 |
|
| ATWOS 2002 Index |
Subscribe to ATWOS |
|
||||
|
|
Around the World of Sailing27 March 2002This weeks features: Finish Line
Reference Point
Rowing ReporterThe Rowing Reporter is a weekly column of commentary and New Occasional Long Format This is the monthly installment of Rowing Reporter that is longer and covers only a single topic. Please send comments on this to ike@torresen.com *********** While on summer vacation I read 'The Commodores' a book about the American navy in the age of sail. Two quotations by noted American naval officers gained my interest. What follows is my comments and thoughts on these statements, plus biographical information on the officers quoted. I wrote the comments one per day, so each comment pod may have a different style depending on the day. ----------- David Porter's thoughts read as follows: "A man of war is a petty kingdom governed by a petty despot. The little tyrant strutting his few fathoms of scoured plank, dare not unbend lest he should lose that appearance of respect from his inferiors which their fears inspire. He has therefore no society, no smile, no courtesies, for or from anyone. He stands alone w/o friendship or sympathy of one on board, a solitary being in the midst of the ocean." Porter's petty kingdom was 138 feet long and several decks high hardly petty by modern standards. It was certainly a kingdom. The royal like power placed in a sailing captain continues to this day. The current Racing Rules read, "The responsibility for a boat's decision to participate in a race or to continue racing is hers alone" with the decision and hind sight responsibility usually in the captain's hands. While Porter was known as captain, skipper is the current term. Skipper is the term applied to pleasure boat captains. With present day sail it's a skipper who runs the petty kingdom. Modern day sailing is more egalitarian than Porters era of the petty despot. Still, there are similarities. In Porter's day there were other officers to run the ship while he slept. They served as assistant despots. Today a racing crew has watch captains in a similar role. The closest there is to a despot on the modern sailing scene is the solo sailor. With a setting of boat, ocean and them self they have absolute power and all the benefits, work and anxiety that goes with it. They can push themselves to sleep little, eat less and sail faster. Porter's few fathoms of scoured plank refer to the custom that when the Captain was on deck he alone could walk the weather side of the quarterdeck. For a sailor the bunk maybe his few feet of questionably comfortable space. A Volvo Ocean race sailor reported on current berthing methods: "The bunk I sleep in is known affectionately as 'the coffin'...Jammed right up between the cockpit side and the face of the aft ballast tank..." Spike Walker wrote: "At sea, a man's bunk is the only place on board that he can claim as his own." In any case, he is lucky it is angled to compensate for heel. Is it true that the skipper should not unbend lest he lose respect? This goes to the core of leadership. Today the model for a group of sailors is a team not a crew. Lord Nelson didn't have a team, he had a crew that was sometimes dragged aboard against their will. Today in sailing their is a lot more choice about which boat you find a berth on. A relaxed skipper might even be what attracts a sailor to a team. The skipper now has more latitude in his behavior. It's the time of the jocund skipper rather than the unbending one. Continuing on Porter muses on the loneliness of a Captain. In his day when naval square riggers carried hundreds of sailors the idea of the lone sailor hadn't been conceived. Now the oceans are periodically filled with sailors purposely alone. They circle the entire globe in times as fast as 93 days. Still this is over 3 months alone. How lonely can you get when modern day single handers can talk via satellite phone and receive thousands of encouraging emails even while farther from land than the International Space Station. Modern day sailing has brought about lone sailors as in tune and befriended as any of us. Next is Stephen Decatur's thoughts: "The 1st quality of a good seamen is personal courage the second obedience to orders, the third fortitude under sufferings." Courage is undeniably a positive quality in a sailor. Courage is shown in a situation such as Giovanni Soldini sailing back through the ocean to rescue Isabelle Autissier from her overturned Open 60. Soldini's courage shot came and he survived it. Maybe though as boats get safer, and communications improve things will tame up. Unlike Decatur who could show courage under attack or Soldini the rescuer will courage opportunities disappear from sailing? Until we know with 100% certainty what the weather will do or sailors stop trying to go faster yet, courage calls will be around. The quality of obeying orders carries with it a military tone from Decatur a military man. Skippers can't flog their crew for a bad jibe anymore. A more team or consensual way of operation is the racing crew model. One area where obeying orders strictly may still be needed is in safety. A standing order on keeping a look out, or wearing safety harnesses or PFD's can cause horrors if disobeyed. While it maybe best to have a crew meeting to discuss improving speed out of tacks, safety might best be handled by having obey able orders like all crew with strobe lights on them at night. As long as there is wind and sea sailors will continue suffering. Riding and reading the wind are sailing. Either can be difficult. When a light air situation pushed Grant Dalton's boat from 2nd to 5th place as the VOR entered Rio he commented: "We might get off the canvas and we might get thumped back on the canvas again on the next leg, but if you keep getting off of it, you will come through." That maybe mixing metaphors and cliche but it's true. Reading and riding the wind are an unpredictable mix of simple and complex and the suffering part won't ever change when you get it wrong. David Porter 1780-1843. Porter entered the US Navy as a midshipman in 1798. His most famous command was the Frigate Essex. The Essex was 118 feet long with a beam of 37 feet. During the war of 1812 Porter took the Essex around Cape Horn. They left Philadelphia late 1812. The Essex had success in attacking British wailing ships. This command ended in Chile when the Essex was beaten by two British warships 176 of 225 sailors perished. Porter was taken prisoner by the British and later released. Stephen Decatur 1779-1820 was a man of dynamic personality and an eventful naval career. His naval career began at age 19. In 1804 he achieved the rank of Captain, and made Commodore 3 years later. Later he led a group of volunteers into Tripoli to burn a captured ship. While Captain of the United States he captured the British ship Macedonian and returned both ships to America. This was the only ship the Americans captured and refitted during the War of 1812. Decatur was fatally wounded in a duel on March 22, 1820.
|
|
|