Photo: Bob Thayer

Editor's Note

We all learn early, that sailing a yacht of any size is all about, preparation, and safety; never leaving home without a back up plan and your plain old common sense. Publishing this magazine is very similar. We spend considerable time reviewing and preparing timely, interesting submissions and information we think you would enjoy reading.

A GAM issue tends to build, just like the wind; we trim and set the course accordingly and occasionally where there is a shift, it may be necessary to alter course. Just prior to going to press, the newspapers were full of debate regarding the current boaters card and the need for new legislation to control out careless boaters. In this issue’s “Over the Transom”, the background discussion questions the disappearance of plain old common sense. Has it left us forever?

Throughout this issue you will find that whether racing the lakes and oceans or cruising the interior via canals systems, at any age, it is almost impossible to set sail without applying common sense to all we do.Every year in Canada, hundreds drown while enjoying their favourite water sport, and this summer seems to be especially tragic. Most drowning victims, over 87%, were not
wearing a life jacket or a PFD. There are hundreds of boating safety courses available out there for adults and children; Humber Sailing School, WOW for women, Ontario Sailing, the Canadian Power Squadron, St. John’s Ambulance, to name a few, perhaps even through your own club. Also, as a sailor, it never hurts to refresh your life saving skills. Let’s use our common sense. Choose to WEAR your life jacket or PFD.

Enjoy your summer on the water!

John F Grainger

over the

TRANSOM

of Hope &

Glory

“These are the
times that try
men’s souls”
Thomas Paine*****

I remember when common sense was once taught in our schools, (well it was when I was a kid). It wasn’t a subject or a course, it just happened as part of the day.
Like many of my generation growing up in Europe after the war, my teachers were a strange mix. A core of women who had held life together during the war, whilst
the men were basically gone for a decade. The male teachers were all individuals who had some level of
education before the war but no real training or skills other than just going to war. Upon their return; some were demobbed from the forces, pushed through an accelerated teaching course and then out into the
schools. These men, then practically boys, had fought a war, were held as prisoners in camps or were victorious
in battle. My math teacher had been shot down over Germany, survived, escaped from his camp and made his way through enemy territory to join up with the allies. My childhood was made up of watching movies of their
exploits, “The Colditz Story,” ----”The Great Escape” and on. These teachers; male and female, just oozed
common sense and by association a whole generation had learned from those who had learned the hard way;
common sense as a way of life.

These thoughts had crossed my mind as I read todays paper to find that our illustrious government was being
pushed into strengthening the boating laws, yet another call for stronger legislation to enforce that all boaters have a new license. Yes, a new fifty question based
boat operators card is on its way. This is going to stop people buying boats, buying booze and mixing the two at night? The expectation is that a new card will stop a really drunk adult, from driving a speeding power boat
through a house boat on an inland lake in BC.? We should remember, the first Boat Operators Card was devised only to stop under age operators driving drunk through swimmers at a small cottage lake in Northern
Ontario. That card has only twentyfive questions I believe. I can only wonder what the new questions
will be, anyone want to submit some? I suggest “ Does drinking a vodka, power drink cocktail make your reaction times quicker or slower?” or does the wearing of
sunglasses at night after consuming such an energy drink improve your night vision. Now where does common sense come into this? Seemingly there is none.

I recall when I first came to Canada and there was a supposed dumbing down of our education system and the big question was‘What Happens When These Kids
Have Kids?” I believe Brampton Bill was the instigator of all this, and it was a concern for us Ontarians
before global warming or SARS or whatever, was the flavour of concern at the time. Well now we know the answer, a generation of self entitlement on all sides. A whole generation has forgotten that common sense can be learned and it can be taught. However, as it can’t be measured or legislated, it cannot be allowed to exist in todays modern world.
******* Google -Thomas Paine
and be amazed.

“Saving Sailing”

The Story of Choices, Families, Time Commitments and
How We Can Create A Better Future.By Nicholas D. Hayes
Foreword by William F. Schanen 111 Published by
Crickhollow Books

This book is far more than another “How To Manual” ; it is a book to be read in your cockpit on a lazy Sunday afternoon, to reflect with and maybe read passages aloud to your partner, “They will think you wise.” It is a book that makes you say to yourself “Hmmmmmmmm? Maybe I should re-read that passage?” and you will.
I found myself only half way through and realized I had started quoting Mr Hayes at club meetings as well as in the bar afterwards. Do our “Learn to Sail” program’s really drive children into a life long sport, boat ownership and towards our clubs or drive them away? The short review, is go out and buy the book from your friendly
local bookstore. Read it, re-read it and have a great summer mentoring your family and friends. The lessons in this book transcend sailing, with practicable ideas for
parents, grandparents and those who value the concept
of community. In a culture that has embraced luxury
SUV’s, social networking sites, tattoos and predatory pop stars, saving sailing has never been more essential.
Market researcher and avid sailor Nick Hayes discovered that participation in sailing in the United States has declined more than 40% since 1997-and a staggering 70% since 1979, the same probably holds true in Canada. To learn why enthusiasm has waned, he
interviewed more than 1,200 sailors worldwide over a period of several years.

Hayes found that although post- World War Two prosperity and the advent of fiberglass boats had boosted sailing’s popularity in the post war decades, increasingly scarce leisure time has seen a growing number abandoning lifelong, family based activities and “Choosing to let the time pass” with unfulfilling spectator
sports and electronic media. Instead of sharing recreational pastimes with their children, Hayes asserts,” too many parents have become taxi drivers and cheer leaders” and if kids are enrolled in a sailing programme, parents involvement ends at the club gate.
The best way to get people into sailing and keep them interested, says Hayes, is the time-honoured relationship of a capable mentor and a keen apprentice. “Mentoring is teaching infused with leadership” mentoring may center on a principal skill or a capability like sailing, but its mastery isn’t exclusive to the skill
or technique, but to the broader understanding of what makes the skill or technique valuable and relevant.
‘Saving Sailing” scores high for readability, beautifully capturing the essence of why we sail: Sailors often speak of the mythical, the sublime, the magical things that they see and feel while sailing, the potential of a
boat to go faster when the wind it produces adds up to more than the wind around them, or the feeling of trust
and triviality that can only come on a small boat clawing upwind far out of sight of land and under a sky full of stars. The rhythmic pitter-patter from the swell at the aft underbelly of an anchored boat at night. Sailors will often say that they are in heaven, here and in this time. This book will make you reflect on why you sail and it will make you think of who will be sailing your boat after you
have docked it for the last time. Will it be your grandchildren? maybe a stranger? Or will it be left to rot in its cradle; forgotten, just another chattel to be disposed off ?

Enjoy the read, it is available from most bookstores and online.

John F Grainger

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