Skinny-Water Wisdom
January 28, 2012 * * * * * Posted by: Linda 
Who knows what Captain Francesco Schettino was thinking when he altered course, driving the magnificent Italian liner Costa Concordia onto Isola del Giglio's off-lying rocks? The usual course for the weekly cruise between Civitavecchia and Savona had been entered into the ship's computers, and explanations for a later, manual over-ride of the system have been confusing at best.
Schettino first claimed to have been on the phone with a retired captain living on Giglio, a friend he hoped to impress by deviating from his course, cruising near shore and offering a salute. Under increasing pressure from investigators, Schettino himself tacked, insisting the course change was meant to satisfy Costa's managers. "It was planned," he said. "We should have done it a week earlier but it was not possible because of bad weather. They insisted. They said, 'We do tourist navigation, we have to be seen, get publicity and greet the island'."
Whatever Captain Schettino was thinking, he'd made one of the worst mistakes a sailor can make. He'd headed for skinny water.
Most encounters with shoal ("skinny" or "thin") waters aren't so dramatic. Leave a channel, miss a buoy, neglect the depth sounder or forget tide tables and the worst that will happen is a travel delay while you pull yourself off a sandbar or wait for a rising tide.
On the other hand, when a grounding occurs in the middle of an open channel for no apparent reason and an inexperienced skipper isn't smart enough to refuse help from an unknown source, she may end up feeling like Schettino.
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The stop was just hard enough to slop coffee from cups tucked into holders by the ship's wheel. Looking at one another, the coffee-drinkers woke up. "What was that?" asked one. "Beats me," said another. "Maybe that last storm rearranged the bottom."
We tried going forward, and we tried going back. We hung on one side of the boat, then the other. Young boys in a jon boat offered to tie off our halyard and pull us over, but they couldn't stop giggling. We declined their help, with thanks.
Finally, a fellow showed up in a fishing boat with twin Mercury outboards. "Throw me a line and I'll pull you off," he said. Assuming he'd pull straight, steady and slow, we were astonished when he opened up the throttle and took off at a ninety-degree angle. He ungrounded us, but left us with no steerage. By the time we limped into Jack Threadgill's Sunrise Marine and pulled the boat from the water, we knew what to expect: our rudder had become the fiberglass jigsaw puzzle you see in the photo above.
After a night of scratching out diagrams and drinking beer, we had a plan. It took three weeks of grinding, molding, fiberglassing and painting, but in the end the rudder was good as new. Standing in the yard, watching the last coat of paint being rolled on and thinking about the lack of judgement that brought us here, I must have seemed dispirited.
"Guess you're 'bout ready to get goin' again," one of the onlookers said. "Right," I said. "But it's sure taken some time and money." The old man pondered, then said, "Look at it this way. You may've torn up the rudder, but you did it sailin', not sittin' home. Remember, if ya ain't run aground, ya ain't been anywhere."
And isn't that just true? Any time we set out on any sort of cruise, inattention, lack of experience, bad advice or unexpected circumstance can leave us grounded, hard on the shoals of frustration or defeat, our spirits shattered and our vessel dead in the water. Still, the joy of going far exceeds the risk of grounding.
We just have to avoid skinny water.
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Special guest post today by Linda Linein – who blogs at The Task At Hand where she muses and searches for 'just the right word'. Thank you for joining us here today - Linda - and for your wonderful story.
Reader Comments (17)
a very good post here Linda, I will go to your blog and check it out too.
Love the metaphor Linda. So true - there are inherent dangers in every adventure...and yet - the risks of simply staying where we are far outweigh those gains and important lessons we learn along our way.
Great to have you joining us here today. Thank-you for your wonderful..wise words!
Excellant! I really like how you tied this all up, makes perfect sense.
what a great surprise to begin a snowy saturday. nicely done.
If anyone knows what they're talking about when it comes to boats and sailing around, Linda, it is most definitely you! And so I listen at your knee, hanging onto your every word.
What I love about this is, beyond your excellence in writing, is connecting this to the same kind of wisdom we all relate to: it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all! Or in other words, "you did it sailin', not sittin' home. Remember, if ya ain't run aground, ya ain't been anywhere."
I love it! Thank you for saying YES to being our guest today.
Staying at home is not an option so I guess we all need to all need to learn how to navigate through stormy weather.
What an interesting and timely tale with a great message to boot.
"You just have to avoid skinny water." Priceless!
I've so enjoyed reading you all here at Vision and Verb - what a delight to be able to share a few of my own verbiage with you. Well, and the vision, too, even though it hardly rises to the level of the art I see here!
Chantal ~ Thank you for your encouraging words!
Marcie ~ Of course, there are dangers in staying put, too. Have you ever seen one of those news articles about a person who had to be surgically extracted from their recliner?!
Susan ~ It made sense to me - I'm glad it did to you, too.
Honey ~ A snowy day? That sounds like heaven. Thanks for taking part of it to read my little story.
Ginnie ~ Well, I'll grant you this. I know a whole lot more than I did before I set out. Some day I'll tell you about the time I experienced life as a human fender. That was special, for sure! And you're right - there are many ways to say the same thing. Another one I like is 'You never try, you never know"!
Cherry Pie ~ Actually, most of my conflict with my mother in her latter years revolved around her belief that it was an option for me to just stay home, so she wouldn't have to worry about what might be happening to me in the big, bad world. I understood her fears, but it was a struggle to keep them from controlling my life.
Besides, as I liked to tell her, she only imagined she would like me around 24/7. There are times even I don't like being around me 24/7!
Marie ~ I'm glad you enjoyed it - and timely, indeed. We rarely have such a clear opportunity to see ego overriding judgement as in the case of the good Captain Schettino.
Robin ~ Glad you caught the humor. My sense of humor tends toward the understated, ironic and wry - sometimes it's hard to communicate well on the page, but I'm trying to get better!
Again, thanks to you all and to others who may stop by. I'll check a time or two to be sure I don't miss anyone's comment.
The old man had a good way of looking at troubles and mishaps. I certainly wouldn't miss all those times of exploring trails and running and jumping over logs with my horse despite the times I ended up getting up close and personal with the ground.
Great story and perfect metaphor for going for it...taking chances, taking a risk. Thank you for your great post!
Wow, what a wonderful post, great reminder - and how you tied it all together. I love it!
Maery Rose ~ Ah! All that business about "getting back on the horse that threw you" is right there at hand, isn't it? And the old ones, the men and women who've lived it - they have such wisdom to share!
Mary ~ I'm so glad you liked it. Stories and metaphors always are better than lectures, I think!
Carola ~ We never can hear those reminders about the importance of living too many times. Thanks for your kind words!
ha, yes, so very true. it sounds like your adventure was worth it in the big-picture sense... if only we could always see just where that skinny water was beforehand....
what a wonderful post!
I too wondered what the ship's captain was thinking. What a tragedy. I was considering a cruise for our 20th anniversary but funny now I'm not so fired up to go:)
Kelly ~ When I first went cruising in the Caribbean, I was puzzled by so many fishing boats with tall towers. I found out that from up high, you can see the fish better, AND see obstructions like coral heads. I guess what we need to do is find that "higher perspective" for the rest of life!
Puna ~ Actually, this probably would be the best time to go! Every ship is going to have been gone over for safety concerns, and every captain is going to be on full notice that foolishness will not be tolerated. I'm not a cruise ship person myself, but I wouldn't fear to go on one.
Hm, still questioning myself about that awful accident... Maybe that kind of concept is not aligned with my way of thinking and treating people.
Anyway, have to check out my 'skinny waters', I guess.