Muddy Tales
– Hey Michał, do you want to organise a trip on my ship? – it’s the kind of offer I just wouldn’t ignore. Gathering epic crew is one of my favourite processes in the world. So I crafted an invitation and sent it out to some of my favourite humans ⛵️
Despite 3 weeks notice the voyage sold out all spots, and gathered so much energy that I’m already planning the next one (more info at the end).
Here’s the retrospective from my first Boat Burn, starting with a 48 seconds video:
(click this link if the video doesn’t load.)
WTF is a Boat Burn?
Since my first immersion into the world of Burns - co-created gatherings in unforgiving environments, inspired by Burning Man - I had a feeling that ships could use more Burners.
Why?
First of all, a sailing vessel is a fantastic space to bring people together, Burners or non-burners.
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of adventure, freedom, connection to oneself and the natural world, and the profound empowerment coming from the fact of being out there, in the wild sea, magically cutting across the vastness on a tiny piece of boat which for the time of the journey becomes your entire world.
However, there’s another facet of sailing that has my particular interest - building culture.
Stepping on a ship is like entering a pressure cooker. There is no privacy, there is no escape, and your life kinda depends on each other, so you simply need to work well together. Emotions get amplified and results of your actions (or lack of thereof) are immediate. In such an intense environment conflicts can get nasty and friendships forged at sea are simply next level.
Ships also come with its unique context and constraints.
On top of the usual complexity of group dynamics and processes, you have to consider the weather, sea-sickness, voyage plan, local restrictions (eg. no loud sounds on deck after 22h in Dutch harbours), the vessel and its ways of doing things, and of course the captain - who is legally responsible for everything on board.
So what happens when we bring a crew of Burners on a sailing ship?
Well, Burners are dream builders, coming together for a short period of time to make anything-you-want possible through effective cooperation, hard work, connecting on a deeper level, nourishing each other, not taking life too seriously, and having a lot of fun. That already feels like a great potential for crew.
At the core of Burns, there are the principles, such as radical participation (rather than expecting service), gifting, leave no trace, self-expression and consent, making it possible for people from different backgrounds to harmonise into a collective flow state of co-creation.
What burners are usually very good at is defining explicit cultural norms making sure that everyone’s needs are met and essential things still get done. As explored in the community building book I co-written, everything that is explicit can be adjusted.
In practical terms, it comes down to making agreements around topics important to the crew. How do we want to be together? How do we relate to photos, nudity, sex, substances? How do we decide about music to listen to, and when to have silence?
It’s not always an easy process, and yet it works like magic.
As a sailor graduated from the Enkhuizer Zeevaartschool working towards commanding ships up to 500 tonnes, it’s not a coincidence that I’m also the co-captain of Sheepy Ship - a camp at Nowhere (European Burn), with a mission of connecting burner sailors and gathering crew for future expeditions. I love being in the space where these two amazing worlds overlap.
The Mast of the Sheepy Ship, beaconing sailors at Nowhere 2024. Photo by Sean Toole
Muddy Tales Voyage Design
Our voyage followed the three act structure of Burning Man events: Build - Sail - Strike.
1. Build
Many burners say there is no burn without build.
Guided by the captain and the owner, we spend 3 days on de-rusting and repainting the deck, rails and mast, refitting the windows, as well as uplifting the space inside the boat to make it more functional and cosy.
Building ships at Nowhere and refitting ships at sea.
For a community used to building cities in a dessert, giving energy to the ship before setting sail was a pleasure. We created a deeper bond with the vessel, established trust with the captain, brought the crew closer together, and our floating home, Chateauroux, looked better than ever!
Fun fact: as we were blasting heavy tools on a Sunday working on the deck we got kicked out of the marina for making too much noise (totally fair - we had 3 needle hammers going). The situation attracted a lot of communication on the radio - while the noise was annoying, local skippers were very impressed by the hard work and progress we were making. It was definitely not your usual group! As a bonus we moved to a much better spot.
“I have not been a part of such an integrated group for years!”
– Darya
2. Sail
On the first day of our voyage the captain asked me to collect the sailing dreams of the crew. I collected them into our log and we start making them happen.
Through the next 7 days we explored some of the most amazing places in the Netherlands, while learning how to sail together and creating beautiful moments of deep connection, creativity and play.
Manouvering a 30m traditional vessel requires many hands to pull on ropes. Since we were only sailing during the day, we divided the crew into two teams (watches) of 9, switching roles every day.
The sailing watch manoeuvred the ship and engaged in pop up sailing classes. The care watch nourished the crew with food, cleaned the space, and engaged in various acts of fluffing such as strawberries and massages.
To embody the culture of participation we practiced dynamic leadership with people naturally stepping into roles of responsibility whenever the need occurred. This significantly reduced the coordinating overheads while relaxing the atmosphere and everything still got done right on time and with better quality that we could ever plan.
As a bonus we also had one joker - a special role with no particular responsibility beyond what they wanted to engage in - a treat for the lucky one.
“I felt extremely loved.”
– Simone
3. Strike
Leave No Trace is one of the core principles of the Burn culture.
On the last day of the trip we took down all the decorations and deep-cleaned the ship, leaving Chateauroux and its’ crew in a much better state that we found them.
The local custom is that the captain and mate prepare beds for the next voyage, during precious hours of break in between having groups on board. It felt fantastic to take over that responsibility and give them extra rest - a simple yet meaningful act of care.
Captain, perhaps more than anyone, also deserves some love!
We are aspiring to Leave Positive Trace, rather than no trace at all.
“It was the first time that I could really be myself.”
– Benjamin, the mate of Chateauroux
Life On Board
Large sailing vessels offers considerable advantages in comparison to small yachts.
More crew means more diversity and makes it easier to retreat whenever one craves self-time. The bigger vessel means more space - both for creating different areas, as well as brining more stuff.
As a group of people used to building fantastical cities in a dessert, optimising the space to its full potential came very naturally. We brought lights, a soundsystem, multiple instruments, costumes, circus equipment, art supplies, fabrics, etc, and transformed Chateauroux into a cosy paradise playground, while maintaining its core functionality as a safe sailing vessel.
Last, but not least - sailing ships are epic, unique and come with a story that one is proud to be a part of. And don’t get me wrong - small yachts offer fantastic opportunities for sailing, but it’s just a totally different experience.
And, of course, it’s very easy to find your vessel in the marina.
Arriving to Passaia aboard Grahound in a fleet of yachts and tall ships was mindblowing.
Two decades of experience as a facilitator have shown me that the best events are over-prepared and under-structured. This fits perfectly with the Burn culture where there are no spectators and everyone is equally responsible for co-creating the experience.
With no fixed agenda, the space was constantly open for anyone to initiate an activity, resulting in the perfect alignment with the needs of the group in any given moment.
Wild Cards Journey on deck of Chateauroux.
The result was fantastic - a great combination of sailing, quality time in nature, party, deep connection, blissful chill, performances, making music and more.
“I’ve experienced such a feeling of freedom, and motion, and openess of the heart. It was a deeply profound expedition.”
– João
Feeding the Crew
Instead of a designated daily meal plan to follow, we provisioned the boat with ingredients that are nutritious, easy to work with, and fun to play with to inspire improvised meals created by whoever stepped into the role of a daily chef.
The core idea was to source ingredients for the most common denominator (food that everyone can eat), and build meals as a combination of base + sauce, with more money invested into making knock-out sauces that would work on any meal and be absolutely freaking delicious.
“It all starts with a sauce.”
– Sharon
It worked out perfectly - we had a close-to-fine-dining experience on a daily basis, with very little time spent on meal planning and coordination, with plenty of leftovers, and ~20% of the budget to spare. And the majority of fruits and vegetables came from a local organic farm.
When buying ingredients we went through the following criteria:
- Food budget total + buffer 10%
- Amount of people, days and meals
- Dietary restrictions
- Cooking facilities and storage
- Weather (hot / cold)
- Nutrition / Flexibility / Ease of cooking / Fun
- Energy required (eg. build needs more food)
And we had two guiding questions for daily chefs:
- What do we have a lot of?
- What’s going bad?
The Artefact
An artefact is a physical object co-created by all participants during the event. Creating them is my specialty.
Since every ship is legally responsible to carry a log, what could be more suitable than involving everyone in narrating our adventure in a collective journal? We filled it with memories, photos, and forms of artistic expression.
“It was the most intense and one of the best burns. I fucking loved it and I’m waiting for the next one.”
– Ilai
Personal Learnings
Muddy Tales left me with a profound sense of gratitude. It was my first expedition organised on a bigger sailing vessel, and I expanded a lot as a facilitator and a quartermaster. Here are a few asorted learnings:
- It was the first time ever I had to ask a person to leave (after 3 days of build) due to persistent behaviour that was making the group uncomfortable (I won’t go into detail). The process felt very healthy, and the final decision was taken by me as a representative of the crew (aka the quartermaster) and the captain - a perfect example of Pirate Organising. It felt challenging to exclude a person, and yet it was the perfect decision for the voyage.
- I have prioritised personal invitations rather than posting on social channels and I absolutely loved it. While it takes more energy to communicate 1:1 rather than 1-to-many, the relationships built through the process feel more in tune with the long term vision of building a community of sailors. Due to very short notice many people simply couldn’t make it, but are very much looking forward to the next opportunity.
- I have succeeded in distributing a lot of tasks on board - for example shooting the promo video. It felt so much better to ask people to film specific shots and give basic instructions rather than have to film myself or have a designated camera person carrying all the load.
Next Steps
As we concluded the voyage it hit me that another dream came true - I brought people together on a sailing ship, and it was absolutely delightful. The smiling faces and glowing eyes at the end were enough of the confirmation that this is just the beginning.
The long term vision is to connect land-based projects and host adventures at sea. My role is to bring amazing crew to epic ships to connect, work and play together. The next voyage is already cooking up!
If you’d like to be a part of this journey, I’d love to connect with you. You can contact me directly, or read my Moonly Reviews, follow my adventures on twitter or telegram, and support my work on Patreon.
And here’s my sailing page ⛵️.
Love and Light,
Michał Korzonek
Amsterdam, 7 September 2024
