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| When kids are involved we choose safety over danger--but I wonder if we lose the adventure? (Newborn Hector's Dolphin btw) |
With the recent hubbub over how dangerous it is to take kids
blue water sailing I’ve been reflecting on how SAFE sailing is these days. Absolutely
sailors run into trouble out there now and again. But I think it’s the relative
safety of it; the fact that most of us only lose the odd rudder, blow the
occasional sail, lose a mast now and again, and rarely run into unanticipated
storms, that highlights how different it used to be.
Technology has made it really easy for new sailors to become
seasoned sailors without ever going through anything challenging. We’ve had
friends sail around the entire world without hitting bad weather. The entire
world. Which, by the way, is how I’m hoping to do it…
| Maia dreams of having adventures like Cook did but worries they've all been used up |
Contrast
that to sailors who did the same trip 20+ years ago (pre technology such as GPS
chartplotters, satphones, AIS, EPIRBs etc). Back then it was pretty rare not to
have something go wrong and usually it was a whole lot of things. And as I was
listening to a
fabulous interview on ABC in Australia, by former boat kid Glenn MacFadyen
about his childhood trip that included nearly starving, two shipwrecks and imprisonment
in Africa (he characterized it all as exciting…)
I realized we’ve become so risk adverse that we even want our adventures to be
safe.
My
heroes have always been adventures. And a large part of their appeal was how
they coped with adversity. I love hearing tales about people who have gone
through the toughest of moments and emerged triumphant after patching together
damaged boats and dampened spirits. I love the fearlessness of it all—the idea
that when the wind howls you roar back.
I
think the whole Huck Finn aspect of cruising is what first drew me to it and made me want to share it with Maia. And
as we add yet another piece of safety equipment (this time an uber cool MOB
radio that allows us to zero in on someone who’s fallen overboard) I question
just how safe we can make living before we’ve squeezed the life out of it.
4 comments:
Diane, Please tell us the brand and price of the MOB radio you chose. Is it based on AIS? Finally, an MOB product that makes sense. Thanks, Jonathan
We actually went with a VHF handheld with GPS--it still seems a bit bulky but we'll be doing a post on our choices and options shortly: http://www.marine-electronics-reviews.com/standard-horizon-hx851.html
Good post Diane. Got me thinking. To me, the problem with some of the adventures that used to occur more frequently is that, at the time, they are pretty frightening, and maybe even terrifying. (Being imprisoned in Africa? Maybe fun in retrospect, but had to be a little worrisome at the time). And having been scared a few times on my boat (some of them pretty recently), I definitely don't like that feeling, and am not keen to experience it again if I don't have to. So, for me, I'd say, I am happy to trade a little adventure for the safety that new technology brings.
Scot, I tend to agree. I hate being afraid. I just wonder if we inadvertently make ourselves more fearful in the process. Those old-time sailors just seemed so rugged and superhuman compared to how ordinary and mortal I feel.
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