Beto Pandiani’s Diary: Resilience in times of isolation

Beto Pandiani is one of the greatest sailing Legends ever. His beachcat Ocean crossings are epic journeys comparable to first Vikings or Polynesian adventurers.

Having a vast experience behind on his seven major crossings (Click here for a list of his trips) , Beto has learned and acquired plenty of knowledge. He’s been through extreme situations few have endured. Of course he decided to embark himself in such adventures, but still life & death situations arise either way and urge to solve them and reach destination are still present.

Beto Pandiani has been publishing lately diaries of his journeys and today he reflects about quarantine and isolation of current times. We talked him and he was happy to share his thoughts with us: Plan ahead, be at ease and focus on your main goal. Follow him at his Fb page here.

By Beto Pandiani – I want to talk about the experience of being trapped in a quarantine

“Maybe what I learned best in recent years is living with what is strictly necessary in a limited space.
Life aboard my catamaran gave me a lot of experience to share some ideas and situations I’ve been through.

At first a sailing boat in the middle of the sea is a tiny island surrounded by water everywhere. In our case, we are still exposed to the sun, cold and rain.

There is a fundamental posture to differentiate the experience on my boat. She could be traumatic if imposed, because it would be like living in a floating prison private of everything. Friends, bed, comfort, fridge, walk, proper food, etc. On the other hand, because it was a choice, even if it was a super spartan boat, (no cabin and no engine) the trips were unmatched experiences, even with all the difficulties, and troubles.

But what is the attitude that turned a punishment into a prize? The desire to launch into a new, unprecedented experience, where we didn’t know what it would be like even with an excellent previous planning.

From the first trip I realized that as cool as traveling, its also learning, developing, and coming home much better than when I left. I’m fascinated by the new, because I don’t think we experience anything we can’t learnt from.

I will list what I consider key elements in a crossing.
1. The team. It all begins with who you will travel. This item brings a huge complexity, and it’s certainly the biggest challenge. What did I get? The best way to make a great trip with my partner was to focus on his needs.

In the case of Pacific and Atlantic Crossing, with my dear friend Igor Bely, we have adopted a spontaneous procedure of taking care of each other so I was always attentive to his behavior and vice versa, in this way we created a tune and extraordinary confidence that was fundamental in the moments of parts breaks and in bad weather days. In other words, building trust and fellowship is essential.

2. How will we travel? Let’s go on a limited vessel, where we will live limited and with limited resources. We know that on the boat we will have the basics, essential and no desire for any else. What’s the key to this? Acceptance. There is no situation that can happen that changes this condition, that is, we will not be disappointed because we do not create x conditions, we just accept it and adapt accordingly.

3. What to do with time? Here in City life everyone complains that there is no time, I have complained many times myself. Then suddenly you have all the time in the World, and you don’t know what to do with it!

Yeah, that happened to me several times, and every time that happens I need some time to adapt. Actually, the question is different. What do I do with me in front of time? Well, this question I can’t answer in general, because each is an Ocean, but with me there were several dives in my memories regarding my emotional experiences, and as I saw myself with time to reflect in each of these situations, I was able to sit back and review my previous positions on x situations.

There has been many weeks of catharsis, crying, laughter, and a very good feeling of relief, not to take things so seriously and rigid. The Sea has these things, because salt water softens the heart. In conclusion, we waste a lot of time on emotional plots that could be solved much faster. Thus I realized that time is the most precious asset given to us, but that most of life we treat it with irresponsibility and lightness. We are wasting much of our time.

4. In every trip we will have times of bad weather, favorable wind, calm, wind against, exactly as in life. Right now there is a force inside me that is called resilience. Resilience can only continue to exist if you know where you want to go (Ed underline) , and everything becomes sense, because this experience gives you the sense of what a purpose is. Otherwise it is not possible to seek motivation to go further. I am fully convinced that we were born on this planet to go beyond programming, beyond the bad customs, vices, the idea that we are imperfect.. All this is an illusion that is trapped in the mind. The Act of launching on any crossing is already a demonstration that we came here to transform a reality.

5. Without planning a trip becomes hell. It must be clear where we will get and what we will need to take, and what we should leave on land. The attachments at this time will appear. Who has no attachments? We all do. The good planner looks at the future on the screen of his mind and does an imaginative exercise trying to predict all situations But there’s something no human being is able to do: Predict the imponderable. And when it happens, what to do? Ah, this is the fundamental question of this text, because what we are living is exactly this. The imponderable.

In my experience and after seven great trips, I learned that imponderable is a constant. Life is an unpredictable journey with some moments of constancy. Today I changed the world, what I needed to learn happened. At first I fell into the pit of fatalism, complaining, cursing with that piece that broke, or with the storm, but soon saw that I was going against life itself.

In a way the imponderable is a force, or unstoppable event, impossible to predict that happens to test us. That’s how I see it.

After every crisis won, every situation solved, solutions created, we have been winning the main attribute a human being needs to have in life. Trust & Confidence.

The trust in its own ability, and in its attributes, and the confidence that everything happens in the most appropriate way in your life.

Well my friends, we are literally in the same boat, and that is very positive. This boat I’m talking about is our Life here on the planet, and this crossing will be made by millions of small boats, where all these teams will have to face all kinds of turbulence, but never get away from the main goal. As I said at the beginning, whether it will be an arrest or a development opportunity depends on your choice.

A big hug and great navigation.
Beto Pandiani.
Photo Beto Pandiani. Crossing the Atlantic.