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When I first started this blog eight years ago, I had planned on using it as a vehicle for writing about our 6-year voyage around the world aboard our sailboat, La Gitana. Below is part V of that Sea Saga. I’m reposting it here because in some ways all the places and homes we chose to live are a larger part of who we are. They shape us as much as we shape them. La Gitana shaped the lives of my children who were only 11 and 8 when we sailed out of Ventura harbor. I still like to imagine myself rocked to sleep in the bowels of La Gitana, or flying on her wings when I smell salt in the air and feel the wind rushing through my hair. I know my children must too. It was a sweet time in our lives that lives with us still.
La Gitana, Our Larger Self – Sea Saga, Part V
We named her “La Gitana,” Spanish for the gypsy, partly in tribute to our family’s Spanish heritage, partly because sea gypsies are what we would be once we moved aboard her and sailed away, partly for my long fascination with everything pertaining to Gypsies.
I loved the music, the dancing, the clothing, the jewelry, the colorful furnishings of the caravans. I loved what they stood for, the capriciousness of their existence living on the edge of society, their adventuresome spirit, their playfulness and spontaneity, their wildness—all the things we grew up thinking of as gypsy-like. La Gitana symbolized all of that for us. We feminized the masculine gitano and added the lyrical signifier “la” for alliteration, and to show her singular importance. The, not a.
Of course she had to be feminine—all ships traditionally are. They are vessels that serve us, that carry us in her belly, under her wings. Her sails are softly rounded breasts bravely and proudly pulling us onward. And she was alive! So lively with a personality and purpose all her own—a creature, not a thing.
She seemed almost as alive to us as the other creatures that she cavorted with, the dolphins that played at her side, the whales that swam beneath and circled her, the flying fish that landed on her decks. Her spirit was all her own. But her breath, her pulse, her beating heart, her life blood, was us, the people who inhabited and cared for her, plotted her course, walked her decks, stroked her beams, and dreamed her dreams.
It was a symbiotic relationship. We trusted her and sank everything we had into her. And she depended upon us to steer her away from the harbor and allow her to run with the wind, to lead her to a safe haven and hunker her down when the hurricane blew.
Originally she was called “Swagman,” which is what peddlers and tinkers are called Down Under. We bought her from an Aussie living in San Diego who had commissioned her to be built in Taiwan—a Formosa 46, a 46-foot Peterson designed cutter rigged sloop with a center-cockpit. Cousin to the better known and more costly Peterson 44.
We had invested so much more than money in her—our hopes and dreams, our safety and security, our hearth and home, our larger selves. She is what separated us from the sea on those long ocean voyages and moved us through the air by harnessing the wind. Deep in her belly she rocked and sung us to sleep. When the storms rose she sheltered us from the rain. When huge rogue waves came crashing down she lifted us up. When the wind died away and left us floundering in the middle of nowhere, she was the still center in a circle of blue.
I cannot tell you the pleasure and affection I felt when we were ashore and looked out at her waiting patiently for our return. What it felt like to bring our dinghy aside her and hoist our provisions aboard. The thrill of weighing anchor and heading out to sea, raising her sails, watching them fill.
Hunkered beneath her dodger during night watches, I listened to the rush of waves and sails in the black, black night, and watched her mast stirring stars. Sleeping below deck as she rocked with the waves, her rigging humming overhead, the soft gurgle of the ocean whispering through the hull, was sweetness like no other.
I loved sunning my chilled skin on her warm teak decks after a long morning hunting and diving for scallops. Falling asleep in the cockpit on balmy days in port, watching the stars gently rock overhead as she rolled with the soft swells.
How I miss her! But we carry her in our hearts and in our memories, in the words on these pages, and the novels I am writing. I like to think another family has taken over where we left off, hugging her close, and steering her on new adventures.
La Gitana—my larger self.
MORE POSTS ON OUR SEA SAGA
Sea Saga, Part I – Catching the Dream
Sea Saga, Part II – Honeymoon Sail Bailing Water
Sea Saga, Part III – First Stop in Paradise, the Virgin Islands
Sea Saga, Part IV – Ex-pats and Pirates in the Bay Islands of Honduras
Deborah J. Brasket 
How wonderful that you were able to have that adventure aboard la gitana. I love the idea of sailing and being a gypsy but don’t know if I’m prepared to actually do it. Thanks for sharing Deborah. Do you still sail?
thanks, Brad. It was an amazing adventure. We don’t get to sail as often as we’d like these days, unfortunately.
I want to test the waters. 🙂
We tested the waters with some bareboat charters. You could try that. Great fun.
Thanks!
Belonging…deep down inside each cell of your soul…
While apart, still connected.
Wow.
So true, flower sister! 🙂
🙂
Deborah, I don’t know how I haven’t read this before. You so authentically capture the essence of sailing. You transport me right back out there. How I miss those days. Best experience of our family’s life. How can I read the rest of your La Gitana stories? It’s so comforting to know that there are others out there who have lived this lifestyle. One can explain in words, oral or written, the feelings and experiences of blue-water cruising, but I doubt anyone can fully understand or comprehend such an adventure unless they’ve lived through it themselves. However, you’ve done a superb job of illuminating the experience, including the pinnacles, the troughs and everything in between. Through your words, I relive and savor every moment. Thanks.
Thank you so much Ginny! Coming from someone who has actually written the book on this kind of sailing experience, it means a lot to me. I’m afraid these 5 posts are as far as I’ve come with our sailing saga online. Hopefully someday I’ll pick it up again on this site.
Also, I hope to complete (and publish!) the book series I’m writing for middle graders about sailing around the world with their parents. I have the first book completed and about half of the second. But I put it aside to work on some adult novels. Want to get back to it soon. I read the first book to my granddaughter when she was 6 and she loved it. I’m hoping to send some chapters to my 13-year old grandson and see what his verdict is as well. It’s a fictional account based on a family like ours who sails around the world, inspired by our own adventures and the friends we met along the way. Who knows, if I ever complete the series it will include a fictional account of our wonderful days spend in Tahiti with your family. As it is, we’re still in Baja! Slow sailing! I’m thinking one book per year we were gone, or six books.