Nicely written, David, & I agree with you. I wonder where a guy like (the late) Steve Fossett fits into that equation.
At the Hospice Championship last weekend (we raced on J105s in 12-18 kn of breeze, no biggie there) I talked to a guy from the St Joseph MI team who, earlier that day, got hit with the boom and landed in the drink. He had no pfd on and it's only b/c he never lost consciousness that he was able to, later that evening, have the conversation with me at the tent. The next day (winds 12 - 25), the one smart person on the boat (e.g., the female, naval acad employee) put on her pfd vest and, seeing that, so did I...but our bowman didn't and no one else in the vegetable bin did, either. Water temps were in the low 60's, not that dangerous, but with building breeze (sustained in the high 30's low 40's that evening) a rescue would have been interesting. So, personally, I hope I have the sense to keep wearing mine, 95% of the time, but I think just plain old laziness, and the mindset you've described above, will probably mean I'll continue being stupid and go without. People are strange. tf > There is a principle of human behavior that can probably be assigned some > designation by psychologists or sociologists, but it has a practical > aspect > that can be identified. (My qualifications for talking about this come > from > many years of investigating and writing about aircraft accidents.) > > The âsyndromeâ can be summed up in a personal statement: âWell, > doing THAT > is a bit dangerous, but I have now done it so many times for so many years > and it hasnât killed me, that Iâm probably immune to the danger.â > > The most famous of all aviation practitioners of it, I think, was Chuck > Yeager, who had a kind of creative adaptation. Yeager was captured > beautifully by Tom Wolfe in The Right Stuff saying, âAny ordinary pilot > would get killed doing something like that. So I only did it when I was > feeling really up to snuff.â If you review Yeagerâs career carefully, > you > will see that he survived some things that were not only unsafe, but so > stupidly dangerous that you would have to give him a psych exam if an > airman > did it today. > > I donât let myself off the hook here. Going on deck without flotation is > something that a lot of us do, and some of us can even rationalize when > itâs > good weather and easy sailing, as opposed to rough and cold. It has never > killed us yet, so maybe it never will . . > > If you think about it, the same syndrome suffices for other behaviors. For > instance, I smoked heavily for 17 years. For at least 10 or 12 of those > years, I understood it was dangerous. It was only when I became convinced > that smoking was definitely going to kill me (I woke up every day with > sore > lungs) that I finally took the steps to quit for real. That was 24 years > ago, luckily for me. > > Regards, > > Dave S. (Demitri) > > > > > On 5/19/08 1:59 PM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> I'm glad the story had a happy ending but I have to ask why it was they >> were >> racing without wearing PFD's - especially in cold water. >> -- >> Dave >> Cape Cod >> >> >>> -------------- Original message -------------- >>> From: "Sneddon, Keith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> I would add, if the waterâs cold (below 60 deg F), wear drysuits for >>> deck >>> work. >>> >>> >>> Keith Sneddon >>> Chief Engineer >>> Mechanized Systems >>> Defense Systems >>> Ph: 631-630-4092 Fax: 631-630-4244 >>> Cell: 516-313-7420 e-mail:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> On December 20, 2007, EDO Corporation merged with ITT Corporation to >>> form a >>> top-ten U.S. defense supplier. Visit us at www.defense.itt.com >>> <http://www.defense.itt.com/> >>> >>> >>> From: [email protected] >>> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David Techlin >>> Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 1:22 PM >>> To: [email protected] >>> Subject: catalina27-talk: Fwd: FW: MOB incident in Saginaw Bay >>> >>> >>> Fellow Listees, >>> >>> >>> >>> Thought I would share this sobering reminder with the rest of the C-27 >>> gang, >>> There but for the Grace of God .... >>> >>> >>> >>> Tehlin >>> >>> "GUSTY" >>> >>> Note: forwarded message attached. >>> >> > > >
