Something about an author you might want to read, Krugman with a year's end observation, and a little hindsight from the Vermont Sail Freight Project...
There's the classic line from some western I can't recall that goes something like this.
First guy: It's quiet...
Second guy: Yeah, it's too quiet...Which is just about where an arrow is about to come out of nowhere and perforate the first guy.
I mention this because if there is one art to doing the whole sailing gig and not screwing up it is developing a highly tuned sense of situational awareness and knowing what the hell is going on around you.
Where boats are concerned my most attuned sense is hearing... That flogging sail, the odd expensive sound your engine starts making, that noise that sounds like surf breaking on a reef, or that shift in the sound of the water interacting with your boat are all aural messages you should be taking note of.
For instance, our boat sounds a certain way at four knots, somewhat different at five and so on until it starts to plane and then a whole different spectrum of sound comes into play.
Pretty much the same can be said for the wind in the rigging. At fifteen knots it sounds a certain way and when it gets to a bit over twenty it starts talking to you and telling you...
"it's about to time to put in a reef in"... while at 25 knots it's saying...
"IT'S TIME TO PUT A REEF IN"All quite eloquent in its way. That time we got hit by the microburst all standing in Antigua I swear the wind in the rigging was saying...
"OhHolyFuckHoldOnOhShitIThinkIJustPissedMyself"On second thought, it might have been me saying that at the time...
The thing is there is all sorts of information available through your senses but you have to pay attention.
Listening to the Pousette-Dart Band
So it goes...
