small actions X lots of people = big change

I was with a group of friends in Devon the other day, where I heard about a website described to me as ‘a global movement for random acts of kindness’. With a description like that I just had to go and look.

www.wearewhatwedo.org is fascinating. A lovely resource for practical ways of making a difference. Have fun!

Improvement through review

I’ve been looking at new ways of improving my diction recently in light of the work done while gaining my Masters in NLP at the end of last year. To that end I’ve just bought a nifty little voice recorder, and have been using it this last four days in my role as trainer on the RYA Keelboat Coaches Course, where we were looking at how to coach rather than what to coach.

It has proved a very good feedback tool, and has enabled me to start to making improvements to my speech, so I’m very pleased. We had the RYA’s Keelboat Manager with us observing, which proved very useful as I was able to obtain feedback from him too which opened a window into a potential improvement in session planning which will prove of great benefit in future.

The course is not run on a frequent basis, so we always request the filling out of feedback forms, and run a de-brief for ourselves to generate improvements for next year. We are reassured this time that last year’s changes have been for the better, and hope that next year’s will be even better.

I used to be afraid of feedback. Now I welcome it

Word play

Here's a nice piece of software - www.visualthesaurus.com .

I enjoy words and this has to be the ultimate word exploration tool. Lots of fun to play with, as well as fulfilling a serious function.

ooops - retract that!

From Neil Gladwell: I'm afraid that you, like many others, have picked up on the petition about UK tidal data copyright without knowing that one of the basic statements of the petition is wrong. I publish tide tables here in the UK, I have a licence from the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) to do it and as of last year that licence cost me nothing at all. Its not true when Mr Bartholomew states Currently Her Majesty's Government is requiring payment by any who wish to use and publish this data. Sure I used to have to pay but it was a tiny amount, around 1p sterling for each copy of my main publication, and that was only because I wanted to use the data for commercial ends. I hope you have the chance to mention the petition isn't correct or amend your report.

Ah well. Still - the No.10 website still makes interesting reading.

Petitions

Scuttlebutt, the sailing news via the web, www.scuttlebutt.com, publicised a request to sign a petition for allow all British tidal data to be available to users free of charge.

In signing up I found myself on the 10 Downing Street website www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page1.asp where the petitions page houses all sorts of wonders. The top (!) petition is a request to allow the Red Arrow to fly over the 2012 Olympics (244909 signatures). Another in the top 5 is ‘Make Jeremy Clarkson Prime Minister (38876 signatures).

The Tide Table petition has gone a log way to go (1481 signatures) but very little time - the deadline in 11th January, so get signing! www.petitions.pm.gov.uk/Tidetable-data

Winchester Cathedral

Winchester has got a HUGE cathedral. It costs in excess of £2 million a year to keep it in good condition, so the fundraising activities to do this are extensive. For the second year running there has been an Ice Rink in the Catherdral Close, and a lot of fun being had by all.

A trawl around the website www.winchester-cathedral.co.uk turns up many other interesting facts. There are over 600 volunteers working for the Cathedral, and if you want, you can volunteer to become a ‘Holy Duster’. The crypt, which currently houses a sculpture by Anthony Gormely floods so the water laps the sculpture’s toes. The latest ‘News’ includes an interesting discussion of the use and make-up of incense http://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/new/community/1/

There is a major choral tradition here, and the music is beautiful. I recently attended one of the carol concerts and it was fantastic. One of the plus points of being a resident is that I can get a year’s pass into the building to explore at will without paying the tourist entry rates, or to sometimes just stop and sit.

NLP Master

I’ve just completed my Master’s qualification in NLP with Pegasus www.nlp-now.co.uk - whey-hey! I’m really pleased. A tough course which has added immeasurably to my skills and techniques tool-kit.

Part of the qualification is a modelling project, and I chose how to dock a motorboat. In common with many racing sailors, my seamanship skills are not so sharp and I really admire the skill and panache shown by people who often make their living the water.

The Boatmen from the Royal Lymington Yacht Club www.rlymyc.co.uk and Mike Morgan, a self-employed powerboat trainer along with his son Tom all gave me the benefit of their awesome skills and experience. I learnt so much, and they helped me to prepare a great project. My thanks to them all.

MOCRA sailing

Went sailing yesterday. What a great day for it. Sunny and wind without being damp or freezing.

I sailed with a friend on his Dragonfly - a trimaran that has fold-in in the outriggers for docking/storage. We were racing in a Royal Southampton Sailing Club (RSYC) club race and had loads of fun. Beer, food and good company in the bar afterwards rounded off a good day. Well worth getting out of bed for.

Multihull sailing (racing and cruising) is run by MOCRA http://mocra-cruising.org.uk . While there are all sorts of events through the year, all the south coast multihulls come together for the winter to race together in the RSYC winter series http://www.rsyc.org.uk.

What’s so fun is that you can sail with many fewer crew than most monohulls, are more involved by being shorter-handed and you go faster!

ISAF Conference

I’ve just come back from the International Sailing Federation Conference (ISAF) in Lisbon. Tough year – we had to vote to drop an event at the Olympics. Its never fun being part of the decision–making process, but one thing is for sure. We do our best to represent sailors’ interests both those competing now and those who will compete in the future, and none of us take this responsibility lightly - whatever commentators in the press say.

99 Rooms

If you have a few minutes to spare, try this one..............
http://99rooms.terracontent.de/99rooms/99rooms.htm...
Extraordinary!

NLP Masters & Living Creatively

I’m now in the middle of taking my Masters course with Pegasus NLP www.pegasusnlp.co.uk . Fascinating stuff. We are looking how people communicate with us through language in relation to their inner concept of the world. It’s a bit like looking through multiple spiders webs all on once – all carefully constructed and interwoven. Roll on the rest of the course!

For fun I also booked on a weekend’s course ‘Living Creatively’ www.livingcreatively.co.uk in Swannage. I am already reaping the benefit of a great time, in that I look around me on a daily basis with different eyes. The big benefit is that I am finding myself getting tidier in my home – I want to live in a space that is good to look at. This unexpected gain is already proving a daily boon. I am also operating with the sort of conviction that makes me realise this is not a flash in the pan change in myself. The other things I learnt have great capacity of bringing me joy. Time well spent!

Team GBR Olympic Team Announcement

The team so far picked has just been announced. http://www.rya.org.uk/NewsAndEvents/newsroom/news/teamgbrbeijingsquad.htm

Those selected for definite are:

Yngling – women’s keelboat
Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson
49er – skiff
Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes
Laser – men’s one person dinghy
Paul Goodison

Then come a group who will be selected subject to the agreement of, and delivery against, certain performance targets:

RS:X – men’s windsurfer
Nick Dempsey
RS:X – women’s windsurfer
Bryony Shaw
470 – men’s two person dinghy
Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield
470 – women’s two person dinghy
Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark
Tornado – multihull
Leigh McMillan and Will Howden

In the Laser Radial class (women’s one person dinghy) the trials process will continue for a shortlist of four sailors – namely Charlotte Dobson, Penny Clark, Andrea Brewster and Lizzie Vickers – whose performances will be assessed at a number of regattas in the spring of 2008.

In the Finn (heavyweight dinghy) and Star (men’s keelboat) classes, the RYA’s selectors have deferred their selection decisions, pending further discussions with the sailors concerned.

The latter decision has to refer to Ben Ainslie and Iain Percy being declared earlier this week with major roles to play in the British America’s Cup challenge http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/sailing/6994764.stm

So my ex-crew member Annie Lush didn’t make it ( crewing for Shirley Robertson). Twice – so near and yet so far. My heart goes out to her.

‘Corinthian’

Scuttlebutt, the daily internet sailing news www.scuttlebutt.europe , has come up with two stories today. This first one, from John Rousmaniere, I find fascinating since the term ‘corinthian’ is bandied around every so often in defense of all sorts of traditions, yet in fact the original meaning is very different:

‘The image of a "Corinthian" as a buttoned-up, blue-blazered, stiff-necked amateur yachtsman is relatively new. The word originated with the citizens of the ancient port of Corinth who were famous both as fine sailors and as exuberant risk-takers in numerous activities, legal and otherwise. "It was a place of proverbial wickedness, energy, riches, noise," A.N. Wilson says of first-century Corinth. A.N. Wilson says of first-century Corinth. Evidence of the rebellious nature of the Corinthians can be found in the New Testament in St. Paul's chiding letters to the city's early Christians. Centuries later, Shakespeare had wild young prince Hal describe himself as "a Corinthian, a lad of mettle, a good boy."

So when young American and British amateur racing sailors 150 years or so ago called themselves and their yacht clubs "Corinthian," they were identifying their efforts as a revolution. The skill and courage required for a volunteer sailor to prepare, command, and crew a big, fragile racing sailboat in a very professional (and very rough) game were noteworthy. So too was the love of risk that lay behind it - a daring not always found among professionals and their wealthy patrons.’

Team GBR in SPYING ROW WITH CHINA

And here is the second Scuttlebutt article. This may have more fiction than fact in it, but it sounds amazing:

BRITISH SAILING TEAM IN SPYING ROW WITH CHINA Britain is embroiled in a bizarre spying row with China after the confiscation of weather monitoring equipment used by the British Olympic sailing team.

The gear was taken when Chinese police officers raided the team's flat, which is near a Chinese Navy submarine training base in the northern city of Qingdao.

They removed two 5ft tall weather stations, worth 8,000, from the apartment and sent them for analysis.

The team is in China preparing for next year's Olympics and had been using the equipment to download data on temperatures and wave and wind directions.

Stephen Park, the Royal Yachting Association's Olympic manager, said last night: "We have been told by friends and sources in China that the authorities thought our equipment could be used for spying. In fact, it is purely so we know the precise weather conditions we will encounter."

He added: "We have informed Foreign Office officials.

"We'd like the equipment back."

The raid took place in March last year and the equipment has not yet been returned.

Zhao Shangsen, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in London, said: "I am not in a position to comment on the details of the incident." -- The Daily Mail, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=480806&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=

5 and 3/4 Questions

I subscribe to an e-mail newsletter from Michael Bungay Stanier called Box of Crayons www.boxofcrayons.biz . I enjoy his mix of quotes and resources, and his determined exuberance. He’s just posted a small ‘movie’ called 5 and ¾ Questions You’ve Been Avoiding www.fivebigquestions.com/ . The cartoon is neat and the questions relevant, although I didn’t take up on the free course so can’t comment on that.

I looked at these questions straight after getting the final British results of the Sailing Team competing in Qingdao, China at the Olympic Test Event. With the outdoors as our arena, sailing always has test events prior to the Olympics to check that the organisation, logistics and equipment will work on the day. With just one year to go before the Olympics themselves, this event is one of the indicators to which sailors and nations are on current top form.

Having won 5 golds and 1 silver out a possible 11 classes, the Brits are totally dominating the podium. Fantastic. Well done to both sailors and management. For the results and stories visit www.sailing.org

My mind has wandered into making connections between the 5 and ¾ Questions, and the high/low life of being an Olympic competitor. With Qingdao being one of the selection milestones for the final British Team, hopes will have been justified or dashed by the results. I wonder what the sailors would answer if they asked these questions of themselves now……………

Singing

I’ve just re-energised by the NLP-by-the-Sea Conference in Bournemouth. My goals of meeting like minded people and exploring what was on offer were well and truly met. Great ideas and good talking.

For the last session I chose to have an expert singing tutorial from Ali Sharpe www.alisharpe.co.uk . This was a real stretch for me. I used to sing in choirs as a school kid, but am well out of practice and at the last wedding I went to I could hear myself singing out of tune and got very self-conscious about it. Ali did a great job for all eight of us (I couldn’t hide!) and we were soon all singing in the round. Strong African rhythms and lots of others really got us all going. Loads of fun!

Radio, jazz and family memories

I’ve just spent a lot of the last two days in the car going to a family celebration. I listened to BBC Radio 4 most of the travelling time, and was well entertained. We are so lucky to have good chat and music stations in this country. I was once asked what I would miss most if I ever emigrated, and my answer was our changeable seasons and our radio.

The Jazz radio station has just started up on digital http://www.thejazz.com . The sister station to Classic FM, it hasn’t got a lot of advertising yet and so has been an exceptional pleasure to listen to. I’m not keen on the type of jazz that coming from jamming sessions, but I now appreciate what a far-ranging sound it is.

An inevitable part of family occasions is catching up with news. This time, one of the older members bought a couple of old photo albums and wills with him, and it bought forth an amazing amount of memories. One of my great-great-great- uncles had two wives who had twelve children each! All the women at the party commented how old the women looked in photos taken when they were about 40 – tough lives, with little joy. Makes me glad for the life I have.

The Wind is Calling!

Exciting times! The America’s Cup has just ended, in a sail-off that finally bought the event into the realms of a top sporting event. The Swiss (so called) won from the Kiwis by just one second in what in other sports would have been called a photo finish. Heart-stopping stuff! For those that didn’t have a chance to follow the event live but want to catch up there’s a good and short run-down on all the Challenger series and the America’s Cup itself on the website www.americascup.com

Right now the ISAF Sailing Worlds are on for the Olympic Classes in Cascais, Portugal. I know so many people competing that I find myself constantly scanning the result for updates. So far, of my ex-pupils Fernando Echaverri of Spain has won the Tornado Worlds and Iain Percy (GBR) got Bronze in the Star Worlds. The event finals are staggered over a number of days, so there are more results to come yet.

Of particular interest is the Yngling Class. My old crew Annie Lush is middlewoman with Shirley Robertson and Lucy MacGregor. They are locked in battle with Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson with the Sarahs and Pippa in first place, one point in front of Shirley, Annie and Lucy. This event is the most important part of the British Olympic Trials, so it is an all important regatta for them all. The tension must be incredible there in Portugal. Come to think of it, I’ve coached them all at one time or another. www.cascaisworlds2007.com

Magnificent Clouds!

Its been a couple of days of thunderstorms. While the bangs and flashes can be startling from the safety of home, they bring to mind all sorts of stories of lightening strikes while out sailing. Luckily I’ve not been hit (yet!).

The upside is the fantastic clouds that are around right now. Magnificent and vigorous growths of upward swelling energy. Fantastic and improbable light and dark contrasts. Last night the clouds were further tinged by sunset. I love seeing them – all the more since I have a better than layman’s knowledge about what is going on inside them. Great stuff!

Too busy to live life

There are times when you can be too busy to live your life. I’ve just been through one of these helping to prepare an MOD bid for Berkshire Consultancy www.berkshire.co.uk . It was a big one, and surviving it was sooooooo… like a sailing campaign. 7 day a week working for weeks on end, doing what can be done to stay healthy (eating, sleeping), reviewing as I went along to work not just hard but smart.

My years of running sailing teams came in very handy, especially in motivating us all when it looked like too big a task to finish. I am also grateful for the skills learnt in mindmapping and NLP, without which I would have been considerably more disorganised and more emotionally vulnerable to stress as fast approaching deadline took its toll.

I enjoyed meeting the other people involved in the bid, and I wish them well as they move back into their normal lives. Now its back to my own life.