I read that book recently, as well as "Perfect Storm"; both were well done. Two other books along those lines, are "Fastnet 10", about the 1979 Fastnet race storm, from which much about liferaft design and boat design was learned, and "Pacific Rescue", about a weather bomb which caught a lot of boaters off-guard and lasted about 3 days. Grab your books, stoke up the fireplace and have a great winter read. For those who like non-nautical books as well, I am finding "Why Buildings Fall Down" to be another great read. Regards, Leander leander_at_worldnet.att.net <- Original Text -> I'm reading a book that is starting to relate to the PaddleWise discussion on "experience": Martin Dugard's "Knockdown" --- the story of the 1998 Sydney-Hobart sailing race in which just about anything that could go wrong did. ...snipped... Vaguely reminiscent of Sebastian Junger's "The Perfect Storm", a much better written book and the reconstruction of the collision of three big storms off the Grand Banks a few years back. Either one makes great reading while the Kokatat Drysuit dries! Jack Martin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Good ideas for interesting reading, Leander. One note: having finished "Knockdown", I'm seeing a lot of connection to what John Winters said in his last post --- paddle with your equipment, but make your judgements as if you didn't have it! --- and even to what James Lofton said originally, setting off some less than PaddleWise dialog. (I felt as if James' comments were completely off base at first --- as did Chuck Sutherland --- but I think maybe I'm reading some of the same sense in John's comments now, and I find myself in agreement. But to "Knockdown": as an ex-CSAR pilot, I find a lot of what happened in the race and the book reflected in earlier posts about risk management and the confidence which some paddlers place in the ability of SAR --- or other civil or private agencies --- to save our collective butts if the situation should require it. And the effect that this has on how we'll paddle. And it lines up perfectly with what John says: we'll accept more risk than we should because (a) we're wearing an $800 drysuit or (b) Coast Guard St. Inigoes is right around the corner and I've got a VHF on my shoulder or (c) whatever else makes us confident that external resources can be drawn on to offset the risks we're then willing to run. Just an observation, but, again, as a former SAR driver, I'm becoming more and more pissed with people who would do things they wouldn't ordinarily do because of these external resources --- and the guy I'm pissed off with in the paragraph above --- having the equipmnet, knowing that the Coast Guard's 41 footer is on the other side of the base --- is me! We shouldn't paddle as if these external resources are there --- John, and, I think, James --- are right. That they're there is good: that I have an immersion-survivable drysuit is good: that I make my decisions on that basis is, arguably, not good. Jack Martin *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Another one I've recently enjoyed is "Godforsaken Sea" about the 1996 Vedee single handed sailing race. The author doesn't use the term, but he's obviously grasped the concept of risk homeostatis, as he contrasts the way today's racers, with their EBIRPs, survival suits, faxes, etc. sail further south into more ice-invested waters than earlier single handers, who knew they were truly alone (J. Solcum, F. Chitchester), would ever have dared. Philip Torrens N49°16' W123°06' *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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