Archive for May, 2010

Ninety percent of something is everything

Lately it seems that this has been a blog less about cruising than about all the reasons we’re not cruising. But then I’m told that ninety percent of cruising is spent at anchor or tied up, so maybe we’re right on the mark. I just helped our neighbors shove off for points north for the [...]

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Irreducible Minimums

“Oh, great,” you say. “Here he goes again about risk and checklists and aviation or something. BOOORRRIIING!” Well, fear not, my friends. I’m not going to talk about that tedious old crap. I’m going to talk about another kind of crap altogether, fresh, exciting crap that you will be happy to learn about: our stuff. [...]

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Inexperience and Ineptitude

I’ve been reading The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande recently and it has really resonated with my personal experiences in sailing. For instance, I’ve discovered that I’m not stupid, I’m just inept. How is that for reassurance? Gawande makes the distinction between a lack of knowledge that results in failures (“inexperienced”) and a lack of [...]

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