NavList:

Allow me to also point out that Capt Sandra Yawn was just awarded the
top award for professional skippers and crew by the International
Superyacht Society (to paraphrase JP Morgan, if you have to ask how to
join, you probably couldn't afford it) at the Miami Boat Show (the
largest in the US).

She was commanding the 12-person crew of a 131-ft C&N megayacht on a
delivery to Dubai.   As she exited the Suez Canal into the Red sea, the
ship's hydraulics and one engine failed.  The ship anchored in a Yemeni
military port for five days while the engineer rebuilt the engine.  She
kept the crew calm and the Yemeni authorities calm.  With repairs
finished, the yacht got underway again.   An hour later, it lost all
electronics [okay, keep the "hope she brought a sextant" cheers down].
Then the engine room exploded [no cause given in article].  Again
quietly and coolly commanding her crew, she managed to put out the fire
-- but the yacht was completely helpless and adrift in one of the most
heavily pirate-infested waters in the world.  One again keeping her crew
calm and sane through this latest crisis, she explored a number of
options to get help, finally hearing a US warship on her hand-held VHF.
  She convinced it to come to the yacht's aid [ah, the helpless woman
act :-) ], eventually towing it a safe port (Towing a private vessel is
an almost unheard of act by the US Navy)

IMHO competence is determined by experience, calm under fire, ingenuity,
and knowledge -- but not by one's internal plumbing.

Lu Abel

Peter Fogg wrote:
> On the 15 July George wrote about the (presumed) incompetence of one
> "Antonia Nicholson, 32", skipper of the "Gipsy Moth IV, which hit a reef ":
>
> "It reinforces my prejudice, that such responsibilities
> should be given to grizzled old salts, and not to young ladies, no
> matter how many certificates they have collected; incorrect though it
> may be to say so or even to think so."
>
> If only 'grizzled old salts', presumably of the male persuasion, could
> be trusted not to make mistakes.
>
> An example of this is that of Captain Edward John Smith, who gained his
> first ship's command in 1887, at the age of 37. He went on to command
> the first Republic, the Coptic, Majestic, Baltic, Adriatic and Olympic;
> all of the White Star line. During the Boer War at the turn of the
> century he commanded troopships to and from the Cape of Good Hope.
>
> "/As he rose in seniority Smith gained a reputation amongst passengers
> and crew for quiet flamboyance. Some passengers would only sail the
> Atlantic in a ship commanded by him. After he became commodore of the
> White Star fleet in 1904, it became routine for Smith to command the
> line's newest ships on their maiden voyages. It was therefore no
> surprise that Smith took Titanic in her maiden voyage in April 1912/."
>
> http://www.webtitanic.net/framecaptain.html
> <http://www.webtitanic.net/framecaptain.html>
>
> If ever there was a 'grizzled old salt' of wide experience and presumed
> competence it was Captain Smith.
>
> "/After departure at 12:00 the wash from the propeller caused the
> laid-up New York to break from her moorings and swing towards the
> Titanic. Quick action from Smith helped to avert a premature end to the
> maiden voyage./"
>
> The rest is fairly well-known. It seems to be commonly accepted that it
> was a mistake of judgement on Smith's part to continue at speed at night
> in conditions where icebergs could be expected. So much for a lifetime
> of male seafaring experience – begun by Smith at the age of 13. He was
> 62 and on the verge of retirement when he shepherded the Titanic out of
> Southampton en route for New York. This command had already been planned
> to be his last, though not in the circumstances that ensured. 
>
> I suspect that Antonia Nicholson, similarly, was chosen as skipper of
> the Gipsy Moth IV because she seemed the best person for that role; with
> all the qualifications, experience and competence to encourage such
> trust. And she did take this yacht the best part of half way around the
> globe before coming to grief in the
> <http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=U&start=2&q=http://www.outofbounds.com/html/tuamotus.html&e=9797>
> Tuamotus, like so many before her. Most of whom, funnily enough, were
> men. Quite a few of whom could be described as grizzled.
>
> If command can't be entrusted to " young ladies, no matter how many
> certificates they have collected"  and even "grizzled old salts " can
> get it wrong too, unfortunately, it does leave us with a practical problem.
>
> Just who can we entrust with a boat's command? And would a critic airing
> his prejudices from the comfort of his armchair be in a position to know?
>
>
> >

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