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.

Review methods

I’m a believer in the power of review. I’ve been collecting ways of doing it for some years now and here are the best so far:

· State three things that have gone well, and three things to improve next time?

· What were the two decisions that changed the way we performed and having looked at these, what could be done to improve for the future?

· In my performance, what were 3 good points, 2 not so good, and what is the one thing I'd change?

There are two patterns to good de-briefs:

· They acknowledge both the good and the bad

· They look towards improving the future rather than staying locked in the past

For me, the power of de-briefing leads to rapid and systematic improvement. As I said – I am a true believer.

Dancing for Exercise

Having spent all my life keeping fit through sailing and for sailing campaigns, I have difficulty feeling motivated to going to the gym if my life is focussed on other goals. I find I associate gyms in particular with the grind of using weights to gain strength.

I have a friend who keeps very fit without the goal-set mentality – she does it by doing things she enjoys. One of her activities is dancing – Mo-Jive. It turns out there are many organisations, an example of which is www.danceyourselfdizzy.com Of course it does depend on having a regular enough life to be able to commit fairly regular evenings while learning, but since women aim to follow the man’s lead in this sort of dancing, it’s the men whole bear the bigger brunt of the education.

Great fun. And getting fit too.

RORC Red Funnel Easter Regatta

Lots of fun was had by all this Easter. I was part of the coaching team for this ‘beginning of the season’ regatta run by the Royal Ocean Racing Club www.rorc.org.uk out of Cowes, and much to everyone’s surprise given the lack of wind forecast, we got a lot of racing in.

It was one of the very few times that the Sailing Instructions have been amended to allow coaching during racing, so it was a great opportunity to get coaching ‘in the moment’. In terms of coaching style, it was interesting how much more directive my coaching became in response to this, and it was good to see the massive improvements that could be made to performance.

There was far more coaching available than normal with the RYA www.rya.org.uk using the event to broaden the knowledge base for coaches who have recently trained as RYA Keelboat Coaches or those who are thinking of getting their qualification this year. As one of the RYA’s Keelboat Coach Trainers, I fully supported this initiative, and all the feedback I got was positive.

One of the more endearing aspects is that the Regatta Prizes are chocolate Easter Eggs. At the end, all children in the room are awarded and egg – ocean racers of the future! http://rorc.org/photos/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=18

Advice vs. coaching

I often get asked ‘what is Life Coaching? The answer – ‘coaching on any issue in life’. The variety is endless. I have coached people through change of life directions, relationship break-ups, weight loss programmes, phobias, careers choices, grief, work situations and a host of others.

What do people get from Life Coaching rather than advice from friends and family? I find that advice is usually given by starting ‘Well…… If I was you I’d…….and this sums up it up for me. Someone giving advice does it from their experience of life, and they are giving you what their reaction would be if they were standing in your shoes. While getting another point of view often helps, it doesn’t always. One client said to me recently ‘Long standing friends keep telling me what to do, but they aren’t me, and what they tell me isn’t right for me right now.’

My job is to establish where my client wants to go, and helping them set a realistic plan to get there. Then, when checking progress along the way, either praising or re-setting the immediate goals to something more appropriate. I provide questions that stretch and challenge old patterns of thinking and assumptions.

A set of six sessions will last between six weeks and 3-4 months, and can be face-to-face or on the telephone. Its all about providing a structure for development that allows time for new patterns of behaviour to establish. Its very different from ‘Giving Advice’.

Peripheral Vision

Over this winter I have been playing with the implications of habitual use of various ranges of vision, in life as well as in sport. Part of my NLP training includes the widening use of the senses, and there I really learnt about peripheral vision from Tara Dominick, NLP Trainer http://www.flipsidetraining.co.uk/ and www.livingcreatively.co.uk (I thought I knew what she meant when she first described it - after all, wasn’t I a top sportsperson? But no – she really opened my eyes – literally).

The first fascination was sparked by the information that people use peripheral vision when driving, and those who do this a lot do not find themselves growing sleepy at the wheel – which is a big problem for me on any journey over 90 minutes. So I’ve been trying it out. Not only do I find it easier to stay awake, but the constant absorption of more data seems to keep me more alert and less tired at the end of the journey. I am also able to resist snacking – which I normally do to try and keep awake.

The second revelation has been using it in groups when I am in coaching or lecture mode. I can pick up people’s reactions all over the room, and my sense of timing of appropriate interventions is more accurate now.

The third discovery has been the enhanced ability to observe a group of people in action and be able to pick up either patterns or breaks in the flow of behaviours. And I thought this was skill that was closed to me.

The fourth thought that I am still exploring is that a sailors’ starting preference depends on their sight preference – peripheral or tight focus.

I have been guided by a colleague to website for training visual ability and flexibility – http://www.eyethinksport.com/ . Developed for team sports where knowledge of the positioning of either team-mates or competition is a key part of a player’s proficiency, the tasks, especially undertaken daily, create a training package well worth exploring. The ‘mind gym for the eye’ is really good and certainly expands anyone’s visual capacity.

Evening Social Groups

I did a talk last night for the Hamble Ladies Group – a social group that meets monthly. It was a really nice evening – a touch base with the camaraderie that makes with world go round from day to day. I met a friend from 35-40 years ago from when I was crewing for my Father in GP14s www.gp14class.org.uk It really took me back.

I chose to start the talk by sharing the experience of walking into the Olympic Stadium in 1984 for the Opening Ceremony. What a special moment that was – riding high on all the hopes before the toughness of the competition itself.

One of the biggest impacts of that moment was the unfamiliarity of being in front of a huge crowd – in sailing we rarely perform in front of an audience. That was the first of the ‘party’ type ceremonies that have become the trademark of such occasions now. The most recent Games parties I attended were in Sydney for the Paralympics, where I was Team Leader and Coach for the British sailors – and they were amazing – fireworks and colour everywhere. I hear that Qing Dao, the host city for sailing in 2008, did the Sailing Test Event in 2006 proud with a true performance – and of course fireworks originated in China so they were splendid. I wonder what 2012 will bring?

Dog sitting

I’ve been dog-sitting for friends for the past 10 days, and have had an insight into the world of pet-keeping that I’ve never experienced before. I know ‘Pepper’ well, as I regularly walk her. She’s a beautiful 11 year old Dobermann, and soft and friendly with it.

Looking after a dog 24/7 is an insight into another world – the world of pack animals. I learnt a lot about establishing boundaries and seniority – especially when Pepper started to chew my slippers!

I also made discoveries about saying what I mean. Calling the dog to ‘Come here’ is a high pitched voice which tilts up at the end of the sentence while wondering if she will come back just does not work. Alignment of thinking, body stance and voice (range, timbre and expression) to put clear and assertive messages across worked far better.

I had been steered towards these discoveries by a friend talking about a place in Yorkshire where you can practice assertion through working with border collies as they herd sheep and other animals www.bordercollies.co.uk . Now I fully understand how this can happen.

Mind you, for Pepper, chasing rabbits and deer still take precedence over any mere mortal wanting to go home.

Media changes

I am a member of the RYA’s Paralympic Steering group, which decides policy and selection for the British Paralympic sailing effort. Recently one of us attended an update on 2012 www.london2012.org for our group and he reported back on a presentation from the BBC.

A very effective presentation (to be expected!) pointed out that the techniques for reporting on sport in 1948 (the last time London hosted the Olympics) and Sydney 2000 were essentially the same. Then there was more change between 2000 and 2004 than the previous 52 years. And the speed of technological advancement continues to heat up, to the point that every minute of sport in Beijing 2008 www.en.beijing2008.cn will be available somewhere (traditional media, websites, blogs) to anyone who can find it.

I am reminded to be grateful that I pay my license fee for the BBC www.bbc.co.uk since the freedom this gives them to stay at the forefront of such changes means 2012 will be great viewing, and will probably set new standards for sports reporting in the world.

In the meantime, one of the sailing magazines, Yachting World www.yachting-world.com is filling a gaping gap in sailing media with their Editorial blogs and podcasts. The international sailing community adopted internet communication very early on, and we have excellent ‘newspapers’ such as the Daily Sail and newsletters such as Scuttlebutt as well as websites galore, but the use of new media by Andrew Bray, David Glen, Elaine Bunting and Matthew Sheahan add comment and opinions more along the lines of the serious traditional paper newssheets such as the Guardian, the Times etc. I applaud the initiative.

Coaching the 1st 100 days of a new job

I find the work I do for Berkshire Consultancy www.berkshire.co.uk fulfilling. I coach newly recruited high-flying executives through the first 100 days of their new job.

That first half year in a new company is often frantic – you have been employed to make a real difference, you are learning on your feet and the demands on your time and judgement just keeps coming at you relentlessly. Yet it’s a competitive environment – you don’t yet know who’s word to trust, and you dare not show a weakness. At the same time, your personal life may be suffering from the long hours you are putting into work, and if a relocation is necessary too, the going gets really tough.

I’m finding that top managers value a coach to get them through this time. I help them decide priorities, and act as a bouncing board to work through ideas and responses to challenges presented as they occur. My clients find they come out of the first six months with a clearer idea of where they are going, without having alienated people (colleagues and staff) unnecessarily, and with private needs acknowledged. In addition, the portfolio of initiatives they have generated is better balanced by having created time for reflection when under pressure to prove their worth. In short, they have established themselves to good effect to the powers that be.

It’s always great contributing to success!

Fear & Helen Keller

Its odd how things come together. Today I came across a quote which seems to link into what I talked about in my last blog yesterday.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature....
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. -- Helen Keller

I am presuming this is the Helen Keller, a deaf-blind mute child who was encouraged to join the world by her teacher Anne Sullivan. http://www.rnib.org.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/publicwebsite/public_keller.hcsp

This thought has certainly got me thinking.

Overcoming fear

A lot of work that I’ve been doing recently with clients has been around self confidence, in the context of making new futures for themselves. Self confidence is at the bottom of so many things – selling oneself or your product, self-promotion, the delivery of proposals, points of view, or presentations. Even more basic is having the faith to continue on with your vision against either big challenges or the steady attrition of time, and stasis.

Most people I come across have got oodles of self confidence in their own environment, yet going out into strange territory – well that’s something different. That stretch is really tough. What helps?

What makes any situation do much worse is fear. It might be fear of death which, if the situation is physically dangerous may be a very sensible reaction, since it generates the flight, flight or freeze response. Since fear of any sort taps into the basic physical responses, sometimes small fears get out of control and grow. Fear of failure can become like this, and often holds people back – me included - when outside their comfort zone.

I’ve been mulling it over for years – how to overcome fear. My personal experience in sailing has taught me that do what scares me just once, and then fear diminishes. And to do it once, you must act. A big act is paralyzing, so make each action small so the stretch required is possible – just. Lots of small steps can lead up to one giant stride. Having overcome the fear once, and when facing similar conditions in future, a little self-talk (‘I’ve been here and survived this before’) works wonders.

NLP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming has taught me a lot about overcoming apprehension in social situations. NLP has helped me to bring together all those social rules about coping, that get quoted by those who are good at mingling, into one framework, and has given me tools to transfer learning and confidence from one situation to another.

Quotes on courage, especially from those who have experienced war, make me think. This one plucks chords with me. ‘Courage is not the lack of fear. It is acting in spite of it.’ Mark Twain.

Yet how to make that step into action? Inspiration and faith in outside agencies can help. Yet what comes from within? Self worth and not letting that down by inaction is part of it. I have used a quote from the book ‘Dune’ by Frank Herbert for years as a mantra:
‘I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.’

For myself, this helps me take control back into my life and act, whatever the future holds. What action to take has come from learning – from life, sailing and NLP. As each year goes by I am thankful for that learning. Age may give wrinkles but it also gives me a richer life.