I have had one small success in this regard. I used to sail on a Jeanneau 45
and the owner's wife would go on deck, day or night, offshore or onshore,
with no safety gear at all. I really do mean, 100 miles from land on a dark
night. Finally, having the status of first mate and not really caring if I
pissed off anyone, I nicknamed her Sharkbait. That got her to wear a PFD and
even a harness, at least some of the time.
--Dave S.
On 5/19/08 6:19 PM, "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 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.
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
