Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Three Green Sailing Tips


I write a lot of utter nonsense on this blog. Occasionally I enjoy a good rant. Sometimes I argue one side of a case just for the fun of it; I could just as easily have argued the other side. My Dad was the same; he loved a good argument. One of my sons has the same trait. Of the three of us, my son is the only one to choose a profession where this talent may actually be useful; he's a lawyer.

So I don't really expect anyone to agree with what I write here. Which is why it was strange to open the April 2010 issue of Sailing World and discover that Jonathan McKee agrees with me. On three issues, no less! Very strange!

McKee has a column in Sailing World titled McKee's Minute. He says that, in some ways, sailing is inherently a very "green" activity, but that we also have an obligation to do what we can to reduce the environmental impact of our sport. He then makes six suggestions of how to achieve this. Three of them caught my eye because I have discussed them before on this blog in some of my random rants.

  1. Leave the coach boat at home. Better yet, sell it.
    Yikes! I never thought I would hear that from one of the top racing sailors. Isn't this exactly what I was saying last year in Ban Mommy Boats NOW and a couple of years before in Mommy Boats?

  2. Cut down on unnecessary packaging in your lunch.
    I guess I wasn't really focusing on the packaging issue when I wrote Uncrustables!, but it's another good reason not to serve such a processed vile-tasting creation for a regatta lunch.

  3. Maximize your local sailing. Racing closer to home involves less driving and it's cheaper. When you do travel consider chartering.
    This is an issue that's been troubling me for some time. I covered it in $20 Gas and the Future of Sailing, An Inconvenient Truth and Anal-Retentive People Like Numbers. But it's shocking to hear that someone of McKee's stature is giving similar advice.

So Jonathan McKee agrees with me. This is troubling. I thought I was a maverick. I thought I was writing provocative stuff to stir up some controversy and argument. Now I find that one of the most accomplished racing sailors in the world agrees with me.

This is very strange.

I don't know what to do about it...

10 comments:

Baydog said...

You ARE a maverick; Jonathan McKee is palin in comparison. Maybe he's been following your blog for some time and has actually lifted those ideas from you. Don't second guess yourself, Tillerman. You're more alluring than Jonathan McKee.

Zen said...

Blogfather , you are just ahead of your time...go green

JP said...

And in one flash, the mild mannered laser sailor transforms into his alter ego: Green Tillerman! ready to do battle with polluting bad guys where they might be pumping toxic waste into the atmosphere!

Yey! Go Green Tillerman!!

... which is a round about way of saying, good post!

We can all do out bit.

Tillerman said...

JP, this is not the first green post I've written. One of my Laser sailing friends encouraged me to address environmental issues occasionally. I'll do more if you like them too.

Dan said...

I thought Mr McKee's article was good. I had already been concerned about using so many pre-bottled waters and because we were short on waters for saturdays race, we used water from the boats tank(hey, it is not a Laser!).

And we followed another of his recommendation, we sailed away from the dock and not used the J35's diesel engine. Well, we have done that before and the location of saturday's race makes it easy.

Some of my sailing associates though think nothing of jumping on a plane and flying to Mexico or the Carib to race instead of sailing their own boat locally in the beautifull, sunny northwest. Oh well, if they have the money to do that, than more power to them.

Baydog said...

Tillerman: You could write ecru posts and I'd be all over them, my Grand Blogger.

Word verification: regamben (Sleep aid for those nervous about a race the next morning)

Carol Anne said...

Actually, Baydog, ecru is a very green color -- no bleaches or dyes.

Dennis said...

Way to go on spearheading the green (or ecru) boating movement! Anyway, not everyone've heard of Jonathan McKee (I haven't until today), but we all love your ramblings (I do, anyway). But you're so right about the whole sailing locally thing (and it's good for local economy too).

soulsearcher said...

i have always wanted to try sailing...

will said...

greets from tugster. bowsprite tells me you intend to rig your laser junk-style this season. may i be the first to congratulate you. http://tugster.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/other-harbors/

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