Ode to the Sea

Actually, “sailor” is not a job for me at all, it’s more of a vocation. The privilege of being able to work with the elements is huge and also a very formative one.

On the way I kept asking myself why the sea in particular attracts us so much, shapes our character and why the longing for her is so great. We sailors are always looking for the water, no matter where we are. When we’re on the job, we often curse our work. We are sometimes extremely challenged – mentally and physically. Sometimes it’s risky out there and we’d rather be at home on solid ground. But when we are home, it doesn’t take too long and we want to slip lines again, towards the horizon. Most other people, from all walks of life, also become devout at and on the sea. Why is that?

Like many of us, I’ve had the opportunity and time over the last two years to look at things from a different perspective. If I imagine the sea from far above, from below, or even in time lapse, then I recognize many similarities with us. The tides, for example. Aren’t these up and down movements a lot like our breathing, just much slower? Or all these biological connections in and around the sea? They are in perfect balance and when the latter is disturbed, the system becomes ill. Isn’t that quite similar in our organisms? The myriad of creatures of the sea each have their place and purpose. There are good ones and bad ones – that sounds familiar to me too…

The sea is the mother of all life on earth. Our own origin is to be found in it. And like every mother, the sea takes care of her offspring. Without her moderating temperament, the nights here would be freezing cold and the days unbearably hot. Without her constant pulsing there would be no air to breathe, no food, no clean water, no nature – nothing! Her whims, however, make us humble. The sea can educate us to be more conscious people. Perhaps these are reasons for our affection and longing? The sea as a source of life, even if it doesn’t just give. She takes too. But that’s probably the case in every cycle.

Whenever I’m at work, I tune into the rhythms of the sea after a few days. I become a part of the processes and can thus determine my courses. I know when the sea breathes in and when out. Why this happens or why she does that. She signals me. I wish I could recognize many more. The signs are there, I’m just too blind. Nevertheless, so many things are understandable and seem logical. The sea is always fair, she does not cheat us and she is not biased. Even if we sometimes almost (in some cases even completely) despair of a situation. It’s not personal, it’s for a greater cause. For me, these adjustments, together with the honest relationships, are among the most impressive experiences. The sea is like a giant organism. She can give and take life.

In the last two decades I have been able to visit many indescribably beautiful places. I met a lot of great people and shared impressive experiences with them. Over the years, however, it has started to bother me more and more that I always have to travel somewhere for my work – with an enormous amount of energy used. And not only I travel. My work always triggers the movement of other people. Again at great energy expense. And the more successfully I work, the bigger the movements across the globe. Like this I’m becoming an ever larger part of what is probably the biggest problem that we are trying to imagine. And until recently I saw no way out of this dilemma. Either I’m fueling climate change with my work, or I’m giving up my profession. That got me depressed and for a while I was quite aimless. And then my mother joined forces with the mother of all of us and handed me this solution here (probably instinctively).

With Sjøgård – the sea farm – the sea gives life again and I will be able to contribute a small part to the solution. That’s why I decided to go down this path now. Ocean farming is still relatively new territory in our latitudes and there is a lot to discover and develop. Exciting, educative and versatile tasks are waiting to be tackled and completed. But my family and I will not be able to do this alone. I therefore ask you to go through my website and share it with all your friends and contacts. The more people are aware of this project and maybe even give financial support, the greater the impact of Sjøgård will be.

And also for my wife a dream would come true. She has always wanted a farmer as husband…