I hope you will forgive my rant but it does concern sailing. I got
onto this topic because someone here thinks taking a tiny child sailing
is bad. This no-risk-nanny-state-knows-best attitude I find nauseating
and I hope its purveyor is not an American. Remember that our
ancestors took amazing risks with their children. Many of them took
them onto leaky sailing vessels to spend months crossing oceans where
the known death rate was very high. Remember that many of our
ancestors piled their kids onto wagons and spent months in a very
hostile environment where the death rate was very high. If you want a
real perspective on this, read about the Mormon Hand Cart disaster on
the plains of Wyoming and Nebraska, its a real heartbreaker. In very
few cases, people did NOT have to take these extreme risks with their
families but I think Americans should be thankful they did because it
has been passed on as part of our national character. I am not
advocating risk for any macho reasons and in fact am repulsed by macho
BS risky behavior. Instead, I advocate informed and calculated risk
taking.
Over the years, either due to major personality flaws or the
almighty trying to kill me I have managed to take part in some strange
outdoor activities and in every case I saw examples of macho BS and
calculated risk taking and avoidance. I have stood on the dock looking
at small white caps on the water with my crew looking disgusted at me
thinking I was a coward wimp because I suddenly got a bad feeling about
sailing that day and decided I was not able to make good decisions.
Some of these people will no longer sail with me for that reason but I
still think I was right. Back when I did a lot of rock climbing, I
dated a girl who also climbed and we went on a trip to climb Devils
Tower in WY. Just on a whim, I wimped out and she was disgusted and
never went out with me again but I think I was right not to climb. On
three separate occasions I have carried 500' of cave rope up a mountain
in Alabama and snaked through the canyon passages and rigged the 408'
drop into Surprise Pit only to decide at the last minute not to do the
pit.
Now I am nearly 50 and some of my friends have been killed and some
seriously injured because they gave in to macho impulses when they
should have allowed reason to guide their judgement. They might have
thought me a wimp when I refused to do something at particular time,
but they have stopped either due to death or dumb-ass injury while I
have managed to eventually do the things I wanted and even more than
they ever did. One friend of mine is paralysed from the waist down, he
fell 250' in a cave ...and lived...sorta. The day before the trip, he
asked me to go and told me who was leading the trip. I refused to go
and told him it was because I did not approve of the leaders attitude
toward safety. He was dissapointed and puzzled because this leader was
a world famous caver (caving is a small world, you can be world famous
by knowing only 1000 ppl). The next day, he allowed his judgement to
be swayed by macho crap and will pay for it the rest of his life.
A few years ago, Sail magazine ran an article called "Chicken
Harbor" in which they criticized people who wait for weeks at West End
for "perfect weather" before crossing the Gulf Stream. This was one of
the most perverted disgusting macho pieces of crap I have ever read and
I wonder how many people it has killed trying to live up to such
nonsense. I have never read Sail Mag since.
One should never allow the perceptions of others regarding your bravery
to influence your judgement. In spite of this, some might see your
decisions as macho but you should discourage this and explain your
assessment of the risk vs reward.
My kids see me perusing the orbital photos of Mars where I explain
that I think I see cave features on its water torn surface. My kids,
especially my 8 yr old daughter, have loved the mild cave exploring we
have done together and I tell them that someday they will be exploring
caves on Mars. First she looks excited, then pensive, then scared and
asks "but wouldn't we have to take a rocket to get there", "of course I
say, it could take months", she replies "rockets sometimes blow up." I
tell her that is true but she will have to evaluate that risk vs her
urge to explore.
Very young children may not remember specific events but attitudes
get passed on to them very quickly. If you give them irrational
reasons to be fearful, they will be. If you give them ability to
evaluate risk, they will do so (This does not apply to 14 yr old boys
who temporarily suspend rational judgement in favor of decisions made
by Testosterone).
My rant for the day, now I am going to work on my MiniCups (12' hoem
built sailboats).