The passing of a sailor’s sailor – Carleton Mitchell, 96

One of the things about getting older (I am 43 and it's a difficult age) is that I have started paying more attention to the obituaries. I try to find reassurance in the fact that most obituaries are for people who have passed away in their 80s or 90s. In today's obituaries, there was the announcement by John Rousmaniere of the passing of Carleton Mitchell, the celebrated three-time winner of the Newport-Bermuda race. It's a lovely piece about a man who was a classic 1940s adventurer.  I especially loved this quote that sums up what I love about sailing and the sea:

“No 20th-century man can really escape, but a boat gives a man the opportunity to get away from the turmoil and into direct contact with nature,” he told Gay Talese of The New York Times in 1958, after he won the Miami-to-Nassau yacht race. “Somehow the detached life on the sea gives me the ability to think. It’s a life of action, yet contemplation.”

You can read the full obit here. It's worth a read.