Author
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Topic: Thoughts on wind and waves....
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David Burch
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posted June 14, 2005 03:25 PM
Just ran across this interesting quote, which brings to mind an important line of thought:
"The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators." - Edward Gibbon
Gibbon is the author of Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, which he published in 1788. It is an insightful observation, still valid.
This reminds me of anonymous quote I saw on a calendar somewhere that said
"I am a great believer in Luck, and the more I work the more I have of it"
...and in the same vein as Pascal's famous line
"Chance favors those who are best prepared."
...and a lot like playing backgammon: the more you know about the game, the more your competitors claim you are so lucky.
I have taken part in ocean races back in the days when we had only cel nav to go by, where the fleet of interest was obviously within the same weather pattern throughout most of the race, and at the end, the majority claimed the sky was too overcast to do any sights, yet a few of the boats got more than enough sights to efficiently navigate the course.
... or the related cases of more than one example of boats going down the west coast (WA to CA or vice versa) at the same time wherein one got hammered by wind and waves and the other had a reasonable passage (this point is discussed in our materials).
Marine navigation and weather analysis are always susceptible to quirks of circumstance, but such elements of "luck" can—way more often than not—be overcome with sound training.
From: Starpath, Seattle, WA
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