HERE

Above the companionway, on the inside of CYLESTA's sprayhood, someone has written one word.

The word is "here".

I didn't write it, so assume it must have been put there by the previous owner. It may have meant any number of things - a casual marking perhaps of the envelope which contains the stays of the sprayhood frame at that very point.

But to me it means something different.

Each time I raise my head to ascend the companionway, it invokes me to be here, present, fully concentrated, and ready for anything the sea might offer me, open to experience, free of thoughts of elsewhere, mindful, attentive, here.

When I dreamed of having a boat, I thought I'd call it ZEN. There is no need. CYLESTA is a beautiful name for a fine old lady. And the marker pen on the sprayhood does the rest.