Here's what you must never do if you're at the helm for a day.
I was on
holiday in Croatia with my girlfriend.
And we decided to hire a boat.
(more tiny trawler than superyacht)
I’d never driven a boat before.
Not one with a motor anyway.
But thankfully we
got a thorough explanation of how to use the rudder to steer:
“Right means left and left means right. Off you
go.”
Very thorough indeed.
Boaters might know this instinctively.
But it wasn't intuitive.
When you drive a car, left means left and right means right.
So this was a
change.
But in my head I thought “I got this”. And off we set.
Slowly at first. And then I started to rev the engine and pick up speed.
And as we accelerated the boat began to drift left.
So I pulled the rudder right to correct course.
Big mistake.
The boat started to veer even further left. And we were still picking up speed.
It was then I saw a row of superyachts lining the harbour.
They towered over us, shimmering in the sun. Doubtless full of oligarchs enjoying lobster and champagne.
And we were heading straight towards them.
My girlfriend yelled “Tommmmmm!”
So I corrected course. My brain acted automatically and I pulled the rudder harder to the right.
And lo and behold, the boat started veering even further to the left. And we were still speeding up.
And my girlfriend shrieked again “TTTTOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM”.
Sh*t.
I could feel my pulse racing.
The yachts were
getting closer…
And an image flashed before my eyes of our rust-bucket taking down a superyacht in front of crowds of tourists.
I didn’t have long to think. So I released the rudder…
And slowly our boat came to a halt.
I glanced back at where we’d come from.
I could see the boatkeeper leaping in to another boat to come and rescue us.
And it wasn’t long before he caught us up.
“Don’t forget - right means left and left means right”.
And he set us off on our way again.
(very slowly this time)
I could still feel the blood pumping through my veins.
But I’d learnt a lesson.
I realised if I’d taken things slower, we’d have gotten a lot further by now...
And avoided a potential calamity.
It got me
thinking.
There seems to be a mantra out there that faster = better.
That’s there’s merit to cramming in as much as we can and living life as frantically as possible.
Like rattling through a to-do
list…
Filling a day with appointments…
Or setting off full pelt on a hired boat.
But this isn’t always true.
As I found, too much speed can lead to greater stress, more errors and strained relationships.
Sometimes slowing down is the answer. Not speeding up.
Like taking time to
reflect. Committing to less stuff. Or even just reducing the pace we travel through life.
Not only can slowing down
be a way to speed up in the long run, but I find life can be more enjoyable this way.
After all, slow and steady wins the race.
Time to wrap this up...
And go for a run.
Catch you tomorrow.
- Tom
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