All the Other Skills Needed

All the Other Skills Needed

"The Americas Cup is a race of management, money, technology, teamwork and, last and incidentally, sailing." 
-Bill Kock

The quote above is applicable to many other circumstances, sporting events and business situations.  Successful Engineers, Geologists and other Scientists often become Managers or Owners and spend more time dealing with personnel, management and financial issues than they do dealing with the science of their industry. Being a good sailor doesn't mean you're going to win races. As the quote says above, it takes management, money, technology and teamwork.  You can't sail most race boats alone and you can't run most successful businesses alone. 

I've been repeatedly reminded of the reality and meaning of this quote lately as I and our race team have been getting prepared for the Chicago to Mackinaw Island Sail Boat race starting this Saturday.  Our team has put in thousands of hours getting prepared for this race. The vast majority of those hours had nothing to do with sailing.  Mostly it was sanding, painting, finishing and assembly.  Having a good fast boat is an integral part of the race however learning how to construct and prepare the boat is wholly different science and talent than sailing the boat.  But if you are going to be successful, you have to be good at both.

One of the many things I love about sail boat racing is that it is all of life's metaphoric struggles all rolled into one.  It's Man against Man, Man against Nature, and Man against Himself.  There are many parallels to the business environment and to just life in general.  There are many sailing terms used today that we give no thought to that derived from sailing. 

A few examples:

Over the Barrel - The most common method of punishment aboard ship was flogging. The unfortunate sailor was tied to a grating, mast or over a barrel. 

To Know the Ropes - There are miles rope in the rigging of a square rigged ship. The only way of keeping track of the function of all of these lines was to memorize (know) where they were located. It took an experienced seaman to know the ropes.

Pipe Down - Means stop talking and be quiet. The Pipe Down was the last signal from the Boson's pipe each day which meant lights out and silence.

As the Crow Flies - When lost or unsure of their position in coastal waters, ships would release a caged crow. The crow would fly straight towards the nearest land thus giving the vessel some sort of a navigational fix.

Cut and Run - If a smaller ship at anchor was discovered by a larger enemy vessel, the smaller ship might decide that discretion is the better part of valor, and so would order the crew to cut the anchor cable and sail off in a hurry.

Toe the Line - When called to line up at attention, the ship's crew would form up with their toes touching a seam in the deck planking.

Keel Over -To capsize.  Also a sailors term for death.

Taking the wind out of his sails - Sailing in a manner so as to steal or divert wind from another ship's sails.

Fly-by-Night - The word fly means "to sail" in nautical jargon. Sailing at night was a difficult and dangerous task. Therefore, when the night watch began, the elaborate sails used during the day were replaced by one large sail requiring rather little attention.  This was the easiest sail to set and take down thus it could be put up and taken down quickly.

If you're interested in tracking our team during this weekend's race you can follow us athttp://race.ionearth.com/2011/cycracetomackinac/.  Our boat is named "Relentless" and information can be found here:  http://competitor.cycracetomackinac.com/boatdetail.cfm?ID=133 . There are 355 boats entered in this year's race.  

The weather forecast is calling for light winds at the start and building somewhat over the time of the race.  It does not look like any records will be broken but it should be a good race.