If you're aware enough of Summer Sailstice to have visited this site, or participated in past Sailstices, you're aware of the simple concept: get as many people as possible out sailing on the weekend nearest the Summer Solstice, which takes place June 20-21 in the northern hemisphere. The idea, about to enter its 15th year, continues to gain support, with hundreds of events now being planned around it worldwide, and thousands of individual sailors casting of the docklines to be a part of the movement to start a summer of sailing with a celebration of sailing.
You might also sense that the Winter Solstice – coming up this Sunday, December 21 – seems to get short shrift around here. Like its the homely stepchild we keep in a back room when company comes. A non-event event that nobody notices anymore. A birthday no one celebrates. A thing the big shots at Summer Sailstice treat like it doesn't even exist.
If you suspect any of those things . . . you'd only be partly right. It's just harder to celebrate in the North right now - it's colder, the days are shorter and there's this other seasonal celebration that keeps us busy. But we love the idea that the Southern Hemisphere is beginning the summer of sailing while also knowing we're headed towards longer days ahead.
Seawanhaka YC on Long Island Sound enjoyed a pretty nice winter solstice in 2013.
So, recognizing that for every yin there must be a yang; and that this is the season of giving and goodwill, we decided to come clean, scrub up the stepchild - and of course discover she bears a striking resemblance to Cinderella.
First, if we may, a brief history course:
The Solstices and Equinoxes – the former are the longest days of the year; the latter when day and night are of equal length - were 'discovered' so far back in antiquity that scholars aren't quite sure who to give credit to. (Stonehenge and several Egyptian sites dating back 4,000-5,000 years, were constructed so as to 'reveal' Solstices.) They form the basis for our four seasons, had a lot to do with early agriculture, and have been celebrated by many cultures, in ways both pagan and religious, from pretty much the dawn of civilization. In point of fact, the celebration of Christmas itself (along with gift-giving and even Santa Claus) derive from largely pagan, Winter-Solstice-based rituals which were essentially hijacked by early Christians. (Although most scholars do not believe Jesus was born on December 25, and there is no consensus as to when Mary actually did give birth – most estimates put it sometime between late September and early November)
For extra credit, the whole Solstice-Equinox phenomenon is due to the 'tilt' of the Earth on its axis. When the top half of the planet is more tilted toward the sun, that's our summer. In the other half of the year, when the bottom half gets more 'southern exposure', that's their summer – and our winter. 'Their' peak sailing season is ahead - the big Sydney Hobart race starts on 'Boxing Day', the day after Christmas, when Wild Oats XI, Perpetual Loyal and the brand new Comanche will face off across the Tasman Sea on the way to Hobart.
The earth's tilt causes the seasons and the solstice - NOAA
Which brings us to just one of the confusing factoids. Technically, and celestially, the event that's occurring on December 21 is, as we said, the Winter Solstice. But only to us Northerners. As noted above for everyone in the south – notably New Zealand, Australia and the southern halves of Africa and South America – it will be their SUMMER Solstice. And our June 21 Summer Solstice is their WINTER solstice. So – again technically – there are four Solstices every year: two Summer and two Winter. But only two Equinoxes. (You may want to take notes. This stuff will be on the final exam.)
We all know how much recreational sailing gets done in most of the U.S. and Europe in the cold months. So extra, double-time kudos go out to (our) Summer Sailstice participants who brave the chill down under and take part in the festivities 'with us' while in Oz or Kiwiland or Cape Town or Rio – in their winter. Good on ya, mates, blokes y muchachos!
To be sure, there are plenty of ways to keep sailing up North in the winter, whether you live down under or up over. US sailors, for example, can travel to such sublime locales as Florida, Hawaii, Mexico or the Caribbean and enjoy 80-degree water and warm tradewinds pretty much all year long. They can also don parkas and go iceboating and/or landsailing or drysuits and go frostbiting. Both of these facets of the sport enjoy full calendars of events during “our” winter. If the stars align a Northern winter daysail is ideal.
Pray for ice! For some sailors that makes sense.
We would love to hear when, if, and how you plan to have fun with wind power this coming weekend – wherever you are. Or even how other fools . . . uh, we mean enthusiasts. . . in your circle of acquaintances plan to do it. If there is enough of a response, perhaps we'll create a new section of www.summersailstice.com to accommodate your dedication. Email your winter solstice sailing stories to Abby.
Until then, call us damn Yankees, but we're going to put Cinderella back in her work clothes and keep touting the charms of 'Summer Sailstice' on the Summer Solstice - the Northern Summer Solstice.
Here's wishing you a very Merry – and windy – Christmas, wherever you are! Click here for some Winter Solstice 2013 sailing.
Whenver the sun is setting it's rising somewhere else.