While digging through some old writings I found the speech I gave at the launching of my first boat, the S/V Wawona. Figured I'd post it here.
"There
is nothing absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply
messing about in boats." Friends, Members of the Board, future
crew, It is a pleasure to speak to you today on the auspicious
occasion of the launch of my first vessel of the Inland Packet &
Navigation Company. A brief history is in order. The vessel whom bore
this name first was built for the booming Puget Sound lumber trade
over a century ago in 1897. She also worked as a fishing ship before
finding salvation as a museum ship when her sisters had been broken
up. But even she could not be saved as the ravages of time dictated
her dismantlement earlier last year. I was fortunate enough to have
seen her during a trip to Settle a few years ago. Even in her
derelict state, with holes punched in her side and her masts floating
beside her she still possessed the grandeur and poise that all tall
ships carry with them. I was sad to hear this great dame of the sea
would be no more as I saw her. But her legacy lives on more so then
when she was whole. And in honor of that grand ship and her legacy,
her name will live on.
Today
I want to speak to you about doing. That is the actual act of taking
action to create something with a tangible result. And how it has
made an ambition of mine into the reason we're standing here today.
It has been a long time coming. For years I have dreamed of sailing
for reasons as yet unexplained. And not just sailing in the sense of
getting on a boat and cruising a local lake, but hiring out on a tall
ship and sailing the blue world over in a time of wooden ships and
iron men. My family has no maritime history that I'm aware of on
either side. The military, teaching, or sheep ranching yes but
certainly not sailing. My family are hardy inland folk and here I am
looking for an ocean.
This
has not been an easy project. When it was begun I was told it was a
stupid idea and one with no merit. I ask those who informed me of
this fact to look at the craft in front of them now. I've learned
more from making this boat then I would have not making it. To borrow
a quote from seaQuest DSV "Nothing a man makes with his own two
hands is ever a waste of time." Granted I am a dreamer, but I
made this dream a reality. All my heroes have been dreamers of one
sort or another. Howard Hughes, who revolutionized the aircraft
industry and construction with a plane they said could not fly.
Ismbard Kingdom Brunel, the genius of British engineering who's
bridges are still in use and who created the worlds largest ship
fifty years ahead of it's time. These men it should be said are
remembered not for their dreams, but for their deeds. The proof is
still with us to this day. And that is the the act of doing.
So
I'm going to end with a truth and a challenge. Every one of you can
build your own boat. And maybe it's not a boat you're building, but
if you stop dreaming and start doing you can build it. Stop looking
at why it won't work and start looking to how it can. And don't wait
until tomorrow, do it today. Every step no matter how seemingly
unimportant has significance. And it's holding on that that
significance that makes it all worth while. I end, as I want with a
quote from Teddy Roosevelt. I keep this on my phone play it back from
time to time to remember how important doing is. "“It is not
the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man
stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The
credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is
marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs
and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without
error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed;
who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends
himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the
triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at
least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be
with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
