random thoughts…from steven

It’s been called the Mount Everest of sailing and there is a lot of truth to that. The Volvo Ocean Race truly lives up to the saying “No Pain, No Gain”.

Imagine spending 10 months of the year out at sea braving conditions that range from the scorching heat to the biting cold. And for each leg of the race, you could be out at sea for 4 or 40 days! This is a feat pitting man against nature. Yes, the boats are important but if you don’t have the mettle for the race, forget about it, your boat will take you nowhere.

 So I decided to put myself to the test and let’s just say my notion of luxury sailing quickly dissipated. I was just glad I had not eaten too much that morning.

Puma Team Skipper Ken Read was great in making sure we all had a chance to try our hand at the various aspects of the boat. They say driving a boat is much like driving a car, so as I took the wheel pretending to know exactly what I was doing, I asked Ken about their next leg of the race which was out to Qingdao, China. And it was no surprise when he said that the cold was going to be one of the main challenges. How cold? A quick check online revealed that the average temperature there is 12.2 degrees Celsius. In January, the maximum is 3 degrees Celsius with a minimum of -4 degrees Celsius. Now that’s on land, so can you imagine what it would be like at sea with the wind! Brrrr….I’m getting cold feet just thinking about it.

So we’re on board and I look under to the cabin where they keep their sails, their food, their stuff – which is not much at all. In fact, for the leg over to Singapore, they each only had 1 t shirt, 1 pair of pants, 1 underwear, 1 tooth brush. So yes, this is not luxury sailing in any form. There was no kitchen, no toilet, no lounge area…nothing at all. This is one of those cases where the boat came first and the people came later. So what then was luxury for them?

Ken: Chocolate! The food is so bad that chocolate, that’s like a treat! Like a twix bar or something, has never tasted so good. It’s when you’re out and about two and half weeks and all of a sudden someone hands you a twix bar and it its like someone has just handed you a bar of gold. It’s the greatest thing in the world. You crave stuff, like you crave, like for some reason I crave like a cheeseburger and a bowl of ice-cream and I don’t even eat ice-cream when i’m home. And of course a cold beer that wouldn’t be bad too and i’d be remiss to say my family…

So cravings aside, us rookies ploughed away at our various tasks on board, but it was the grinding that literally took my breath away. What’s grinding? Well, you know spinning classes on a bicycle at the gym? It’s the same, only this time your arms are doing all the work. And as they say no pain, no gain! But the pain is quickly forgotten when you are caught up in the thick of the action and the boat is going fast – up to 40 knots (about 75km/h).

You know all too often we look at professional sportsmen and think, yep, I could probably do that. Well, I’ve learnt to bite my tongue before saying that. First came Formula 1 and I thought I could be a Lewis Hamilton, but after a go on the simulator, I realized I was nowhere close. And then came the Volvo Ocean Race and I thought I could have a beer and soak in the rays while on board. They don’t even have a bottle opener, so there were definitely no beers there.

Folks, I take my hat off to you, you guys make it seem a lot easier than it really is!

PS. A shortened version can be found on page 38 of weekend TODAY paper in Singapore - http://www.todayonline.com/

I’ve been out of action these last 2 days because I’ve been hit with the the flu and fever. It’s been a long time since I’ve fallen sick and I had almost forgotten what it felt like. It’s no fun. Your body aches, your nose runs, you run hot or cold every few hours. Though one luxury I have throughly enjoyed is sleep! Yes, I sleep in the morning, in the afternoon, at night…I’ve never felt this rested in a long time.

But being sick has also allowed me the time to quite literally stop and smell the roses. With the crazy, somewhat winter like coolness we’ve been having in Singapore, my wife, daughter and I went for a long walk last night. It was nice. Yep, that’s it, it was just plain and simple nice. I was almost amazed by how much I enjoyed it.

With all the stuff that is happening in the world, maybe it’s time for us to revert back to the simpler things in life. And for those who can, maybe it’s time to make a change in your life. Maybe now is the time to do that thing you’ve always wanted to. Cut back on the extra stuff and just head back to the basics, in a way, the uncomplicated life is a much simpler life to lead.

All I know is that I’m just grateful for what I have. It’s not a whole lot but when I think about it, it’s still more than I really need. So I’m thankful for that…and of course, I’m thankful for my health. Without that, all this other stuff would be meaningless.

Happy New Year! It’s 2009…and wow, how the years have just flown by. You know, year on year, we don’t seem to get older. Or at least, we don’t realize it. But every now and then you are reminded.

About a week ago, I was at a friend’s place for dinner. The couple are in their 40s and their children are aged between 18-21. As we sat around the table, it occurred to me that I’ve seen these kids grow up. As we talk about university life, ambitions, driving… I realized that the tables had turned. I was no longer the one asking to borrow the car, I wasn’t the one trying to figure out what to study in university, I was now the one giving “advice”. Boy, oh boy…I had become the “grown up”. 

Similarly as I uploaded these photos which were taken recently over Christmas, I am again reminded that it’s been almost 3 years since little Lucy came into our lives.  It’s all passed so quickly and now we can’t imagine life without her.

Looking back to these last few years, I have to say, Lucy is the best present my wife and I have had. When you come home, she’s the first to run to greet you at the door brimming with excitement. When you take her out, she continues to show you the world from a different point of view. When you read a story to her as she’s cuddled up next to you, she provides you with this warmth of love that just runs through your body. I could go on, but I think you get the idea. And when you think about it, is there anything in this world that can do all that for you over and over again? Yes, children are the greatest gift God has given to us.

Another wonderful aspect of kids is that they are starting life with a clean slate, they have no expectations, make no assumptions and take things as they come. So every present little Lucy opened drew a big “wow” from her and every gift was special. During these early years, everything is a new discovery.

Abraham Lincoln had once said “most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” So I think If we could all think like children every now and then, our lives would be that much happier!

That being said, I have made up my mind that this year, I am going to try and look at life more from a child’s perspective because I believe that if I do that, I’ll see more good in people and more beauty in the world. The innocence of youth is powerful and just because we have “grown up” doesn’t mean we can’t still have the idealism and drive we once had when we were younger.

And I say to all of us, that we just need to look deeper into our lives to find the good stuff. Despite much of this past year being “doom and gloom”, I’m sure if we tried hard enough we’ll find that there were many wonderful things that happened for us too. It’s just a matter of whether we choose to look back and say the glass is half empty or that it’s half full. 

No matter how you look at it, you can’t deny that at the very least life is great because there are those who love you and there are also those that you love.

The philospher Lao Tzu had once said “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage”.  So if you have both strength and courage, then can’t you face just about anything in life? I know I can.

So Happy New Year my friends! May you find strength and courage in all that you do and may you continue to build great relationships with those around you.