“Ninety” reads as an invitation, almost a command: understand what it means when dory-boatmen beach their boats at full throttle. In a dory, coming ashore means riding in fast between waves, committing completely at the moment of landing; hesitate and the sea may turn the boat sideways. The poem doesn’t describe this so much as point at it, asking us to recognize the daily courage in that split-second risk. There is no safety in holding back.
The speaker’s tone is spare and admiring. The mood is taut and salt-cold, placing us at the edge of surf and watching a routine that is also a small, repeated act of faith. To “know the meaning” is to understand that sometimes survival, or a fully lived life, requires going forward at full throttle rather than trying to slow down.