Authentic Experience – Jay Fitzgerald

I first came across Jay via his book Sailing with Purpose: The Pursuit of the Dreamas the title suggests his philosophy has always been that our activity on this planet should have a purpose, that we should contribute, and that our experiences should be authentic.

I have seen Jay described as ‘an opinionated SOB’ and I doubt he’d contest such a label and with all such characters you can guarantee that their views will always provoke discussion!  One of Jays early crusades was that of engineless sailing and his foundation of the ‘Oar Club’. This is actually a topic I have been interested in for quite a while and I still haven’t decided if ‘Gleda’ will be engineless or not, but I’m saving that for another day.

Today I wanted to highlight an interesting talk that Jay gave recently gave to a Tedx audience in Hilo, Hawaii.

Jay now lives in Hawaii on a farmstead hacked out of the jungle and posts occasional articles about responsible living, and sustainability on his blog Sensible Simplicity.

One of Jays other crusades has been centered around something called ‘sea-steading’ which was the subject of another book Sea-steading: A Life of Hope and Freedom on the Last Viable Frontier and when he moved to Hawaii it seemed that his intention was to stay land-locked only as long as it took to build his new boat which may well have been a Wharram Pahi 63. It seems he’s changed his mind and he explains why in his talk. He goes further and suggests that we should all take responsibility and demonstrate by example that sustainable living in the way he lives himself  is the only way that our children will have a planet left to enjoy.

I admire his strength and call to action but equally I believe my own plans will enable me to live authentically, to contribute and to show that there’s a better way to live.

Here’s his video, I’d love to hear what you think.