Focus! Focus! Focus!

Interesting comments from Scuttlebutt about crew and the importance of focusing on the task:

The importance of a crew member focusing on his specific task:

“The one thing our team has always done really well, is that everyone focuses on doing their own job and just their job. I think that's a problem that a lot of boats have difficulty with, especially when you have a lot of really good sailors together. It's hard for everyone to focus on doing just their job. More often than not, it's not that you run into problems with people messing up their job, but people sort of overstepping boundaries. So everyone always does a really good job on our boat. But probably with the conditions being so shifty and up and down breeze wise, we were seeing easily 10 knot ranges and the really big shifts, I think John, my brother, who was driving the boat, probably gets the MVP for keeping the boat moving.”

Importance of staying focused after the race: regatta routine aids focus:

“Maybe the fact that we have to take a taxi home to get to our condo,
so therefore we don't go out at night. That could be it. We stay at a condo that's over on the south side of the island. We don't go out that much, we go to the tent, then go to dinner, then go to bed usually. We definitely have an order of things to do when we get out to the racecourse. We're taking wind shots on the way out to the course just as soon as were out there…before we even go out my dad tries to get the rig to where he thinks the breeze will be for the day. We're just out of the harbor, we're checking the wind, we check it again. We check it a lot, just to be in tune with what we think is
happening.”

Team practice and experience helps with focus:

“Trying to put together a team that has sailed together before so you
can be really focused on going fast for the regatta, and everybody knows what they're doing. I will not hesitate to say our strongest point is our speed. If you have a good mix of all-stars and people who have sailed the boat before that's definitely better than all all-stars that maybe have never sailed before because things can get done a lot better. Like I said before, the most important thing on a boat is everybody doing their job. They've got to be good at their job, so they've got to be an all-star at that. ..”

-- Full report: http://linkbee.com/CNR1

Jan. 18, 2009

As an applied economist I see a lot of underutilized capital. Is there a better use of capital than sitting unused in a yard for six months?



Looking east










Looking north











Looking west

Aristosera, Winter 2009

TBS 2009

I have mixed feelings about the Toronto Boat Show. Been there, done that, several times. Tickets, parking, and 'Boat Show Specials', i.e. spending money you don't have! Inevitably I end up going and having a good time.

This year I was able to have lunch with one of my regular Wednesday crew. It is good to get together during the long off season. One can get a different perspective on recent developments, e. g. Derek's travails in the southern ocean. I also like hearing about what other boat owners are thinking about as they look forward to a new sailing season. A visit to the Club also provides an opportunity to see other members. It is important to keep current with scuttlebutt!

This year I wanted to avoid any extra expense. I volunteered for a two hour shift at the Club's booth. This allowed me to get into the event without buying a ticket! In addition to the two hour shift I also had to attend an information meeting to familiarize myself with the various club programs and membership requirements. The booth is manned by at least two people so you have an opportunity to wander about the exhibits without leaving the booth unmanned. As a 'racer' and 'drysailer' I find these club duties provide an opportunity to meet 'cruisers'. My booth mate was Andrew, who owns a 30 foot 'cruiser'.

The Club has 220 senior members, 30 drysailers, and 30 dinghy members. There are about 250 Crew members. The Club has a waiting list for docks, and there are only 10 available moorings. For non boat owners, the Club has a few good ways to start sailing. Racing is on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Cruising on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Crew members can join boats looking for crew. There is also a more expensive 'Shark Club' membership which allows for the use of Club owned boats. Most of the people visiting the booth were Club members, but we did have a few people interested in crew membership and one new boat owner.

One of my objectives for the Boat show was to get a sense of the economy. Boating should be one of the first items to be eliminated from the family budget. One significant development was the bankruptcy of one of the local yacht brokers. They still had a presence at the show, with the support of a boat manufacturer. Generally, I would say that traffic was poor for a late Sunday afternoon. My tour of exhibits was a quick visit to the Beneteaus. There are two new models, the '34' replaces the '343' and the '37' replaces the '373'. I didn't really like either. I would prefer a metal toe rail, the micro wave shouldn't encroach on the nav station, and the rotation of the galley sink makes it difficult to enter the salon when someone is washing up.

The Boat Show is a social event. It was a great opportunity to met people, mainly serendipitously. See you next year!