awol
Well-Known Member
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" - Charles Darwin
I feel I am losing my grip on reality or perhaps I have just got too old to appreciate the changes in the world. A few recent posts have made me realise that my responses are not those of the majority.
The latest one, and this is not to decry the poster in any way - he has to learn, is from the newly awarded DS married to a CC who asks how to tack. Someone is renting him a 33' boat on the basis of his "course completion" but the syllabus doesn't seem to have covered how to sail! All the replies are helpful in the extreme, and no-one seems to find it at all incongruous.
Then there is the post complaining about the single-hander in the Helford. Ignoring whether he was wise or not to squeeze through such crowded waters under sail, there were several responses from those who claimed vast experience that he would have had more control with only one sail.
The skipper of the yacht that snagged on the tanker anchor was almost universally (and vehemently) condemned as a complete idiot for putting race winning above common sense. I can remember another Corby which managed to hit a solid object (the Kingdom of Fife) and wrapped its spinnaker round a chimney pot. It wasn't racing at the time but an unlikely series of events/snags occurred which overcame a very experienced and skillful crew. Face value was they were at fault, but retrospect was, there but for the grace of god ...... However, except for the odd exception, the fora "know" that the Solent collision was caused entirely by competitive stupidity and are baying for the skipper's head.
My conclusion is that there are a lot of sailing boats out there being driven by people who don't know how to sail but don't know they don't know - as Bertrand Russell put it "One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision". They may have umpteen years of experience but I suspect that it is based on one year's experience repeated umpteen times and consists of motoring in and out of a marina, hoisting sails for a bit and moaning about the cost of berthing, anchoring, etc.. They aren't members of a club, they never race - except perhaps Round an Island, and they have no way of knowing how little they know.
As for me, I am often scared by how little I know, how close I get to making stupid mistakes, and how much information I need before making decisions, reaching conclusions, or condemning someone's actions. According to Dunning-Kruger that makes me highly competent, but somehow I doubt it!
I feel I am losing my grip on reality or perhaps I have just got too old to appreciate the changes in the world. A few recent posts have made me realise that my responses are not those of the majority.
The latest one, and this is not to decry the poster in any way - he has to learn, is from the newly awarded DS married to a CC who asks how to tack. Someone is renting him a 33' boat on the basis of his "course completion" but the syllabus doesn't seem to have covered how to sail! All the replies are helpful in the extreme, and no-one seems to find it at all incongruous.
Then there is the post complaining about the single-hander in the Helford. Ignoring whether he was wise or not to squeeze through such crowded waters under sail, there were several responses from those who claimed vast experience that he would have had more control with only one sail.
The skipper of the yacht that snagged on the tanker anchor was almost universally (and vehemently) condemned as a complete idiot for putting race winning above common sense. I can remember another Corby which managed to hit a solid object (the Kingdom of Fife) and wrapped its spinnaker round a chimney pot. It wasn't racing at the time but an unlikely series of events/snags occurred which overcame a very experienced and skillful crew. Face value was they were at fault, but retrospect was, there but for the grace of god ...... However, except for the odd exception, the fora "know" that the Solent collision was caused entirely by competitive stupidity and are baying for the skipper's head.
My conclusion is that there are a lot of sailing boats out there being driven by people who don't know how to sail but don't know they don't know - as Bertrand Russell put it "One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision". They may have umpteen years of experience but I suspect that it is based on one year's experience repeated umpteen times and consists of motoring in and out of a marina, hoisting sails for a bit and moaning about the cost of berthing, anchoring, etc.. They aren't members of a club, they never race - except perhaps Round an Island, and they have no way of knowing how little they know.
As for me, I am often scared by how little I know, how close I get to making stupid mistakes, and how much information I need before making decisions, reaching conclusions, or condemning someone's actions. According to Dunning-Kruger that makes me highly competent, but somehow I doubt it!
