So my 5th summer of sail comes to its close, as we busy ourselves getting our boat ready for the incoming typhoon. Since 2018, when I first learned how to tie a bowline knot, I have spent some time on water, learning about the practical side of sailing, as well as its spiritual, or shall I say philosophical, side. I would like to reflect upon the latter on this rainy/windy typhoon day.
There are more to do when there is no wind. You make a warm drink. Check on the conditions of various parts of your boat and your crew; if anything or anybody requires particular attention and/or mending. Watch your rivals, see if they are doing anything better than you, and, if so, emulate. Watch the weather, see where the next wind is likely to come from. Adjust your course accordingly. Hypothesise, observe and debate in your head. You get busy doing all these so that you can concentrate when the gusts start to blow.
You do not have to be friends with all your shipmates, but you gotta love them all. You do not have to stress yourself by trying to be best friends with one and all. If you are, that’s great. But, more likely than not, there is always someone you just find difficult to get along. After all, you, and both of you, are only human. But your personal difficulty shall never distract you from your basic duty of care for the safety and well-being of your shipmates. Everyone of them. You might not care for them, but you just have to care. And that could be the beginning of your beautiful friendship. You never know.
Never blame the helmsman for broaching, or anybody else for that matter. Downwind sailing is a nervy thing and the weather-helm is just an inevitable factor under the laws of physics that all crew members have to take into account. The more you try to squeeze the power out of the aft wind, the more risk you carry. It’s more often than not a result from the failure of communication than a fault of single person, who is just trying to do the best he/she can.
There is always an extra dimension in choosing the best course. Anyone can draw a straight line from the start to finish. It is the easiest part to take into account the wind direction. It is still easy to predict the change of wind direction and its force over time. But then you have to consider the currents, ebb and flow, and swells. You must also think about the conditions of crew members and the boat, types of sail you carry, the strength of each sheet and every tackle. In the end, you never sail a straight line, and that is OK.
[To be continued…]
Yutaka Yazawa 