Quick guide to ‘getting real’

Stop setting goals

Take the common cultural habit of setting goals. While it might be a useful technique in some instances, it can often blind us to the fact that goals are simply inventions of the human mind and, unlike sea conditions or other geographical realities, can be changed in an instant. Wind blowing from an inconvenient direction? Why not change course and go somewhere else? Or go back the way you came and enjoy that place for a while longer?

It makes little sense to fixate on your goals: if you do, you might just push your boat and yourself into dangerous situations to get ‘there’, which in reality does not hold any more promise than anywhere else. Some of the best experiences are unplanned and this becomes more common once you set off on the largely unpredictable path of the nautical nomad.

Adjust your attitude

How many times have you read about a yachting accident in which the story begins something like: ‘The weather looked ominous, but I had to be at work on Monday, so we slipped our lines...’ or, ‘We left Hamilton Island for the mainland despite the rudder problems as Freddie had a flight to catch...’ or ‘We wanted to meet our friends for dinner, so rather than wait outside until morning, we decided to enter the harbour at night...’

Quite often the cause of the events that unfolded will be given as ‘heavy weather’, ‘collision with reef’ or some engineering or technical culprit, when it should be listed as ‘attitude problem’.

The sea is indifferent to our plans. Put your agenda ahead of the sea, go up against it and see who wins. Getting real is about learning to appreciate what is actually happening around us.