On Thu, 7 Aug 2008 06:49:00 -0400, "Roger Long"
wrote:

wrote

"Sucks" which I am sure from the context was meant to be "Sure".

Sure, the "10 days" was poor writing and distracting to the point I was
trying to make but, how much time do you think I spent dashing these posts
off? It was a purely retorical comment and a bit wide of the mark I was
trying to make.

There are two ways to respond the abundance of information S&L provide about
their cruises and mistakes. One is specific discussions of strategy, what
to do, what not to do, etc. that these accounts bring up. The other, which
is much more prominent here, is the "S&L are dangerous idiots who have no
business sailing." The fact that the latter generally comes from posters
who clearly are not cruising at all or are just puttering about locally in
trailer sailer class boats I find annoying.

S&L are on a learning curve and will be for the rest of their cruising days.
I made mistakes on my last cruise, the one before that, the one before that,
and .... I'll make mistakes on my next cruise. I've watched an Unlimited
Master of everything, no licenses left to sit for, nearly put his ship
aground (I was on it). Every experienced cruiser sailing once made a
passage with no prior passage making experience in command and every time
you cast off the lines there is the opportunity to learn something.

I'm not trying to make a point or judgement here about S&L actually but
about the nature of discussion which would be more useful and interesting to
read.

But here's the issue, Roger. We all make mistakes. However Skip, like
yourself, has an ego that won't let him benefit from his experiences,
or those of others. He revels in his ineptness, and rationalizes his
blunders, rather than being humbled by them. That may be why you feel
such empathy for him, and are so dismissive of criticisms and the hard
won experience of others.

The rest of us, understand that everyone makes mistakes, but Skip
needs to change his over-riding attitude about them if he wants to be
a better sailor. So far, he's been a kid, who when told not to stick a
knife in the toaster, grabs a fork, instead. You can follow a kid
around and tell him no at every turn, or you can try and teach him to
do a better job at deciding what is a good idea and what is a bad
idea.

I criticize Skip in the hope that at some point the light will go on
over his head, and he will realize that thinking ahead, and using
better judgement may lead to fewer problems, and help mitigate
problems that do happen anyway. Nobody can anticipate everything that
may happen, but it's a good idea to do it as much as possible. Skip
does too many things that show a complete lack of foresight or caring.
Sailing is somewhat akin to chess. You succeed by anticipation of all
the possible places you may be several moves from now.