Ahoy!

Ann Cognito
Jun 18, 2021
3 min read

Welcome aboard the blog…

I’m a slightly scratched and dented gypsyhermit, dedicating the rest of my life to making the world a better place, while living aboard Skoro… the Climate Emergency Sailboat.

Skoro at Ferme MiKu Valley Farm, blocked where she may one day all too soon be docked

In 2019 I made my way from Calgary to Ottawa, mostly by foot, to raise awareness about the climate crisis. I did this in spite of a boatload of severe chronic physical and mental health issues and disabilities, because it mattered that much to me.

That story is farther the down the facebook page now following this journey… and I’ve written about 1/3 of the book.

After half a century on this planet, I’ve learned that I cannot do many things. But, I’ve learned to manage in my own ways, and in ways that make my own special weird into something useful to the world.

In Ottawa, I and many others established the Climate Emergency Camp in front of the Prime Minister’s office, until the city was put on pandemic lockdown. I also collected signatures on a letter to the Prime Minister, which I still intend to deliver.

The community that grew around the Walk and Camp was deeply valuable to so many, and inspired hope in the face of fear. It is missed, and it is time to find a way to continue.

I gave up the shreds of a lifelong liveaboard sailboat dream to do my Walk, but the day before leaving the city of Calgary, I found a brand new Tilley hat — the quintessential sailing hat — for six bucks at a second hand store. I took it as a sign from the universe that somehow, the sailboat would still happen.

Now, through a series of weird circumstances, terrible events, and beautiful serendipities, the dream and my purpose are coming together in a whole new way.

Skoro is a 26 foot Canadian-built Grampian sailboat. Her highly unlikely, though long dreamed of, appearance in my life is a five ton symbol of hope and of all the possibilities that can still be real.

Skoro’s name means Almost, in Czech. She was given her name for good reasons long before I met her, and I respect those. Now, her name has even more layers of meaning.

She almost didn’t happen… but her existence in my life shows me how irrevocably true dreams can be when we believe in them, and trust them.

She tells me that even the wildest possibilities are almost real…

That the universe will always balance…

That doing what matters can change everything.

She is a symbol of the turning point we are all at…

It’s almost too late…

We’re almost out of time and choices…

But another world is possible — on a good day, I can almost see it.

So…

I am continuing my journey towards a new kind of world.

Living aboard Skoro, I can be safe, healthy, and secure, in my own odd ways, and able tocontinue my activist efforts.

Initially, I will be somewhere on the Rideau or St Lawrence, cleaning and mending things, and relearning how to handle a sailboat.

After revisiting Ottawa, to continue to demand change, I will return to the St Lawrence and sail east in late summer. Somewhere before the Atlantic, I will strip Skoro’s freshwater bottom paint and dress her up in saltwater antifouling, and continue south, cleaning beaches and tidying the sea along the way.

I will continue to raise awareness and catalyze change through personal discussions, events and presentations along the way. A large part of this will be sharing connections and stories online and in print.

There’s a whole world out there looking for hope… I want to help create it.

My pension is minimal and I will not be eligible for provincial disability support due to traveling. Fundraising will be set up to help support this journey.

Other groups, organizations, and individuals are welcome to work in unison with the venture and help will be appreciated — when it comes to global systems collapse and near term human extinction, we are all in this boat together, and we have nothing to lose but our own future…

But almost anything can happen.

With hope and belief,

Ann

💙⛵🌎