I find myself containing a lifetime of experience in the field of research into the sailing properties of the Micronesian sailing canoe. My extensive experience is logged here in these pages.
This is the age of doubt. It was preceded by the age of reason, those unqualified to have a reasoned opinion now have a platform to promulgate unreasoned arguments.
I'm sad and lonely because I find myself clear in my mind about my research findings through practical enquiry, only to find that a vast number of fools discredit what I have found to be true without lifting a finger to find out for themselves.
Get to work, do the mahi, I will answer reasonable questions and delete the rest.
Harmen Hielkema.
Your knowledge, experience and expertise has touched more souls than you will ever know Harmen. Teachings that may lay dormant in the minds of some, for years even, as does a seed in the ground... Until the conditions are right.
ReplyDeleteThen that implanted knowledge takes root and flourishes.
Keep planting those seeds Harmen.. your audience is wide, and weep not for those crops that have failed to thrive - they are just weeds in the garden.
Love and peace, Noel
Hang in there Harmen, the research you've done is valid, adds to the body of knowledge of these amazing craft. Forget about the critics, they're almost always coming from a base of poor or no real knowledge of the subject.
ReplyDeleteTotally appreciate your position Harmen, albeit from a slightly different angle in my case my decision to discontinue my practice of painting as my creative outlet in light of a number of circumstances I shall not dwell on here and now.
ReplyDeleteI can not offer you any more than my empathy, as we are in very different Waka, our individual reasons for feeling we ought to discontinue what we set out to do in the name of enlightenment are very different.
However I urge you to make available in some form or other, your wealth of knowledge and experience, whether as, in this case, a sailing expert, or in other cases, a musician or luthier, because every time i need knowledge on something so specialised that it is rendered unprofitable to put to the commercial sources (print, courses, etc) I think of guys like yourself who've helped relay such information to the following generation.
Some will ask why, many more will ignore completely. However, it will be the enlightenment of the few who take on this knowledge and experience, whatever the field, who'll make it all seem worthwhile.
Sometimes i feel the world of education far too democratic and populist.
Whatever your decision is Harmen, i know you started this blog for one reason, to share, and so I only hope you can find a suitable Avenue by which to carry on sharing.
Don't delete, please.
ReplyDeleteHi Harmen, some of us still want to learn about proas and despise trump. Proas are such unique craft that even people with a lot of building and sailing experience struggle to understand them. You have a lot of valuable experience and it would be sad to lose it from the world. Isaac Newton said "If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants."
ReplyDeleteYou are a person whose shoulders we can stand on in order to see further.
Topher Dawson.
I hereby cast a vote for keeping your sailing blog online.
ReplyDeleteThe age of doubt fueled by the armchair research enabled by the internet or hordes of inexperienced amateurs. These doubters consume the, sometimes well thought out, logic of those who have never experimented nor put into practice those ideas. Consequently, they often too easily confuse the theoretical sphere with reality. I just discovered this blog and so have not had the chance to explore it. This was the first post of your blog that I read. It is yours and I can understand not wanting to share the fruits of your research verified by your actual lessons learned by putting your research into practice. Fuck the doubters, they can believe what they want or are more than welcome to get out of their chair and put them into practice. To use a cheap pop culture phrase "Haters gonna hate". You do what you're going to do. Ignore the ignorant Trump inspired hordes. It depresses me to that the age of doubt has revealed the magnitude of the idiots that surround us. I take comfort that at least they aren't hidden amongst the crowds and are visible as a cock announcing the morning, cock a doodle do.
ReplyDeleteI have been following your blog on and off for many years, you and russel brown and gary dierking, then theres mau pialug and others who have influenced the way i think about things aesthetically to the racial politics of the pacific, dr david lewis, dick newick, not just about boats about a way of thinking connected to the past that doesnt see it as inferior or peopled by lesser skilled or minded people, its really important i get to look up all your secrets so when im finally rich enough to build my own i get it in one go because there wont be much time left for me, i have been poor far too long. Thanks anyway whatever you decide and i hope you see the names ive written are jist tiny hints at a subject thats obsessed me since i was a boy and have consumed thousands if hours of my life. If it doesnt make sense cest la vie, thanks for what you do and dont let the bastards polarise you, the worst thing is to take a position in relation to what theyre about at all. Pro or anti anything is to shallow for the real world its always far to much detail for that type of binary nonsense.
ReplyDeleteI have been following your blog on and off for many years, you and russel brown and gary dierking, then theres mau pialug and others who have influenced the way i think about things aesthetically to the racial politics of the pacific, dr david lewis, dick newick, not just about boats about a way of thinking connected to the past that doesnt see it as inferior or peopled by lesser skilled or minded people, its really important i get to look up all your secrets so when im finally rich enough to build my own i get it in one go because there wont be much time left for me, i have been poor far too long. Thanks anyway whatever you decide and i hope you see the names ive written are jist tiny hints at a subject thats obsessed me since i was a boy and have consumed thousands if hours of my life. If it doesnt make sense cest la vie, thanks for what you do and dont let the bastards polarise you, the worst thing is to take a position in relation to what theyre about at all. Pro or anti anything is to shallow for the real world its always far to much detail for that type of binary nonsense. Theres more i could say but doesnt matter. What you care about is awesome, by far one of the most interesting thimgs on earth, a canoe connects you right up to the stars literally, its a magical artefact.
ReplyDeletePlease don't delete this blog. I am grateful for what you have shared here. It's exceptionally rare to find someone with the courage not just to think outside the box, but to dedicate their time and passion to the development of new ideas. The internet allows us to share those things. Don't let idiots ruin that. I think if we let the willfully ignorant stop us from sharing knowledge and experience then ignorance really wins.
ReplyDeleteI wish you didn't feel sad and lonely. I often end up back here while dreaming up the boat I want to build. Perhaps I should have said so earlier. Cheers and thanks.
Glad to see it is all still here!
ReplyDeletekeep spirit for you, thanks for sharing this
ReplyDelete