Tacking Away From The Fleet

In sailboat racing there is a maneuver known as tacking away from the fleet. Just after the start or along one of the course legs a boat (possibly followed by another) will perform a deliberate change in course that, from all appearances, seems radical and even foolish. The new course generally takes the boat on a right angle away from the path toward the destination marker being pursued by the rest of the “fleet” and their “line”. If you are the skipper or tactician on one of the other boats racing – your reaction is a wave of initial mockery followed by suspicion and then doubt in your own judgment. This wave of doubt passes quickly as comfort is found amidst the “pack” and its linear path but one finds himself often looking over the shoulder to gauge the progress of the one or two renegades who have tacked “away”.

There are many factors that go into making the decision to “tack away”; one being a poor start that leaves the boat at the rear of the “pack” and, perhaps, out of contention. In this case the “gamble” of the tacking away maneuver is as much a disengagement from the race in the hope of a miraculous set of circumstances that may exonerate the whole performance. Other considerations are intuitive or local knowledge based that relate to local wind anomalies, set, drift and current behavior and navigational obstacles. Another reason is simply to be free from the pack and its restriction to one’s creativity and maneuverability. Or maybe one discovers something radical and compelling that causes them to put over the helm and divert.

Those who remain with the fleet are generally following the wisdom of the whole and the culture of the sport. The collective knowledge should be better than any one constituent. Also – the pack generally follows a “leader” who is the “one to beat” and any competitor who believes that their experience, their crew and their equipment are better will also believe that over the long haul of the race and its many legs and opportunities that they can outmatch their opponents in close quarters – if only by seconds. Indeed racing of this type is a social event that encourages close quarters competition and encounters that “sharpen the edge”. There are also a host of subtle rules of right-of-way, drafting, blanketing and marker rounding tactics that leverage quick wits, the element of surprise and sometimes dirty tricks that factor into the pack’s competitive mentality. And so sailboat racing comes complete with its own set of rules and a mechanism for post race litigation. It’s the game of life in three or so hours on the water.

Life is not really a sailboat race but we can make it one. Business is not a sailboat race but we can make it one. Fleet racing is, after all, a relative thing. That’s why each race is followed by a results sheet and perhaps even an award ceremony with trophies for first second and third place. Margins for victory can be seconds apart. Boats are rated and even handicapped to keep it all interesting. We leave the yacht club and go our separate ways …

Life and business do not begin at a common starting line. All boats are not of the same class. All crews differ. In business, seeking and winning by fine margins is unwise and unsustainable. Who wants to do that day in and day out? Unless one is the clear leader and “walking away” from the “fleet” as it were, the pack may burn you out and hold you back with its relativistic friction – the rat race.

A comment that sparked a thought that led to this blog piece came from the CEO of a renewable energy startup aimed at harnessing ocean wave energy. Competing with scores of other emerging innovators around the world he and his “crew” recognized that the cost to produce power from this type of technology would probably remain prohibitively expensive for some time relative to traditional fossil fuel sources and emerging solar and wind alternatives that had a head start. This gentleman remarked that he and his “crew” had decided to “tack away from the fleet”. The course that they decided to tack onto with their precious ideas and resources was to harness wave energy to convert salt water into fresh water in remote coastal regions of the planet where pristine seacoasts, time and need endure cost. This meant integrating their wave energy equipment with power transmission and reverse osmosis desalination technology as a package. In other words – creating their own race, a new race outside of the race – a race they can win. This sort of thing takes smarts, a creative and open mind, innovation, willingness to learn new things and courage. The new course also introduces opportunities to innovate at the technology intersection points (read The Medici Effect, by Frans Johansson for more on that). The new course now becomes less linear and more intersectional! Myriad outcomes are now possible. I love it. I’m also drawn to the altruistic element of it - fresh water for those in need. I think that destiny has good things in store for this company - they will have their up-side.

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost, 1920

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - -

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

In life I believe we run a race not against one another but a race to explore, discover and express a uniquely created purpose that is in each of us and draws us to the backdrop of eternity - uncharted water indeed. The trophy for victory is surprising joy, contentment and a return to the eternity from whence we came.

“For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” ~ 2 Corinthians 10:12

All the best!

Bill