Distant Horizon

My wife, Linda, chose the boat name: Distant Horizon. While I was struggling to find a simple, descriptive and unique name, Linda would just smile and shake her head at each attempt. One day she just roller her eyes... I knew I failed again. However, she followed that up with, "What about Distant Horizon?" I liked it immediately. I asked her how she came up with the name. She replied with some of my favorite paradigms, including:

"Keep things as simple as possible, just not any simpler", Albert Einstein.

"The simplest solution is usually the better one.", Occam's razor. ("Suppose there exist two explanations for an occurrence. In this case, the simpler one is usually better.")

Then she added, "A little is enough by Peter Townshend... seems to fit".

Peter Townshend is best know for being the guitarist for The Who. In 1980 he released his first solo album Empty Glass. Buried midway down the playlist of that album is a song called A little is Enough. I'm not going to explain the depth  and meaning of this love song. That role would be best suited for my friend M.C. Antil. If you like to read about music or sports, well baseball. Go to M.C.'s blog: http://mcantil.com. You will enjoy his thoughtful, eloquent prose.

So, Linda played the song and told me to listen carefully to the third verse.

Just like a sailor heading into the seas

There's a gale blowing in my face

The high winds scare me but I need the breeze

And I can't head for any other place

Life would seem so easy on the other tack

But even a hurricane won't turn me back

You might be an island

On the distant horizon

But the little I see

Looks like heaven to me

I don't care if the ocean gets rough

Just a little is enough

Besides the obvious metaphor, that verse has a literal meaning for our lives. Linda explained that all she can envision is a sailboat struggling through high winds and big seas when she hears this song now; rather than the depth of love the song truly portrays. Linda went on to explain how she believed that Peter Townshend isn't given enough credit as a poet.

"Life would seem so easy on the other tack, but even a hurricane won't turn me back." She explained that was me... driven to make this sailing dream come true.

The name Distant Horizon was simple. It certainly described where the boat was intended to be sailing. I searched the U.S. Coast Guard Registry for boat names. There were no boats named Distant Horizon. Even a search today would show just two boat's with that name. Both are registered to me. Needless to say, Linda's boat name passed the uniqueness test! I would expect nothing less from her.