I'm doing something I've never done before on this blog. I'm retracting a post, only hours after putting it out.
Here's the story. For many years now (as many as 4 years) I've been thinking about writing a blog post about what I call The Box Canyon Rule. It is the most important of safety rules we try to observe. It is so important, that I want to explain it with clarity and eloquence. Yesterday, I wrote and posted it. Today, I'm having second thoughts. What I wrote wasn't good enough. I'm withdrawing it for now, and I'll write a better one sometime this winter and post that.
The back story is that Libby and I both carry in our heads what we call "bloggables". Those are things that would make good subjects for a blog post. I write some of them down in the form of draft posts. Others, simply remember.
When it comes time to write a post, I generally spend about a half hour composing it. Sometimes, the results are good, sometimes not. It is the nature of blogging that posts are not edited. There is no step which filters out the bad posts, leaving only the good. The good thing about that is that it better reflects the real life of cruisers. Not everything is romantic, or beautiful or interesting. But, a very small number of topics are so important that I do strive for a higher level of quality. That's what I'm doing with the Box Canyon post.
Sometime this winter, I'll take a whole day in the library to think through what needs to be said about The Box Canyon Rule, and how to say it clearly in as few words as possible.
If you already read my Box Canyon post before I withdrew it. I apologize.
Posts
Dick --
ReplyDeleteYour Box Canyon post is superb and should be required reading for all boaters. It is the most clear and articulate writing that I have seen on why and how to think about risk in a boating environment but is very broadly applicable no matter the boating style.
BTW, professionally, I am a risk manager as I run the credit function for financing large scale energy projects so I really appreciated the post both personally and professionally.
Jim M. in CT
LOL Jim. Just as I was writing a rejection notice for the box canyon post as being not good enough, you wrote a comment calling it superb.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliment. I just hope that my next try at the subject is indeed better.
Dick,
ReplyDeleteWhile I missed your "Box Canyon" item before you pulled it, your "retraction" entry makes me all the more anxious to read what you do finally post---as in all I do, risk-management is very important, and I look forward to your thoughts on it's application to cruising/life on a vessel. It will be important, and as such, I look forward to it! Please don't keep us waiting too long; it's obviously important for you too--common interests make your blog so valuable and worth following!
Thank you!
Chuck H.
Portland, OR
Dick --
ReplyDeleteWow! Pulling the post is certaily the author/blogger's right but it does not change my view of the quality of the original post and only whets my interest in your forthcoming new post. One of the things that percolated, unsaid, through your original post was that complacency lulls people into a false sence that a Plan B is not needed. So too does a lack of imagination which leads to a view that it can't happen to me, only to the other guy. While you did not include these words, they were implicit in your post. I really am looking forward to the next one whenever you are ready to share. In the meantime, I will enjoy the rest of your posts.
Also, not sure if you know it yet but the Old Orchard Shoal Light off Great Harbor, Staten Island, got washed out by Sandy leaving just a pile of rocks swept clean. You have passed that light so many times in your travels.
Jim M.