Thoughts From The Cataraft

There is something incredible about being around water. Each association with it has a remarkably unique feeling.
When I'm underwater, looking out, I feel peace and an objective outlook on the world - I am in a place that I was not meant to exist for very long. Underwater, there is a calm intensity, an urge to be a part of this incredible, dark place, but to escape it at the same time.
In water, when I'm surfing, I feel very different, I feel like I am part of the waves, part of the rythm that is continually beating the shore. There is peace there too, peace with the sensation of fellowship. In the ocean, I feel like I am part of a family, like we were made to move together, to think the same - there is a need to find a wave, join it, and become part of its motion.
When I am on the water I am in absolute wonder. Caught between the motion of twisting and splasing - there is a surface, depth, and direction. When I am on the water, I feel like I am being held in the very hands of motion; like a child gripped on the shoulders by his powerful father. I go where the water wants me to go. Looking at the converging flows, I notice that there are fast rushing sections, dangerous wakes, calm pools - it is all water, but never the same movement. In my canoe I am not helpless, but I am being led, and I have the choice to follow or resist. There are the same struggles and the same beauty of life found on this liquid surface - the very essence of living. From the moment you enter the water, you are moving... you never stop moving.
I ADORE MOTION

(Andrew Tipton