Sea-Fever blog

Less excitement today than yesterday as Alinghi went wire to wire for the victory to tie the series at 2 - 2. Now its a best of 5 series.

Here’s the video recap, enjoy!

Technorati tags: America’s Cup, sailing, Alinghi, Team New Zealand

Yesterday’s race was one of the closest  and most exciting in America’s Cup history. Typically races are won and lost at the start line; however, yesterday there were 3 lead changes. At one point it was estimated that Team New Zealand had more than a 400m lead but in the light and shifting winds Alinghi was able to come back and take the lead at the final mark. On the final downwind leg the Kiwi’s were able to establish a significant separation from the Swiss and retake the lead and cross the finish line first. After 3 races, the challenger Team New Zealand lead defenders Alinghi by 2 races to 1.

Here’s the video recap:

Technorati tags: Americas Cup, Team New Zealand, Alinghi, sailing

While I have never really been a yacht racer, I love watching the America’s Cup. Of course its sailing, but I think what really grabs me is the competition between the best sailors in the world using leading edge technology. I also enjoy the incredibly rich history and tradition that is such a big part of this international competition.

Traditionally the series has ended up pretty lopsided with sweeps each of the last 3 times and this has probably more to do with the competition between yacht designers than the sailors aboard.

After the Swiss won the first race of the 32nd Americas Cup and took a sizable lead on the first leg of the second race, the commentators all but wrote off Team New Zealand. But the Kiwis came back to level the score even though most experts feel Alinghi has the faster boat. The 3rd race is tomorrow and with the score is tied 1 - 1, we will hopefully have a real competition ahead of us.

Day 1 Video Recap

Day 2 Video Recap

Technorati tags: Americas Cup, yacht races, sailing, Alinghi, Team New Zealand

I previously wrote about the new sail training vessel Spirit of South Carolina and cited her strong executive leadership team of Brad and Meaghan Van Liew. She also have one of the most accomplished skippers in the US tall ship fleet with Captain Tony Arrow.

Furled Sails is a great sailing podcast by Christy and Noel Davis and in episode #95 they interview Captain Arrow about the schooner Spirit of South Carolina, the South Carolina Maritime Heritage Foundation, their exciting education programs, and sail training in general.

In addition to being an accomplished professional sail trainer, Captain Arrow is a great spokesperson for the South Carolina Maritime Heritage Foundation and one of the most articulate speakers about the merits of sail training.

Enjoy the show!

(Download through iTunes or stream audio) (show length 52 minutes)

Technorati tags: Spirit of South Carolina, South Carolina Maritime Foundation, sail training, tall ships

Today’s Lloyd’s List (subscription required - free 7 day trial offer available) published an article entitled “Diving into the Skills Gap.”(via Royal Dutch Shell plc.com)

…(A) massive skills shortage spans the world, and industry is having to roll up its sleeves and sharpen its recruiting. IMCA, the International Marine Contractors Association, with 365 member companies in 47 countries, is juggling with this ‘hot potato’ for all the oil patches, not just the North Sea.

It is spurring action far and wide, and publicising, as it did during the massive recent OTC exhibition in Houston, and spreading the word about the steps it is taking to address the supply of personnel.

Nor is it merely master mariners and chief engineers who are in demand, but all marine construction crew, and support teams in the offices as well as people afloat. Drilling companies, and oil companies from upstream to downstream are all in the chorus.

Within the contracting and oil industry, the average age is 50 to 52, and the bell curve is leaning to the right. On average, companies need to recruit 10% more staff this year, ‘and that is just to stand still, because 10% will retire’, says IMCA chief executive Hugh Williams. (more…)

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about Corporate Social Responsibility but there was an interesting article entitled Cleaning Up in yesterday’s Sunday NY Times magazine by Rob Walker for the Consumed section.

As this article demonstrates, CSR is not just about companies doing good works. At it most effective and sustainable level, its more about designing and executing corporate strategies that address some of society’s more adaptive challenges.

Hindustan Lever’s Lifebuoy campaign, however, is not philanthropy; it’s business. Throughout its long life, the antibacterial soap has been positioned as a health-and-wellness product: a 1902 ad in Harper’s promised “this wonderful cleanser and purifier” was “the enemy of dirt and disease.” That “core proposition” remains, says Punit Misra, the marketing manager who oversees Lifebuoy and other skin-cleansing brands for Hindustan Lever. Perhaps the most significant change to the product itself in recent years has been the introduction of smaller, and thus cheaper, bars: a half-size, 50-gram bar, for five rupees (about two ounces, for roughly 12 cents), was introduced in the early 1990s. (The small-package approach is now used by many companies in developing markets.) More recently, the packaging was made “more contemporary” by replacing the “strapping young man” on the package with an image of a couple and their children, Misra says.

And five years ago, the company introduced a campaign called Swasthya Chetna or “Glowing Health,” which, boiled down, argues that even clean-looking hands may carry dangerous germs, so use more soap. It began a concentrated effort to take this message into the tens of thousands of villages where the rural poor reside, often with little access to media. “Lifebuoy teams visit each village several times,” Manwani said in his speech, using “a glo-germ kit to show schoolchildren” that soap-washed hands are cleaner. Manwani says this program has reached “around 80 million rural folk” and added that “sales of Lifebuoy have risen sharply.” The small bar has become the brand’s top seller. (more…)

Students of leadership and fans of the HBO Series The Sopranos will enjoy Matthew Kirdhay’s article Tony Soprano: Leadership Consultant on Forbes.com.

Make sure you check out the slide show, too.

If you dare to be a Soprano-like leader, you might want to read Leadership Sopranos Style: How to Become a More Effective Boss or Tony Soprano on Management: Leadership Lessons Inspired By America’s Favorite Mobster

Technorati tags: leadership, The Sopranos, HBO

Two weeks ago I had the great fortune of participating in a weeklong program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government called The Art and Practice of Leadership Development: A Master Class for Professional Trainers, Educators and Consultants. I wrote about it briefly here and intend to write more in the future, but right now I am still processing the learning from this incredible experience.

Scott J. Allen, Ph.D. was one of my fellow APLers. He is a visiting assistant professor at John Carroll University where he teaches strategic management, organizational behavior, business communication, management development and human resources. In addition, he served as a Presidential Fellow at Case Western Reserve University where he taught Leadership: Theory and Practice.

Scott maintains the Center for Leader Development blog and has some very interesting recent posts on the APL experience. There is a lot of other very interesting and useful information there and on a wiki that he has also created.

If you want to expand your learning about leadership, check out Scott’s blog regularly.

Technorati tags: leadership development, leadership, Center for Leader Development, Harvard, Kennedy School of Government

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

Our Nation benefits from the oceans that contain precious natural treasures, carry much of our trade, and provide us with food and recreational opportunities. During National Oceans Month, we celebrate these benefits, and we underscore our commitment to being good stewards of the oceans.

Since the release of my Ocean Action Plan in 2004, my Administration has made great strides in ocean conservation by working with State, tribal, and local governments, the private sector, and our international partners in the spirit of cooperative conservation. In June 2006, I designated a national monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to celebrate the area’s natural, cultural, and historical importance. The tropical waters of the Papahânaumokuâkea Marine National Monument are a sanctuary for 7,000 marine species. This important Monument is our Nation’s largest single conservation area and the largest protected marine area in the world. Earlier this year, I was also proud to sign into law the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006 to end over-fishing and rebuild our Nation’s fish stocks through more effective, market-based management. Internationally, we continue to lead in protecting the maritime environment while preserving the navigational freedoms essential to the security and prosperity of every nation. By working to build a well managed system of offshore aquaculture, we can provide a healthy source of food and reduce pressure on our ocean ecosystems. (more…)

While Norm Lemley is well known in some circles of the maritime industry, his influence and good works have impacted many, many more who may not recognize his name. Norm had a very successful 36 year career in the United States Coast Guard rising to the position of senior civilian officer and has probably influenced nearly every signifcant piece of domestic and international maritime safety legislation in the past 25 years. I had the great fortune of being introduced to Norm by Eric Dawicki, president of Northeast Maritime Institute and working with him as a board member of the American Sail Training Association. (See Norm’s ASTA bio).

Yesterday Norm’s friends and family were in attendance as Northeast Maritime Institute opened a new educational facility called Lemley Hall. NMI’s motto is “Honor the Mariner” which is really the hallmark of Norm’s life’s work. Congratulations to NMI on a spectacular new building and to Norm for the well deserved recognition!

Technorati tags: maritime education, Norm Lemley, Northeast Maritime Institute

This afternoon the Boston Herald reports that John S. Carter pleaded guilty to a number of charges related to crimes committed during his tenure as president of Independence Maritime Museum in Philadelphia. It’s reported that he defrauded the museum of $1.5 million “to buy a carriage house for his Cape Cod home, art, jewelry and even a root canal.”  Nice cap to a 17 year career at the top of an institution!

I’ve written about this a number of times over the past few months and this post will hopefully close the chapter on this unfortunate story.

Why do people in positions of authority do self-destructive things like this?

Technorati tags: Independence Seaport Museum, John S. Carter, maritime museum

Effective June 1, 2007, the US Coast Guard has reinstituted the storm warning flag and light system which the National Weather Service canceled in 1989.

 From the USCG press release:

“Storm flags are a nautical tradition for mariners and the Coast Guard is pleased to bring back this part of our maritime heritage. However, the real message is that as the flags indicate changing weather from gale to storm to hurricane conditions, everyone, not just mariners, must tune in to National Weather Service broadcasts and start thinking what they will do to prepare for the worst. The power of nature cannot be underestimated. These nautical flags are intended to visually communicate to the American public the lesson of past hurricanes to take personal responsibility for individual safety in the face of an approaching storm,” said Capt. Jim McPherson, the Coast Guard’s chief of public affairs.

In this age of advanced technology and 24 hour media that has the ability to reach nearly every potentially impacted Americans, it’s interesting the the US Coast Guard has revived a centuries old tradition of using signal flags to warn citizens about impending severe weather. To underscore the irony, here’s a YouTube video that educates us about the new old system. (The video hangs up a few seconds in but you can nudge it by clicking on the progress bar to the right of the spot where it freezes.)

Don’t get me wrong, I love the flags and the idea of keeping the tradition alive. They also can also serve as a powerful tool to teach young people about weather. It just seems a little odd for the US Coast Guard to be holding press conferences and making videos about this. Seems like we have a lot of other more pressing matters to raise the public’s awareness.

Technorati tags: US Coast Guard, storm warinng, flags, National Weather Service, maritime heritage

The International Yacht Restoration School and the Museum of Yachting, both located in Newport, RI announced their plans to merge. These are 2 great maritime institutions that should benefit greatly from consolidation.

Sharing the same lineage, these organizations have real potential to complement each other. IYRS president Terry Nathan has done a great job during his tenure in focusing and executing the strategy of his organization while the Museum of Yachting has been without a chief executive for a number of years. This merge should bring together 2 staffs without a lot of overlap. Finally, in a small city like Newport, it will provide some donors a single choice of support which will hopefully lead to more meaningful gifts over time for a combined institution.  

This can truly be a winning merger for all of the various stakeholders and both boards should be applauded for the courage to make it happen.

Technorati tags: International Yacht Restoration School, IYRS, Museum of Yachting, maritime museum

Embarrassingly, I am a reality TV junkie. Well, that may overstate things a bit since I am particular in my viewing habits. I love the Amazing Race and Deadliest Catch and enjoy the Apprentice. Once in a while I’ll watch Survivor, Big Brother and, shamefully, The Real World, too. Now, CBS has got me with their new show Pirate Master.

This is probably not too much of a surprise to people who regularly read the Sea-Fever blog or who know me personally. I do have a THING for what I call maritime culture. It all started back with childhood visits to the New Bedford Whaling Museum where there is a half scale model of a tall ship absolutely perfect for grade school adventures. A little later in life I had the good fortune to sail on the “pirate-like” tall ship Tabor Boy throughout my high school years and this experience is currently being chronicled over at The Tabor Boy Project. For the last 6 years, I have been the executive director of the American Sail Training Association which is an international nonprofit with 200 tall ships and sail training vessels from all over the world. The Barque Picton Castle, the ship used in the Pirate Master was one of the more visible vessels in the ASTA fleet. Today, through Sea-Changes Foundation and Sea-Fever Consulting LLC I create maritime experiential education and maritime cultural initiatives for youth of all ages.  (more…)

Today is John Masefield’s birthday! Born on June 1, 1878, he was British poet laureate from 1930 to 1967 beating out Rudyard Kipling who many thought would have been the logical choice. Masefield was the longest serving British poet laureate with the exception of Tennyson.

John Masefield’s classic poem Sea-Fever was the inspiration for our company’s name and philosophy.

“Sea-Fever”

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

Masefield’s life was greatly influenced by his adolescent experiences at sea under sail. While those years were not easy ones, they opened up a vast new world to a young man who had challenging beginnings to say the least. Masefield ultimately lead a life of exploring, learning and creativity and left his mark on the world through his powerful and evocative poetry.  

For John Masefield’s biography click here

For a Adobe PDF download of Masefield’s Salt-Water Ballads which includes Sea-Fever, click here.

Technorati tags: John Masefield, Sea-Fever