Sea-Fever blog

In yesterday’s The Log, SoCal’s #1 Boating and Fishing Newspaper, Ambrosia Sarabia wrote a nice article about a significant social investment that the Port of LA has made in local youth through a multi-year financial commitment to the LA Maritime Institute’s award winning TopSail Youth program. (Topsail Youth Sail Training Program Teaches More Than Boating - Nov. 29, 2007)

According to the article, The Port of Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners approved a three-year agreement with the Los Angeles Maritime Institute’s TopSail Youth Sail Training Program that will provide $525,000 for the first year and increase 3 percent a year over the following 2 years.

“The program provides a life experience for the teen participants,” said Arley Baker, senior director of communications and legislative affairs. “Many of the participants have had little exposure to the ocean, so a sailing adventure is extraordinary for them - let alone an adventure where they play a role in navigating the ship as a crew. It’s a teambuilding adventure.”

Programs like this do a great job of educating and building self-esteem in participants; however, they also expose young people to potential maritime careers. With the looming shortage of qualified professional mariners on the horizon, this can only be a good thing. (Statement of Chairman Oberstar and Subcommittee Chairman Cummings from Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Hearing - “Mariner Education and Workforce” - Oct 17, 2007)

Kudos to the Port of LA and congratulations to LAMI and to all of the kids that will benefit from life changing experiences at sea under sail!

Photo” Port of Los Angeles

Technorati tags: Port of LA, Port of Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners, LAMI, Topsail Youth, US House of Representatives

Update (Nov. 29) - Laura Gainey’s shipmates question safety procedures: Fellow deckhands, diary offer telling details of final hours before young woman swept to her death off deck of tall ship The Canadian Press

——-

Those words appeared in a report issued by a Cook Islands Maritime’s Marine Board of Inquiry investigating the death of Laura Gainey who was washed overboard during a trip aboard the tall ship Picton Castle from Nova Scotia to the Caribbean last fall. However, it was recently reported that a critical report issued by the original investigator assigned to the incident, retired U.S. Navy Captain Andrew Scheer, never saw the light of day and was replaced by one issued by the Cook Islands Marine Board of Inquiry that was much more favorable to the ship. According to Newstalk Radio CJAD, “the ship’s former captain, Michael Vogelsgesang is calling Scheer’s report “a load of crap,” that overstates the safety issues.”

The Gainey Family has remained silent until this week; however, they are claiming a cover up has taken place. As we posted last week, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has initiated their own investigation into what took place aboard the Picton Castle that fateful night last December. Here is a link to an audio interview with Paul van den Berg, a safety analyst with the TSB.

Here is an excerpt of a video interview with Laura’s father, Bob and sister, Anna via The Canadian Press who see things very differently.

Last night (November 28, 2007) the CBCnews show the fifth estate broadcast an episode entitled Overboard which was an investigative report into the incident aboard the tall ship Picton Castle. (If you are in Canada it will be aired again November 30 at 10pm ET/PT on CBC Newsworld & December 2 at 11pm on CBC-TV) Here is links to an interview with Bob Gainey and below is an excerpt of the fifth estate report.

This is an extremely sad story for everyone involved. My heart goes out to the Gainey family who have demonstrated an incredible grace in what must have been a nightmare come to life. While going to sea is an inherently risky endeavor, any and all precautions must be taken by those who own and operate vessels to avoid all shipboard accidents and especially catastrophic ones like this.

Update (Nov. 29) - AOL News Poll - Do you believe there is a ‘coverup’ in this case? (with 467 votes - yes 60%; no 21%, not sure 19%)

Additional Media:

Gainey dismisses report into death of daughter as ‘coverup’ CBC News Nov. 27,2007

Gainey charges whitewash at sea The Star.com Nov. 28, 2007

Fellow deckhands, personal diary offer telling details of Gainey’s final hours The Canadian Press Nov. 28, 2007

Gainey fights inquiry The London Free Press Nov. 28, 2007

Probe counters ship’s statement on safety procedures prior to Gainey death The Canadian Press Oct. 16, 2007.

Technorati tags: sail training, tall ship, Picton Castle, Laura Gainey, Cook Islands, Transporation Safety Board of Canada, the fifth estate, CBC

According to a press release issued about a recent study by psychologist Gordon Gallup, director of the Human Behavior and Evolution Laboratory at SUNY Albany, handgrip strength (HGS):

“is a ubiquitous measure of health and vitality in both men and women, and as grip strength increases so does a person’s overall health status, speed of postoperative recovery, and longevity. People with higher grip strength scores experienced reduced disability, reduced morbidity, and more rapid recovery from injury, and also have higher bone mineral density and greater fat free body mass.”

However, males with strong grips reported more aggressive behavior and were about 10% more promiscuous. Seems that women with strong grips thankfully don’t share these traits. On the positive side, both men and women with firm grips tend to exhibit good health and live longer.

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When thinking of pollution caused by ships, the first thing that comes to mind are incidents like the recent COSCO Busan allision and oil spill in San Francisco Bay that has been comprehensively covered by our friends over at gCaptain.com.

But today’s Wall Street Journal covers the dangers from another form of pollution with a front page article by Bruce Stanley entitled Danger at Sea: Ships Draw Fire for Rising Role in Air Pollution. (subscription required)

The corpuscles of the global economy, ships carry more than 90% of the world’s merchandise by volume, and the tonnage of cargo sent by ships has tripled since 1970. Yet the fuel propelling them is cheap and dirty and produces an especially noxious exhaust.

Ships release more sulfur dioxide, a sooty pollutant associated with acid rain, than all of the world’s cars, trucks and buses combined, according to a March study by the International Council on Clean Transportation. That study also found that ships produced an estimated 27% of the world’s smog-causing nitrogen-oxide emissions in 2005. Only six countries in the world emitted more greenhouse gases — which trap heat in the atmosphere, warming the globe — than was produced collectively in 2001 by all ships larger than 100 tons, according to the study and United Nations statistics.

What is the effect of these toxic emissions? According to a study by the American Chemical Society published in their Environmental Science and Technology journal, 60,000 cardiopulmonary and lung cancer deaths occur annually. There have also been increased reports of children suffering from asthma in heavy traffic ports like Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The article does a good job of laying out the challenges ship owners and operators face with the lack of uniform regulations across various jurisdictions. As we have seen many times before, consensus is not easily achieved in matters involving the environment.

The article ends with what seems like a great solution for the future: returning to the age of sail! SkySails of Hamburg, Germany is marketing “towing kite propulsion systems” which might be great news for all of those traditional sailors in the tall ships fleet!

Technorati tags: Wall Street Journal, shipping, pollution, International Council on Clean Transportation, SkySails

Probably not. Hopefully not!

But now through the magic of YouTube you can do it without getting wet and right in the comfort of your desk chair. The video is a little over 3 minutes but make sure you stay to the end.

Here’s another video that may help next time you’re topside wondering what the “hull” they’re doing down there.

(Thanks to Blacktriple1 on YouTube!)

Technorati tags: YouTube, diving

Borrowing from the Bangles 1986 hit single, it’s been a manic Monday so I want to point everybody over another great Maritime Monday at Fred Fry International.

As always they have a super roundup of posts from maritime blogs from around the globe. Enjoy and learn!

Update: Nov. 26, 2007 NY Times article - Misgivings Rise Along With Antarctican Tourism

Here’s another interesting CNN video of the MV Explorer sinking in Antarctica.

I like report of the generous offer of another cruise or return home, all expenses paid. Now that’s customer service!

It’s clear by the smiling faces in the photographs that things were handled pretty smoothly. They were extremely lucky that the weather was decent and the sea calm. It could have been much worse. It will be interesting to see what this does for tourism in Antarctica. My bet is that bookings will rise significantly as a result of this sinking. We are an odd species!

Technorati tags: MV Explorer, Antartica, sinking, CNN

No, this video wasn’t shot in the final moments of MV Explorer’s life above the waves. It was shot last Saturday, November 17, 2007, from stationary camera aboard the Texas Clipper as she entered her fourth and final occupation as an artificial reef 17 miles off the coast of South Padre Island. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department website tells a great story about her various lives and final resting place. Here are some photo’s from Flickr.

Don’t know about you but this video really has an effect on me. Part of me finds it incredibly peaceful which might be due to the speed at which it unfolds. However, I also experience anticipation, anxiety and maybe even a feeling of helplessness as she gains momentum.

Sinking ships create powerful images.

Simple yet interesting video. How do you feel about it?

Technorati tags: Texas Clipper, sinking, ship

That is a quote from Sharon Butala from a passenger trip log that appears on the G.A.P. Adventure Tours website. No truer words could be used in conjunction with the below photo of MV Explorer passengers forced to take to lifeboat after their vessel experienced a significant breach of her watertight integrity. You can bet this wasn’t in the travel brochure!

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I know, stupid question. Of course, they can.

Having a sense of humor has always been considered a vital trait held by great leaders. Humor can humanize a leader and create a powerful bond with followers. When used effectively, it can relieve a stressful or crisis situation (Captain Alfred C. Haynes) or focus the attention of a community verging on panic. Winston Churchill immediately comes to mind when I think of a great leader who had a terrific sense of humor and knew how to use it and polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton offers another example.

Of course, humor can also be a risky and dangerous card to play. It doesn’t always translate across cultural borders or over time.

So when a US Presidential candidate creates a commercial like this, he decides to take a risk with humor.

I really didn’t know much about Governor Mike Huckabee until watching this Youtube video and I certainly won’t channel my support based on this 60 second spot. But Huckabee did get my (and over 600,000 other people’s) attention on YouTube over the past few days since this video was launched. I’m sure he’s hoping some of these viewers will do a little more research and be converted into supporters. Unfortunately, there are probably even more Americans that will simply remember that Chuck Norris supports Huckabee and that’s good enough for them. (Mr. Norris, If you ever stumble upon this blog, I’ll be voting for Mr. Huckabee if he makes it that far. ) At this stage of the 2008 Presidential Race, Huckabee finds himself in the back of the pack; it’ll be interesting to watch if this video is a catalyst for an enhanced candidacy or a flash in the pan marketing gimmick.

Here’s another risk taking video from a candidate with slightly lower aspirations.

Mr. Knight is a little “kooky” (in an endearing way) but it sure seems like education in Rockland County would be a lot more fun and interesting with him around. (Check out his other commercials here and here. Hat tip to Powncer blogkitten.)

Leaders sometimes have to take risks. Governor Huckabee’s use of humor, while effective at securing visibility via the Internet, is a risk. To some it may present an interesting, likable and maybe a bit eccentric character they can identify with; others could find it a frivolous attempt at being “hip” and not in keeping with the seriousness of the task at hand. The jury is still out but in the meantime I learned a little more about one of the candidates and that’s a good thing.

Humor is one valuable tool that every leader should have in his or her tool box; however, like all sharp and pointy things, it should be handled with care and caution lest someone gets hurt.

What do you think about leadership and humor?

Technorati tags: leadership, Governor Mike Huckabee, YouTube, Chuck Norris

Yesterday Michael Tutton of The Canadian Press reported that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has reversed their earlier position and have decided to investigate the circumstances that lead to Laura Gainey being washed off the tall ship Picton Castle nearly a year ago. (The Daily Gleaner).

I previously wrote about this here and here.

Technorati tags: Laura Gainey, Picton Castle, Transporation Safety Board of Canada

According to George Anders’ Theory & Practice column in yesterday’s (November 19, 2007) Wall Street Journal, “a new study suggests that hard-nosed personal virtues such as persistence and efficiency count for more than “softer” strengths like teamwork or flexibility when it comes to assessing the traits of chief executives of successful companies.”

The study was done by three University of Chicago Business School Professors (Steven Kaplan, Mark Klebanov and Morten Sorensen) in collaboration with ghSmart, a consultancy that assesses CEO candidates on behalf of corporate clients.

Officials at ghSmart let the academics see the results of its four-hour assessment interviews, in which candidates are quizzed about their careers in detail. The consulting firm then takes apart those narratives, looking for glimpses of the candidate’s leadership style in areas ranging from interpersonal skills to intellect and motivation. Ultimately, candidates are scored on dozens of traits ranging from enthusiasm to their willingness to oust underperformers.

The method runs a risk of candidates tailoring their responses to what they think are the “right” answers. But Geoffrey Smart, chairman and CEO of ghSmart, thinks the risk is small because independent reference checks make sure the CEOs’ accounts hold true.

According to the University of Chicago researchers, here are five traits that matter:

• Persistence
• Attention to detail
• Efficiency
• Analytical skills
• Setting high standards

and surprisingly, to me at least, are five traits that are less important:

• Strong oral communication
• Teamwork
• Flexibility/adaptability
• Enthusiasm
• Listening skills

gh Smart’s report: Management Assessment Methods in Venture Capital: Toward a Theory of Human Capital Valuation (Executive Summary) (Full Report)

Wonder if ghSmart ever had the opportunity to interview C. Montgomery Burns? What an unfortunate similarity in above poses!

Cross posted in Center for Leader Development and Sea-Fever blogs.

Technorati tags: Wall Street Journal, University of Chicago, ghSmart, leadership

On October 6, 2007, adventurer Jason Lewis returned to Greenwich, England, a city that he had left 13 years and 45,000 miles earlier, to become the first human powered solo circumnavigator of planet Earth. According to Wikipedia, Lewis:

• crossed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in a wooden pedal boat;
• roller bladed across North America;
• kayaked from Australia to Singapore;
• biked from Singapore to the Himalayas;
• hiked through the Himalayas and
• pedaloed from Mumbai, India crossing the Indian Ocean to Djibouti.

Originally plans called a trip of 3.5 years; however, Lewis encountered a number of unanticipated challenges along the way including being struck by a car in Colorado inflicting two broken legs and 9 months of recovery, a crocodile attack and worst of all, a battle with self in suffering through a period of depression.

Lewis’ incredible journey was chronicled on the Expedition 360 website where there are some great resources for teachers and parents as well. Here’s a cool video from Green.tv.

Technorati tags: Jason Lewis, circumnavigation, Expedition 360, Green.tv

No higher than Verazanno Narrows Bridge in New York, no longer than the turning area in South Hampton, England and no wider than the Panama Canal. Those are the three key dimensions for any luxury cruise ship planning to circumnavigate the globe.

However, according to this National Geographic clip with Micky Arison, Chairman of Carnival Cruise Lines, they decided to break one of the rules to provide the luxury that passengers today expect. Watch to find out which rule and why!

Technorati tags: Queen Mary II, Micky Arison, Carnival Cruise Lines, Panama Canal

The New York Times website has a beautiful multimedia presentation entitled Digging for Dinner on Prince Edward Island narrated by Frank Bruni, Times restaurant critic. It goes along with a Bruni article in the Food Issue column of the Travel section entitled Beckoned by Bivalves. Check it out.

(Photo credit: Chris Ramirez for the NY Times) 

Technorati tags: NY Times, Prince Edward Island, Fran Bruni, food, shellfish

Here’s a fun diversion for a Friday.

Follow this link and take the Famous Leader Test. There are 9, 18, 27 and 45 question versions. According to the website:

The more questions you select, the more accurate the results but keep in mind this test is not as serious and laboriously tuned as the tests on the main test page. This is more of an amusing personality test.

Here’s what I learned about my leadership after answering 45 questions:

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Take the test and report back. Good luck!

Cross posted: Sea-Fever and Center for Leader Development blogs.

Technorati tags: leadership, personality test, Abraham Lincoln

On November 8th Reid Stowe and Soanya Ahmad reported on their 200th consecutive at sea on the schooner Anne. I originally posted about this expedition here.

According to the 1000 Day at Sea blog, they are claiming that they have surpassed these previous at sea duration records:

1. Longest man and woman non-stop sea voyage.
2. Longest time for a female out at sea non-stop.
3. Longest time out of sight of land.
4. Longest space analogous expedition on earth.

Regardless of the records, 200 days at sea is a pretty significant accomplishment. Here’s a link to their post marking this milestone.

While they started this journey with a reported bang, every day does not hold adventure or excitement as demonstrated in this post where Soanya talks about how to pack for 1000 days and how to avoid moldy cloths at sea.

In the end, sometime it can be fascinating so I check in periodically to see how these modern day “adventurers” are “surviving” on the high seas. 1/5th of the way through the voyage, I look forward to what the final 792 days hold.

For a different perspective on the 1000 Days at Sea, check out 1000 Days of Hell which is part parody, part expose. (Warning: 1000 Days of Hell is R rated - not family or work friendly) Not sure what to make of it but it’s entertaining.

It’s what makes the Internet interesting!

Technorati tags: 1000 Days at Sea, Reid Stowe, Soanya Ahmad, Schooner Anne

Recognized as one of world history’s most widely known leaders, Napoleon Bonaparte captures the essence of leadership in this quote.

All things Napoleon:

• Wikipedia
• The Fondation Napoleon
• Napoleonic Guide
• The Napoleon Series
• BBC.CO.UK - Historic Figures
• Napoleonic lessons for Google and Microsoft (Jawad Shuaib via shuzak.com, Social Network for Geeks)

(Painting - Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David (1801) Musée national du château de Malmaison)

Technorati tags: Napoleon Bonaparte, leadership

I was recently “tagged” by my leadership blogger friend Ed Brenegar of Leading Questions to participate in Alex Shalman’s Compassion, Caring, Charity project. This is the first time that I’ve been “tagged” like this so here goes…

Last week was a very busy one for me with several of my nonprofit interests.

On Sunday and Monday, I traveled to Woods Hole, MA to participate in SEA Education Association’s semi-annual Trustee and Overseer’s meetings. This amazing organization sends young college students to sea on two tall ships, Corwith Cramer and Robert C. Seamans, for a fully accredited semester long programs. They also have summer high school programs and an occasional adult experience like the upcoming SEA Expedition program sailing throughout French Polynesia over 7 days in January 2008 (There’s still time to sign up! )

On Wednesday evening I had a Mattapoisett Community Sailing Association (MattSail) board meeting where I am pleased to serve as a pro-bono consultant to this community based nonprofit that teaches young people how to sail and more. From concept in January 2007 to running a pilot program teaching 12 kids to sail in July 2007 to having a Summer Gala in August 2007, MattSail is in the enviable position of having nearly 2 years of operating budget in the “hold” and a very promising future on the horizon! It been exciting to be part of this nonprofit startup.

Finally on Friday, I participated in a day long meeting at my high school alma mater, Tabor Academy, where I have served on the Headmaster’s Council for the past few years. Tabor, also commonly known as “The School by the Sea”, is where I began my sail training experience on the schooner Tabor Boy, an experience that taught me more about leadership (and life) than nearly any since. Earlier this year I launched The Tabor Boy Project which is a social media living history project and online community focused on Tabor Boy’s 50 plus years of changing young lives at sea under sail.

The above three organizations are all amazing and I devote lots of time, energy, thought and resources to each of them. However, in thinking about the Compassion, Caring, Charity project I kept gravitating to another incredible organization, Rocking the Boat in the Bronx, NY.

I first came across Rocking the Boat when I was executive director of the American Sail Training Association. In 2003, Adam Green, founder and executive director, attended the 30th annual ASTA conference in Providence, RI along with several of the program’s young boatbuilders. They set up one of their beautiful boats in the hotel lobby for all of the conferees and hotel guests to marvel over.

From the Rocking the Boat website:

Rocking the Boat is a boatbuilding and on-water education program based out of the southwest Bronx, New York City. Through a hands-on alternative approach to education and youth development, Rocking the Boat addresses the need for inner city youth to achieve practical and tangible goals, relevant to both everyday life and future aspirations. This process allows high school students to acquire practical, academic, and social skills. Rocking the Boat runs programming in both boatbuilding and environmental science, coordinating three after school and summer programs in each discipline annually, working directly with over 150 students, all of whom receive high school credit. During the process of building a traditional wooden boat, Rocking the Boat students create something not only beautiful, but practical in their own lives, bridging urban and natural life within their neighborhoods. This approach is mirrored in the on-water education program through direct focus on Bronx River habitat monitoring and restoration and through maritime life skills programming. Both programs allow students opportunities to gain a deeper awareness of their own abilities and possibilities in the natural and urban world.

This short video does a great job of capturing the essence of this powerful program. PLEASE watch it!

The Rocking the Boat website has lots of great photos and other interesting information about how they employ an effective peer leadership model to bring the art and craft of boatbuilding to under-served, at-risk youth in the Bronx, NY and change lives in the process.

In the September 10, 2007 issue of Time Magazine, Rocking the Boat and Adam Green were recognized in an article entitled The Activists as part of the cover story The Case for National Service. (Green was a 1998 Echoing Green Foundation Fellow.)

On this Thursday (November 15, 2007), Rocking the Boat will be hosting their Whitehaul Award Fundraiser where they will be recognizing Edmund A. Stanley, Jr. and Jennifer Stanley Founder and President of The Robert Bowne Foundation. From Rocking the Boat’s website:

“In creating The Whitehall Award, Rocking the Boat is proud to recognize leaders in the fields of experiential education, environmental activism, and youth development. The honor is named for the distinctively elegant and practical wooden boat design that forms the majority of Rocking the Boat’s hand-built fleet. The Whitehall represents a “golden period” of maritime design and craftsmanship, its reliable and beautiful form remaining largely consistent since 1690.”

The event will be at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City and I believe that there are tickets still available. So, if you are in the New York area and are interested in helping young people “find a star to steer by,” please considering going and supporting this worthy cause!

Part of the Caring Compassion Charity project involves “tagging” others, so these people need to look out because they are “it”:

• Will Van Dorp writes my favorite maritime culture blog called tugster: a water blog about “New York harbor, the sixth borough.”
• John Konrad is a master mariner, webMaster and CEO of gCaptain.com, a single stop for all things maritime. He writes a great blog and created a cool Digg-like maritime news website called Discoverer where you can always find something interesting!
• Scott Allen, PhD is the founder of the Center for Leader Development where he also heads up a team of leadership bloggers of which I’m proud to be included. I met Scott earlier this year as a co-participant in Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s program, The Art and Practice of Leadership Development.
• Laura Athavale Fitton of Pistachio Consulting writes a must read business blog called Great Presentations Mean Business. A sailor in a past life, Laura is also doing some interesting things on Twitter, the micro-blogging platform. Anyone interested in how business and personal communication technologies are rapidly evolving should follow her here.

Thanks again to Ed Brenegar of Leading Questions for tagging me and giving me the opportunity to introduce a few more people to Rocking the Boat.

Technorati tags: Alex Shalman, Leading Questions, Ed Brenegar, Rocking the Boat, Caring Compassion Charity, youth, leadership development, education

The above quote is from John Masefield’s classic poem Sea-Fever which is the inspiration for the name of our firm, Sea-Fever Consulting LLC.

I believe that the sea is a strong and effective metaphor for business. Both present an ever changing environment and those that don’t adjust can find themselves far off course or worse.

Several times a week I will post leadership quotes that I find inspirational; many, but not all, will involve the sea. I hope that they help you think about your leadership in your life and work. I welcome you aboard and invite you into a leadership conversation to share any thoughts that you have about these Leading Words.

Technorati tags: leadership, John Masefield, Sea-Fever