Work/study crossover

Last week's Americas Cup sailing tragedy, where a crew member died while training on one of the super-fast 72 ft catamarans, has brought up an interesting overlap between my work in yacht racing, and my degree studies on crime v. harm: I'm thinking about the self-regulation of high-level (and high finance) sports, and internal investigations into 'accidents', and how this could be seen as corporate crime/harm.

It's also worrying how (although we might all deny it) things like this can become accepted as a risk of the sport that the competitors knowingly sign up for, I have no doubt that disclaimers abound in the contracts. 

Would you go and work in an 'ordinary' job for an amazing company doing something you loved, but knowing that one day you might not come home from work? Do workers in factories have different rights to those enjoying themselves? What is the difference between company responsibilities in the workplace, and professional sailing where the sailors are effectively employees?

The AC investigation has to be completed in time for the racing start at the beginning of July; well, they wouldn't want to upset the TV schedules. So, don't worry everyone, the show will go on! After all, it's all about the money.....

And, as in car racing, some of the Americas Cup spectators will be watching in the hope that there will be a big crash; and that is a whole different question about human nature.

Progress...

Carina's comment on my post from a year ago made me think about just how much things have moved on since April 2011.

Mr H has been through various forestry interviews and possible new houses/flats to move to, and then ended up moving home so actually it was a good thing none of them were successful. Although it didn't feel it at the time when he turned down a really nice house just in case he got the job in a different district!  And his new job is brilliant... will it last? who knows, but as he said tonight "we'll make hay while the sun shines".   If it goes belly up in a year's time, none of this will have been wasted, just like the forestry time hasn't been wasted.  I know that our parallel life, if Mr H hadn't said about 5 years ago 'I want to go to college and learn forestry and give up upholstery', would not have been nearly as rewarding as our life is now.

***

In the last couple of weeks I have gone on a normality spree. Maybe it was the orthopaedic expert looking at me as if I was making up the pain in my leg, or maybe it was talking boats and sailing with a friend (that sounds odd, given that I talk boats all day, but this was related to pleasure not work!), but I seem to have switched gears.

Mr H and I having taken out the Heron dinghy three or so weeks ago, on Easter Sunday I took the Topaz 'Purpletrator' out:

It wasn't as comfortable, as there was very little wind so I spent most of the half hour scrunched up in the bottom of the boat, and hurting when I had to move!  But, I went out and survived and will go out again this weekend.   

I also spent an evening on Friday with a bunch of old sailing friends who were doing a regatta in Cowes, and felt rather envious of them because I wished that it was me going out on the water with them the next day. That is the first time really that I've missed sailing with them, it's the camaraderie and fun of being part of a crew as much as the sailing itself.  I think that I should aim to be out yachting in 2013!

Today I put myself back on the sailing club duty roster, although with some conditions.  So I'm back on the roster for driving a safety boat (but with a crew who is also qualified to drive so we can swap places), but staying off tractor driving duty for now (for launching the safety RIBs). Mainly because doing both involves a lot of running around by the time I have launched and recovered three boats. And I've said that I'll train as an assistant race officer as long as it's ashore, since doing it on the races that start out in the Solent involves clambering on and off an old lifeboat to/from a RIB, probably in a bit of sea - it's rare that the Solent is flat! 

There is a training day for race officers and assistants at the end of May, but I'll miss it as I have an OU tutorial that day; but the sailing secretary and I agreed that since I know all the basics he's just going to throw me in the deep end, so that will be fun.

Oh and last on my list (but certainly not least) for this month of getting back to normal is going to be a week in the Lake District, hill walking and cycling amongst other things. That will be really interesting to see how much the beautiful view distracts me from how much things hurt!   

And now I must get on with some studying, I have a review to write of 'Protecting Scotland's Communities - Fair, Fast and Flexible Justice', which my tutor said was very boring, but naturally I found it interesting because I'm strange like that...

Almost the weekend

Mr H and I are planning to go sailing in our new dinghy at the weekend.  Well when I say new, it's 1966 (the same age as us!) but we've not sailed it since we bought it in November.

Last night we did a dinghy swap, which involved bringing 'Nutshell' the Firefly home from the sailing club dinghy park, and taking 'Bluebird' the Heron down to put in it's place. That took us a couple of hours and afterwards we treated ourselves do a meal in the pub, something we never do on our own!

Going back to the dinghies, I also have a modern single-hander down there (the 'Purpletrator'), and the club have been good at allowing them to stay there for the last couple of years even though they've not been used. Normally to keep your space in the dinghy park you have to use the boat at least 5 times between April and September.

So, fingers crossed for weather and wind (enough but not too much please) on Saturday, and also that nothing untoward happens to put me off. Who knows, maybe this will be the year for getting back on the water...?

Can't - Can

Yesterday we got an invitation in the office to go sailing on Mariquita in May   I jumped at the chance and e-mailed the skipper to say yes please, my colleague and I would love to come.

Last night I got an attack of the nerves thinking 'I can't' and this morning I was thinking 'maybe I shouldn't', 'what if it's windy?'

But by the time I got to work I had decided that I can.

Feminism? well, I don't think so

This morning I read about an all-girl crew competing in the Sydney-Hobart yacht race in December. This one of the tough racing classics and there is certainly nothing idle about taking part.

I have odd feelings about women and sailing, specifically yacht racing (being one who has done it on and off over the last 25 years).  For years women in sailing have been fighting to be recognised alongside men, but now that there are far more girls and women taking part (I don't know any actual statistics, but anyone in sailing will vouch for it), I keep hearing about 'women only' events, all-girl crews etc. and it makes me feel rather uncomfortable.

Apart from the fact that I can't think of anything worse that spending extended periods of time with just women, what are they trying to prove?  Any intelligent person knows that women are as capable as men at some things, better than them at some things, and not as good as them at some things.  On a boat this might mean that where women lack brawn, we may be better at multi tasking eg. with 5 bits of rope to pull at the same time, or noticing something that's about to go wrong. We're different, it's evolution, get used to it.  Personally I would much rather sail on a mixed crew.

Why, after all the years of seeking equality in yacht racing, do women go out on their own and make a big deal of it?   I can just imagine the uproar if somebody decided to hold a 'men only' sailing event....!!  An acquaintance of mine organises a women only regatta, and nothing would make me take part in it.  I admire her for the hard work that goes into it etc., it's just the whole 'women only' thing that goes against the grain for me.

So, going back to this All-Girl Crew (that's what they imaginatively call themselves), they are doing the race all in the good cause of ovarian cancer awareness which is fine. But I really wish they hadn't used the words 'sisterhood' and 'unbreakable bond' on their website.   It made me feel a bit ick, to be honest.  And don't even ask my opinion on the front page picture.

Propping up the eyelids

I almost fell asleep across my parents kitchen table this morning... at least, it felt as if I just closed my eyes I'd be gone.   We went over for two reasons - firstly my sister was down with her two youngest children (11 & 13) and her man so we wanted to see them; secondly Dad had a tree that needed cutting down so Mr H was doing the honours while there were extra hands there to help, and to kill two birds with one stone, as it were.  

I don't know how people cope with having loads of family around at Christmas, it makes me feel quite claustrophobic. Trying to find enough chairs/plates, who wants tea/coffee/whatever, lots of people talking at once.. I know some people thrive on the hustle and bustle but I just want to escape to a quiet corner somewhere with a good book.

I haven't done much physically over the last few days, other than the odd short dog walk, but I realised that we have seen friends/family every day since Friday. Combined with a drive up to the Cotswolds and back, I can't believe how exhausting it's been.   Tomorrow I have a day off from talking to anyone other than my husband and my dog, hurrah!   

Oh, we talked about the dinghies last night... one of them is a single-hander which I sail on my own; the other is a 2-man old wooden Firefly which I sail with Mr H.  We agreed to keep them (not that I was going to be making any big decisions now anyway) and just carry on pottering about in it as we do now.  ie. not worrying that we don't go out every weekend or for hours at a time.   I must stop comparing myself to the other people in the sailing club, those who are passionate about it.  The sort that go racing on Boxing Day even when it's -6C and there is 3" of ice on the slipway.

While they are doing that, Mr H. and I willl be getting on our walking boots and woolly hats and heading for higher ground.

I've been thinking...

.. yes I know that's pretty dangerous, but it happens on occasion. 

A couple of times in the last two days the subject of New Year Resolutions has come up.  Among our family and friends we seem pretty unanimous that we don't do them, as they are pointless and why is it any different deciding to do something on the 1st Jan as any other day of the year?

Everyone knows that new gym memberships peak in January and attendance is tailing off by the end of February.     I used to have a long-term New Year resolution to stop biting my nails.  When I eventually did stop, it was for some other reason completely and nothing to do with the resolution. 

This year, what with things being put into perspective somewhat, Resolutions seem even more pointless.  The only one I thought about on the drive home today was:

To walk a-top the embankment and stay out of the ditch.

In other words, not to live life head-down working, or cooking/cleaning/everyday living, but up on that embankment looking around to see what's going on outside my own hill-fort. Looking for ways to expand my horizons and make the most of the fact that I'm alive and kicking. Not doing things because 'that's what's expected of me' but doing things I want to do; getting priorities balanced between other people and myself.  

****

One of the things that has come about after the crash was the question of what I really miss.   Most people think I'd miss sailing - since that has always been part of my life; I own two dinghies, and over the years have done a fair bit of big-boat racing though that is now about a week every 2 years so doesn't really count any more.     Most of the sailing people I know, put in my position, would be tearing their hair out not being on the water, and desperate to be deemed fit enough to sail again.    

But I don't miss the dinghy sailing one bit.   It makes me wonder how much I actually enjoyed it before?  I know that I've always had a self-confidence issue with it and can quite easily come up with excuses why not to go out: too much wind, not enough wind, too cold etc.  Maybe I've been kidding myself all this time?  I don't know when I'll be able to sail my dinghies again and I don't really care; I know it's winter now but even in the summer I didn't sit in the garden thinking 'what a lovely day for a sail'.  It costs me £260 a year to keep 2 boats in the club dinghy park, and now I'm thinking I could use that money to go to Scotland and go canoeing with Mr H. and Django instead.

The thing I have consistently missed the most is walking, the most simple thing of all.   Not walking as in around the house, but walking to work, or into town, or along the clifftop or out on the Forest with Django.   And as an extension of that, the walking that I had started getting lazy about - out in the hills, mountains or long distance paths with Mr H.