Old Salts RuleS #1-5

Me, age 11 or 12, driving a big boat for the first time. Behind me is the owner Bob Redniss giving me pointers.

I’m a sailor because my father is a sailor. Dad first started sailing with the Navy, taking out daysailers and such in “hard duty” places like Key West, San Francisco, and the Panama Canal Zone. When I was in grade school, he bought a Rhodes 18. By the time I was 14, my father let me take the sturdy boat out myself, usually with a few pals.

My introduction to big boat racing came when I was 11.  My father had been the navigator on  a  Rhodes 41' Bounty II called “Alibi IV”. The owner – Bob Redniss – was generous enough to let me sail with the adults for Tuesday Night beer can racing. When I met Mr. Redniss, my father had instructed me to formally introduce myself and to ask him “What can I do tonight, Sir?”  When I did so, he sternly looked at me straight in the eye, and said “Son, do you know the difference between a cold beer and a warm beer?” (After all, it was beer can racing.) I assured him I did, and vowed to find the coldest ones.  “They are usually on the bottom.” he counseled.  I told Dad about it on the car ride home.  He said: “Do the best job you can do at whatever you’re asked to do, and you’ll always have a place on a race boat.” That lesson that stuck with me, both in sailing and in Life. I came to call this Old Salts Rule #1.

Later in life, my father got his “6-pack” and “Captain Bernie” built a second career delivering yachts up and down the coast, and instruction on navigation, boat handling, docking, and familiarization to new boat owners. (Perhaps you can see where this is all going…)

The “Captain Bernie”  business cards included: “The mark of a great ship handler is never getting into situations that require great ship handling.”  It’s a quote from Admiral Ernest King, USN. That is a core part of how I approach going to sea as well, and it's Old Salts Rule #2.

Old’s Salts Rule #3:  Another thing Dad taught me was “A good plan without preparation is a bad plan.  Preparation without a good plan won’t go well. And even then you need the right people doing the right things at the right time.”

A recent example of good planning , preparation and execution:  I was asked to deliver a 42’ sloop from Kingston, NY to Stamford, CT. I prepared a draft float plan for the owner and crew to review. We looked at the tides and picked a couple of good tide windows for both the Hudson and Hell Gate. A few days later we looked at the weather, and agreed it looked pretty good. Slight chance of thunderstorms, but in July in NYC, you can wait weeks for a “no chance of thunderstorm” forecast. We finalized the departure date, logistics, transportation, and then executed the plan.  All went well.  Nothing to Report.

But it might not have gone well if some of the planning was bad.  What if the boat didn’t have enough fuel?  What if we couldn’t get a mooring reservation?  What if the East River was closed for 4^th of July fireworks”?  What if the UN has an event that closes the East River (it happens)? Once the plan goes off kilter, all sorts of other issues and unpleasant surprises jump up and grab you.  You miss your tide window by a few hours and now you are motoring for longer than you planned. Then the engine overheats.  There’s only harbor for 20 miles in any direction. You find yourself coming into a unknown marina in the dark, with a narrow and shallow channel – and bear in mind this is your BEST option – and now you’re in deep bilgewater.  Possibly literally. Old Salt Rule #4: “A boring delivery is a good delivery!”

Sure, things happen and things don’t always go according to plan.  But if and when they do go pear-shaped, you’ll have a better handle on the implications.  In a previous post, I talked about the importance of stopping the snowball before it creates an avalanche.  Having a solid plan is a good defense against a snowball getting rolling in the first place.

My father also loves Clint Eastwood movies.  One of his favorites, which we both apply to sailing is from Magnum Force:  “A man’s got to learn his limitations.” That’s Old Salt Rule #5.

To be continued….