'Education not Legislation' - does that include unsolicited advice?

[Babylon]

I refer to the recent thread (http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214943) on whether the OP was justified in giving unsolicited safety advice to a work colleague new to boating, which gave rise to some (heated) replies.

This makes me wonder: how many people think that the general issues of training, seamanship and boat safety - and (therefore) keeping sailing as free as possible from the heavy hand of govt beaurocracy - is the sole responsibility of organisations such as the RYA?

Or do we all have a responsibility to gratuitously advise others, often but not always newcomers, who appear ignorant of some of the dangers?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I refer to the recent thread (http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214943) on whether the OP was justified in giving unsolicited safety advice to a work colleague new to boating, which gave rise to some (heated) replies.

I think the thread you mention gives rise to serious questions, not about whether we should be willing to give advice, but whether a forum like this is really the best place to debate these matters. The problem is that in the original post, the poster came across as slightly officious and a bit of a know-it-all. I DO NOT THINKTHIS REFLECTS WHAT HAPPENED, OR THE REAL ATTITUDE OF THE POSTER! I think that this perception is probably entirely caused by the poster paraphrasing a much more nuanced contact. Unfortunately, the paraphrase was then read as the reality by others.

And this highlights the difficulties of a text only medium like these fora. You don't know if I'm saying something with a shrug of my shoulders or a smile on my face; the medium effaces all the usual gestures we make to moderate our personal communications. And what we feel is a sensible account of an event can come to seem cold, officious or insensitive - even if that was far from a poster's intentions. We see this again and again in posts that involve death or injury; people making perfectly rational points are often criticized for seeming insensitive.

I think that when posting on sensitive issues here, we have to be very careful to ensure our meaning is made very clear - for example, above I used CAPITALS to emphasize that I meant no criticism of an individual. I hope this left no room for misunderstanding! And, of course, judicious use of smileys and other emoticons can help to take the place of facial expression and body language.

But above all, it is important that we take care to ensure that our posts mean what we think they mean - and that we clarify our meaning if there is any ambiguity.

We need to be very quick to apologize! Usually by PM; sometimes more publicly. But in this medium, no-one can see a red face! I have both apologized and been apologized to over misunderstandings; I think that readiness to do so indicates maturity of debate, and also a proper humility.

Finally, it is always worth remembering that in most cases we don't really know each other. You could be talking to the world expert on the topic - but you don't know! So, a proper humility in reading other's posts may be a good thing, too. But that works in other ways too - for example, I usually try and make it clear if I am speaking without direct personal knowledge or expertise.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

For leisure sailing there should be no compulsory training. The current set up works. Death and damage caused by using the water for leisure is not likely to reduce with compulsory training and shall always be present when people go down to the sea - trained or not.

A skipper is entirely responsible for being knowledgeable and competent to the appropriate level.

Organisations like the RYA, RNLI, MCA, some clubs, individuals and family can all be sources of information to learn.

I do think that Marinas, Clubs, Brokers, Boat Manufacturers, Charter Companies and certain Harbour Authorities should all have to emphasise in a clear way that the water is dangerous and that skippers should be competent. This could be simply a suitable worded, visible notice board at slip ways, marina entrances, flyers with boat schedules, that sort of thing.

If an individual wants to offer advice in any tone or manner he or she chooses, that is up to them, including offering no advice. I am an RYA Yachtmaster Instructor (Commercial Endorsement). I have suggested ways that somethings could be safer to skippers on other vessels, but only if the situation allowed. I have also thought why bother. I don't get hung up on it, as I am only responsible for my vessel and crew. I have stuck my nose into a situation where a lot of people were overloading a wee boat and were drunk; offered an opinion on why they really were exposing themselves to death by drowning. They split the trip into two runs. Drunk people - don't lecture them, have a laugh and be straight forward - someone is probably thinking "we are pis@ed and this is dangerous" anyway!

The commercial skipper competency aspects of boating are already addressed quite adequately.

If you post on a forum like this - you get what you get - after all its only a talking shop with no claims on being a definitive source of information.