.
From a landlubber's perspective, a slip is a convenient extension of the
land upon which he can transition to the water although he never quite
feels comfortable there. A slip is set up by the landlubber, for the
landlubber and is a device solely of the landlubber.
A slip may be viewed as a remote garage of sorts. It 'houses' the boat
and keeps it securely tied to land which any lubber thinks is the
superior place to be. A safe place, a secure place and a familiar. The
lubber considers a slip a jumping off place from the security of land to
the dangers of the watery world. It's all rather like coming out of the
womb and jumping right back in when it's more comfy to do so.
Any way you look at it, a slip is just another lubberly delusion. It's a
way of looking at the world with a land mass as the center of the
viewer's existence.
Now, let's take a philosophical look at a mooring. A good mooring is
where a sailor can secure his vessel in the vessel's true environment -
the water and the weather and the current and the unfettered elements. A
mooring is a convenient and safe place to stop a while for rest, refit,
re-provision, etc. From a mooring a sailor may partake of some of the
conveniences of civilization on the land yet reject the myriad
disadvantages of living there. From a mooring a sailor looks toward the
land and thinks. "Why do people want to live there? Why do they bother
with their slipped boats as they are not capable of ever looking at the
land from the water's standpoint like a real sailor does day in and day
out?" A mooring perspective is one with the vessel as the epicenter -
not the house and the slip which is a remote garage. And, since the
sailor is the master of his moored ship the master is at the center of
the very universe. His perspective is the real perspective. He looks
from the water to the land not from the land to the water. He is exactly
where he wishes to be. He does not fool himself into thinking he would
rather be on the water but can't make the transition from his land-based
cowardly existence.
So, to conclude, a slip is nothing more than the land imposing it's way
of life upon the water while a mooring is a sailor's way of taking what
he may need from the land without ever having to live among the filth,
corruption and general stench and seediness of it.
Now, do you lubbers understand? Real sailors think you are filth,
corruption and you STINK!
Wilbur Hubbard
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