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Can Sailing Save the World?

November 26, 2013 by jarndt
Can Sailing Save the World?

Just maybe.  Reading the following from Elaina Breen, who just crewed aboard 'Henri Lloyd' in the Rio to Cape Town, South Africa leg of the Clipper Round the World Race, you get some insights on how and why individuals put their ego aside to survive and succeed.  Something sailing can teaches all sailors on a crewed sailing adventure. 

How would you fare if tossed into the circumstances aboard a Clipper boat?  Actually we're tossed into these circumstances in our every day lives but have more options on how to deal with them.

How would you manage?  How would world leaders?

From Elaina: On day 4 out of Rio I surveyed the Henri Lloyd Race 3 (Rio to Cape Town) crew of 19, which was, in addition to Eric, our Canadian skipper, comprised of:

·         7 women and 12 men
·         An age range of 23 – 68
·         7 Brits, 9 Americans, 2 Canadians, 1 Dutch, 3 with dual citizenships
·         16 professions
·         A wide range of sailing experience

Of this group, 10 were doing the entire 11-month circumnavigation (“worlders”, occasionally called “lifers”) and 9 of us were doing 1, 2 or 3 legs of the race (“leggers”, occasionally and with great affection called “slackers”).

In appraising this diverse collection of characters, my mind traveled back to the Alaska chapter of my life when, during the building of the Trans-Alaska pipeline, many of us who’d emigrated to the Last Frontier in search of jobs and adventure had bumper stickers that read:
“Alaska: Home of the Individualist and Other Endangered Species”
I realized that in this Clipper chapter of my life, the Henri Lloyd racing yacht was home to another motley collection of Individualists, whose stories about how they came to be there were as diverse as our professions, nationalities and life experiences.  Some were:

·         Putting events witnessed in Afghanistan in perspective;
·         Building credentials for ocean racing careers;
·         Studying naval architecture up close and personal;
·         Escaping mind-numbing jobs and equally lusterless relationships;
·         Seeking “time out” to regroup for whatever life offered up next;
·         Finally putting past ghosts to rest; or
·         Taken in by the Clipper tag line, of “The Adventure of a Lifetime”.

Regardless of how a boatload of Individualists came to be racing across the South Atlantic, the rules of on-board engagement were clear and non-negotiable:

·         Check your individuality at your departure port.  There are no Individuals on this boat;
·         Safety is everyone’s responsibility;
·         Whatever job you’re doing, do it to the best of your ability without whining;
·         Ask for and offer help;
·         Don’t just do something; stand there until you’re sure that what you’re thinking of doing is the right thing to do;
·         No one on this boat is more important than anyone else (Skipper excepted!)
 
We were a team with one clear goal in mind; getting from Point A (Rio) to Point B (Cape Town) as quickly and safely as possible while finding as much joy, humor and adventure in the experience as we could.

I’ve concluded after my Team Eric experience that Individualists are overrated and should not only be an endangered species, but probably an extinct species as well. 

So my studied recommendation for solving all the world’s complex problems very quickly, if it's not already too late, is to:

·         Gather all the world leaders in London September 2015 for the start of the Clipper 15-16 race;
·         Give them each a 40 pound dry bag of bare essentials and a sleeping bag;
·         Assign them randomly to yachts (no "super powers" in the same boat);
·         Push the whole lot of them out to sea for a year; and
·         Let them clean heads, do multiple sail evolutions, prepare 21,600 meals per yacht, rotate bunks every three days,  function effectively on 2.5 hours sleep per 4 hour watch and stare out at vast ocean expanses for days on end while wondering if they’d make it back home in one piece to family, friends and life as they knew it.

Trust me.  They’d collaborate to solve complex issues more rapidly than anyone could imagine.  The challenge would be the home-coming after 11 months at sea…
Maybe no one would have noticed they were gone…

My best to all of you for a joyous Thanksgiving! 

Elaina

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