Admirals' Angle » Decisionmaking

#48 – Chain of Command

Gwen Hamlin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:14:55 +0000

I’ve been thinking quite a lot about captains lately – what it means to be one, what it means to have one.

Traditional navies have formal command chains with authority and responsibility concentrated at the top while grunt labor supports from the bottom. But the relatively small crews aboard cruising boats make for a pretty short hierarchy. No matter what you call yourselves aboard your boat, decision-making and responsibility…not to mention physical work… is distributed much more equitably.

Traditional systems

The majority of the Admirals, regardless of how their lives were arranged on shore, say they have a traditional system of having only one captain on the boat. (I didn’t, but more on that later.)

It may have been an adjustment for them, but such an arrangement certainly makes sense when one partner has significantly more experience than the other, such as for Sheri aboard Procyon with her retired Coast Guard husband, for Janna aboard Dragonfly for their honeymoon voyage across the Pacific, or for Kathleen of Renaissance who, like many, came aboard to share a partner’s cruising dream.

Of course, on more boats than you might think, it’s the woman who has more experience and is the official captain.

Co-captains

An alternative is to have co-captains. This plan can encounter some resistance, sometimes based on male ego, but sometimes based on practicality.

Lisa of Lady Galadriel says, “When we first set out, I thought we should ‘co-captain’ – the way that in other areas of our lives we’ve been partners – and discuss and negotiate major issues. But Dennis was against the co-captain idea in the concern that, should something go seriously wrong, it was important to have one person giving directions and the other following without discussion.” In sailing, there certainly are those times.

As miles pass beneath the keel for these women, some settle in and are content not to shoulder the ultimate responsibility, while others, carve out areas of authority for themselves by, as Jane of Lionheart recounts, “up-skilling” on areas they believe they can excel in. Often it’s merely a matter of absorbing experience and gaining the confidence to make their opinions heard. In this way, the distinction between captain and mate blurs, and the de facto situation ends up much as Lisa imagined it.

However, many cruising couples set out with a fairly equal amount of experience…or inexperience. Regardless of who gets called captain, these pairs are more likely to work out a system of shared responsibility from the start. The expression that recurs repeatedly in their explanations is “taking the lead.” He “takes the lead in sail management,” for example, while she “takes the lead” in planning and navigation. In this way they work out a jigsaw puzzle of responsibility, each partner “taking the lead” in a particular area with room for the other to put in his or her opinion or negotiate a compromise. The result is both feel decisions have been made jointly. That’s how it has worked for Suzanne and John of Zeelander, now 75 and still sailing after two boats and a circumnavigation.

Negotiating compromises

Negotiating compromises between a strong-minded captain and mate can benefit from some delicacy.

“I often find myself nagging about reefing or changing plans when the wind pipes up,” says Judy of Ursa Minor. “Sometimes it gets fairly heated before he agrees, so I have learned more tactful ways to negotiate. If we’re sailing with a second reef in and the wind drops considerably, he’ll say, ‘let’s shake out the reef’. I’ll say, ‘let’s wait 15 or 30 minutes and make sure the wind doesn’t come back up.’ We’ve become very good at this dance, and he hardly ever gives me grief about it anymore.”

At the time Don and I became a couple, I’d been running my own charter boat for six years. When Don came aboard Whisper, I was the captain and he was the mate, and we stayed that way for 18 months. But when we went cruising down island one summer (pushing into waters and situations equally new to us each), Don said to me one day that he wasn’t sure he could indefinitely continue as “mate.” This wasn’t just male ego. What he needed, as many cruising women come to need, was the opportunity to be in charge some of the time. Yes, but! It was my boat and my business…and maybe MY EGO!?

What we worked out then, and continued for twelve years more aboard Tackless II, was our system of The Two Captains. I was captain on odd days (there’s more of them!) and he was captain on even days (Don recommends having a digital watch showing the date!)

Decisions under pressure

We found that it was the action decisions – the ones made under pressure like anchoring and docking (how a crew works together anchoring or docking reveals a lot about their command communication…and it reveals it to everyone watching); maneuvering through reefs or harbors; reefing and tacking; plus squall and storm situations – that require one person to make a final call.

In the system of The Two Captains, whoever’s day it was, when the crux came, had that final say. For everything else, there was always time enough to make the decisions jointly.

It was not always easy to switch back and forth, because we did each have different styles and tolerances (one more laid-back, one more traditionally nautical; one more anxious about lee-shore anchoring, one less; one quicker to reef, etc.), but not only did we learn to respect each other’s strengths, the boat benefitted by having two people capable of running her in most any situation. When Don had to return Stateside for six weeks, not only was I comfortable being aboard on my own, I was able to single-hand the boat several hundreds of miles.

A good cruising captain is always ensuring that his/her mate is building confidence and ability rather than just riding on captainly coattails. Sheri of Procyon may sail with one of the more traditional captain-mate relationships, but she is also the one who was able to take over the boat mid-Pacific when her husband was incapacitated and subsequently evacuated (See Admiral’s Angle “The Need to Know” – January ’08). Likewise, when a mate assumes total responsibility for a particular support skill – like operating the computer, radio or chart plotter, that too can stunt a captain’s competence.

When there is a real imbalance in the decision-making aboard, when decisions aren’t made with representation, stress is the result: potentially the kind of stress that can end a cruise. The decision-making puzzle pieces most vulnerable to stress are over what we might call “weather and whether” issues. It includes decisions on when to reef, heave to, where is safest to anchor, and the big daddy, whether the conditions are right for departure from safe haven.

Recently an old sailing friend confided that passagemaking was over for her. After several decades of sailing together, her captain insisted on pushing out to follow another boat when she thought it a bad time to go. They got bashed, and it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

In the end, the captain thing is about respect, earned and given. Without participation, we risk being unsettled, unhappy or downright resentful when things aren’t idyllic. But by having a say in decision-making, whatever title we sail under, we take a share of the responsibility for how things turn out. Clearly all the Admirals believe this one thing makes a huge difference.

Contributing Admirals: Lisa Schofield, Lady Galadriel; Judy Knape, Ursa Minor; Kathleen Watt, Renaissance; Suzanne Longacre, Zeelander; Kathy Parsons, Hale Kai; Janna Cawrse Esarey, Dragonfly; Jane Kilburn, Lionheart; Sheri Schneider, Procyon; and Michelle Elvy, Momo who started the topic…

This article was published in the July 2010 issue of Latitudes and Attitudes.

#33 – How We Choose Where We Cruise – Part 2

Gwen Hamlin — Sat, 23 May 2009 22:10:00 +0000

Last month we surveyed the basic principles that guide how cruisers, especially new cruisers, make decisions about where they are going to cruise. Those principals were interests of the crew, activities they want to pursue, personal style, needs from civilization (or not!), recommendations, security, and, of course, the patterns of climate, season, wind direction and current flow.

But interestingly, what really struck me about the reports my Admirals sent me, is to what degree planning is counterbalanced by whim. Cruisers tend to start out with a plan to go to the Caribbean, Mexico, Europe or around the world, but very often plans get radically changed or even abandoned. In fact, a plan is very rarely ONE plan. Ask almost any experienced cruiser where they’re headed, and you will find they have an alphabet soup of plans, “Well, plan A is to do this, BUT Plan B is that and Plan C might be this other.”

“Being an indecisive person,” says Kathy of Hale Kai, whose primary cruising ground is the Caribbean, “I love the cruising lifestyle because we have such flexibility in our decisions about where to be, and I love the Caribbean because we can so easily bounce from English, to French to Spanish cultures. We often don’t plan our season all that far out, and our itinerary is not always logical. We might sail to Venezuela to rendezvous with friends, then back north to Martinique to buy wine, or pop over to Fajardo to get boat supplies from West Marine. What plans we do have are always ‘carved in jell-o.’”

A more extreme example of cruiser spontaneity is the itinerary of Katherine and Craig of Sangaris, writing me from Siracusa, Sicily. After the initial draw of climate and good sailing in the Caribbean, Katherine and Craig pushed through the Panama Canal to the Pacific, where they first went south to Ecuador where a daughter in the Peace Corps gave them an inside track on inland exploration. Then they went north to Mexico where they had an offer to care-take a friend’s house while studying Spanish. Later, while sitting at a dock in San Carlos, Katherine read an article about Europe, and like that, she asked Craig if he wanted to do a trans-Atlantic crossing. He said “sure,” and they started planning their next journey from that day forward! They spent two years traveling the British Isles exploring their own English, Scottish and Irish roots, and now they are cruising the Med, where their course has been crafted by interest in historical and cultural sights but also by economics. “The Med is an expensive place to cruise,” Katherine says, “but, as a destination, Siracusa has proved ‘molto bene,’ because it’s been our cheapest winter storage yet in Europe, with a very well-protected harbor/anchorage for our before and after storage prep, and an interesting place with Greek and Roman ruins, bustling piazzas and an international group of 12+ cruisers to keep us happily distracted!” Along with good food, that pretty much exemplifies typical cruiser criteria!

When cruisers aren’t couples, they often shift their itineraries to accommodate interests of the crew they’ve recruited. Rachel of Ventana was accommodating crew when she changed her own plans of heading east across the Atlantic when she took on Norwegian Elizabeth who wasn’t interested in backtracking to Europe. Sufficiently interested in the Pacific, Rachel simply changed directions, and the two women have dived their way across. Although Rachel has the final say in planning, when the two women disagree on smaller-scale decisions about when and where to go, they have been known to determine their course “based on the outcome of a backgammon game.”

Even cruisers who do have carefully thought-out long term cruising plans temper them with flexibility. “Randy and I are both planners,” says Sheri of Procyon, from Tasmania “We like to know where we are going tomorrow, next week, next month, next hurricane season and even the next few years. We like warm weather so try to stay ahead of cold seasons, and we fly home at least once a year, so need to know we’ll be in a safe place to leave the boat. Planning well ahead allows us to make high season reservations for marinas, flights and even special events like the Christmas concert and New Year’s Eve cruise we did this year in Sydney. However, we usually have multiple plans on the table at any given time, and having plans doesn’t mean we don’t change them. For example, we’ve enjoyed Australia so much; we think we’ll add another year here!”

Although cruisers love the variety and flexibility of the cruising lifestyle, they often contradict that by falling in love with a place and never leaving, or by leaving and then coming back over and over. Mary and Carl of Camryka chose the Rio Dulce in Guatemala as their first major destination because circumnavigators they’d met said it was their all-time favorite place and they’d read a magazine article describing all its remote wonders. “We wanted to see it before it spoiled. We stayed a year, and when we left, we left reluctantly, convinced we had seen the best first but feeling we really should see what else was out there.” They went back to the US for a bigger boat, spent several years in the Caribbean between Trinidad and Curacao, before the draw of Central America kept “pulling, pulling, pulling” them back.

There was one other random factor that cropped up in almost every report to a degree I really hadn’t quite anticipated. But I should have, because it has been a major factor in our own cruise. Betsy of Salsa summed it up best. “We often go where we go because of friends, cruising friends. Maybe they’ve told us about a secret, beautiful cove with a path through a Tarzan-ish jungle to a secret pristine beach. Perhaps it’s an inland trip, like the trek on the Inca Trail to Macchu Pichu that several friends told us about or the Venezuelan eye clinic another recommended where I had my eyes lasered at a fraction of the cost of doing it in the U.S. But more often, it’s that we take off to meet cruising friends at some sweet place – Glover’s Reef in Belize, or The Basin up the New Meadows River in Maine, or between the Pitons in St. Lucia or …..”

Contributing Admirals: Kathy Parsons, Hale Kai; Katherine Briggs, Sangaris; Sheri Schneider, Procyon; Jane Kilburn, Lionheart; Mary Heckrotte, Camryka; Yvonne Katchor, Australia 31; Rachel Emery, Ventana; Debbie Leisure, Illusions; Mary Verlaque, I Wanda; Susan Richter, Wooden Shoe; Terri Watson & Kimi Harrison, Delphinus; Betsy Morris, Salsa; Ellen Sanpere, Cayenne III; Karyn Ennor, Magic Carpet.

This article was published in the April 2009 issue of Latitudes and Attitudes.

Related articles (on this website)

How We Choose Where We Cruise – Part 1 (Admiral’s Angle column # 32)
How Yvonne Chooses Where We Cruise (Women and Cruising blog)

#32 – How We Choose Where We Cruise – Part 1

Gwen Hamlin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:49:00 +0000

Cruisers are unique travelers. We can go almost anywhere in the world we get a hankering to see (some of them places no one else can reach), subject to patience, planning, ability, tolerance, plus a few rules and a nearby shoreline. Hand-in-hand with the idea of going cruising is usually a dream destination. Where it is and how we came by it will be different for each of us. It may be near or far, it may be a place or an activity, it may take a weekend to reach or a commitment of years, or it may have nothing to do with land at all and be the challenging sail itself. Whatever it is, the dream is what stirs us to drop the dock lines and actually go.

Getting from here to there takes careful planning. It’s our experience that Admirals are often the boat’s “cruise director”. They do the research on destinations and routes, weigh all the applicable factors and opportunities against the interests of the crew, and come up with possible options. Choices will also be shaped by personal styles: do we like busy anchorages with lots of cruiser activities, or do we prefer remote coves where our days pass in quiet isolation? Do we need to keep close to civilization for air connections home or to facilitate guests visiting, or are we comfortable enough to stay out for months at a time? Are we after a favorite activity like scuba diving, or are we looking for National Geographic experiences? If you are anything like my Admirals, your itinerary will end up being a mix of all of the above and more.

There are infinite resources to turn to for idea gathering, the most common onboard references being regional cruising guides (available for nearly every cruising ground in the world) supplemented by land travel guides like those from Lonely Planet. We were nearly a year into our cruising before it even occurred to me to look at a land guide, but they not only flesh out the details of a destination, but open up the potential of travel inland, a goal of many cruisers. These days there is also the steady stream of e-letters from friends who have gone ahead, downloadable cruiser reports as collected by organizations like SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association), articles in magazines and newspapers available in print or online, and cruiser websites and blogs. Many planners cut, clip, print out and file reams of material to carry aboard!

And, of course, there is word of mouth. This could include inspiration gotten from boat-show or yacht-club seminars, but it is as likely to come from stories swapped over a few beers at a cruising crossroads. Two of the highlights of our entire voyage – Ecuador and Mexico – were detours we inserted after persuasive recommendations by cruisers traveling in the opposite direction we encountered in Panama. The detours delayed by three years our arrival in the South Pacific (which was our original dream destination), but we wouldn’t have given up one minute. Such flexibility and spontaneity are the joys of keeping one’s own schedule.

A quick word about word-of-mouth: beware of know-it-alls eager to dispense negative stories that might dissuade you from some really great cruising destinations. Yes, the cruising grapevine can be very helpful in spotlighting areas where real problems have cropped up, but sometimes negative stories become the preferred fodder of closed-minded, dissatisfied people who haven’t succeeded in opening themselves up to new experiences and new cultures. Often they haven’t cruised much farther than the bar you met them in! Always seek second and third opinions!

Wherever it is we decide to go, there are logical ways to get there – ones that maximize good conditions and minimize bad ones – as well as a preferred time to travel. Unfortunately, they are not always direct. Travel by sail (and even by motor) is shaped by the flow of climate and season, current and wind patterns, but also by practical considerations like safety and security; need for provisioning, repairs, or medical services; bureaucratic factors like visas and check-in regulations, as well as costs.

Most regional cruising guides provide all the relevant details about an area once you’ve reached it, but the best over-all view of getting around the world is provided in Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising Routes. One can spend years fantasizing possible itineraries by piecing together the seemingly infinite legs and seasons presented in its pages. Another useful tool is the Visual Passage Planner program, an electronic version of ocean pilot charts. It will calculate a prediction of the winds, currents and weather likely to be encountered on any route you plan at any given time of year plus what it will mean for your boat in terms of point of sail and travel time.

Yes, for the cruising sailor, the world is truly our oyster. But, for new cruisers, most all the Admirals advise taking things conservatively for at least a year. Avoid setting off first thing on a long offshore passage. Instead, go places you can get back from. Your mate may have other ideas, but this is incredibly prudent. Halfway across the Pacific, for example, is not time to start having second thoughts. Instead, pick nearer destinations with benign weather patterns and plenty of easily accessible and protected anchorages. Give yourself time to learn your boat, develop your sailing style, and discover what YOU enjoy about cruising. Plus, shaking the boat down is an important part of this first year. It’s when you find out if stuff works. Many cruisers realize after a trial trip that a bigger or smaller boat will suit them better long term or that equipment they have resisted buying – like a watermaker or radar – turns out to be more important than they thought!

And finally, in that first year you will discover whether you prefer being on your own or traveling with a group. Traveling in company can be particularly helpful for the morale of new cruisers. Too often newbies are out there struggling in silence, because they are afraid to reveal their inexperience, only to find out later that most everybody else was going through the same thing. The ability to chat by radio underway and then to convene later over a potluck to rehash the trip, troubleshoot a problem, and swap information about the next stop builds enthusiasm, confidence and momentum. You will likely find yourself like we did adjusting your itinerary based on input from new friends.

Traveling with other boats is a good safety mechanism, too, relieving a lot of common anxieties. For this reason many cruisers opt to join organized rallies which have a predetermined itinerary. For sure, rallies are a great way to meet people, and they usually facilitate entry and exit paperwork. But sometimes rallies can be too much of a good thing: overwhelming harbors with huge numbers of boats, forcing you to travel in less than ideal conditions to keep the schedule, and generally discouraging the flexibility and independence that are the greatest features of the cruising life. Sometimes it will be worth it, but more often having a couple of good buddy boats from whom you can break away to be on your own and later rejoin is probably a more sustainable way of cruising in company.

It may seem nowadays that the major cruising routes of the world are so heavily traveled there must be well-worn ‘ruts” in the sea. Even so, every voyage is unique. We all make different decisions, and we all have different motivations. I asked the Admirals about what has guided their travel over the years and got a huge variety of answers. We’ll look at some of their unexpected responses in How We Choose Where We Cruise, Part Two!

This article was published in the March 2009 issue of Latitudes and Attitudes.