I've found that, fairly often, I use this strange term, "sailing by ash breeze," to describe how my life is going, particularly if I'm not exactly the world's happiest camper. I realized a little bit that I am probably one of the only people who uses that phrase in every day speech. So...here's what it means.
In ye olde days of yore when sea travel was about the only way to get from point A to point B, sailing ships would, sometimes, get caught in the doldrums and be left motionless. No wind, no sailing, after all. So, in order to get back to favorable winds, they'd have to bust out the ship's boats, and the crew would have to go down in the boats and actually pull the ship by rowing...think Ben Hur levels of exertion here. Since most oars in those days were made out of ash, they playfully nicknamed this "sailing by ash breeze."
The term came into my lexicon from one of my favorite books as a kid, Carry On Mr. Bowditch. Yes, a book about a world traveling, language loving intellectual from a working class family was my favorite book as a child...go figure. Nate (the Mr. Bowditch of the title) comes from a nautical family in Salem - his dad used to be a sea captain until a horrible wreck killed his desire to sail, and his bank account, and so he turned to barrel-making. Young Nate's life is full of hardship and setbacks, and during rough times, he's told to "just sail by ash breeze" to keep himself going. I've always loved the phrase, and I use it often to describe how I'm doing when I'm in a bit of a dry spell of one sort or another.
So, now you know...when I'm sailing by ash breeze, it means I'm pulling through the only way I can - sheer determination.
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