The sea is a wonderful, strict, no-favorites teacher. Its lessons are valuable in many other areas of life. An example is Hurricane Rita.
A lot of what we learn going to sea under sail is directly applicable to decisions that had to be made as it became clear that Rita was a major threat to the upper Texas coast. The lessons went far beyond just preparing a sailboat. Some of them could have made the difference between life and death.
• The sea teaches forehandedness.
That goes beyond planning. It involves thinking ahead to determine, among other things, what to plan for.
• The sea teaches accountability.
Nowhere are we more responsible for our own decisions and actions, and nowhere do we have to live more certainly and more completely with their results. The same can be said of our actions and decisions before, during and after Hurricane Rita.
• The sea teaches decision making.
Sometimes that involves choosing from among several alternatives, none of which is likely to result in a totally positively outcome. Unfortunately, “none of the above” often isn’t among the available choices.
Every sailor has or will find himself having to choose between trying to make port or ride out a blow at sea. Every one of us has at times wished himself secure in a slip with a cool beverage in hand instead of on a bouncing sailboat in deteriorating conditions. During such times, being comfortable in a marina isn’t a choice.
As Rita approached, we had similar choices to make. Do we evacuate? Do we leave a threatened home and city for the uncertainties and chaos of the scramble to flee? The answer was clearer in coastal areas than farther inland.
• The sea teaches self-sufficiency.
If we stayed at home, we had to plan on being on our own not for days but perhaps for weeks. That included shelter, perhaps without power, our own water supplies, food (and the ability to prepare it), clothing, sanitation needs, medications and other necessities we too often take for granted.
If we stayed, we were on our own. We could not let our decision put the lives of others at risk.
If we evacuated, we had to meet a lot of those same criteria, many of them similar to preparing for a sailing voyage. This evacuation brought surprises, largely in terms of gasoline availability. It was a little like being becalmed for a couple of weeks in mid-ocean where you’d expect trade winds to blow.
• Finally, the sea teaches us reality.
As it was, our area was very lucky to be on the “clean” side of Hurricane Rita. The outcome could have been very different.
One of those realities is that no matter how well you plan, no matter what you do, luck, fate, and the will of God determine how you fare and sometimes whether you live or die.
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John Ira Petty, a sailing instructor, licensed captain and charter sailboat owner, is the sailing columnist for The Daily News.
