The Ad Lib

It's your moment to make or break....

By Howard Rice

To Ad Lib generally means to stand and deliver without preparation. There you are front and center and the focus is on you; it is your moment to make or break. Sounds a bit like some sailing situations and snafus I have been in or have witnessed. Some of these were the dodged bullet and the we-got-lucky kind. Perhaps we have all met a sailor along the way who has sailed in full ad lib mode, aka unprepared and inexperienced. It could be this is how some of us got started—I did. As a boy I just did it and like most things kids try I often got lucky but I also learned with each capsize, dock crunch or broken piece of unsuitable gear. Throughout a life of trial and error I have learned that preparation is key. For in preparation lies a sense of confidence leading to fuller experiences and the ability to effectively ad lib in the moment or in never finding the need to do so.

Sit in a yacht club or harbor-side bar sometime and listen for on-water war stories. They are entertaining, sort of. I prefer no war stories as these generally emanate from poor judgment, gear failure or lack of preparation. All three may require instant ad lib skills and many of us don’t have the requisite experience to handle them, so it’s best to avoid these kinds of situations. I still make rookie moves in small boats. I occasionally catch myself without a life jacket, the wrong tools, no signal devices, etc., but with age and experience I am more aware. I also know things will happen no matter how well I prepare. It’s part and parcel of going out on the water in boats regardless of size.

The art of the ad lib is to act appropriately and proportionally to an event or a moment albeit on the fly. These events or moments can be funny, exhilarating, critical, dangerous, time sensitive, and at times just in need of a quick work-around. Typically, the need for an ad lib is an instant, an instant to not hesitate for in hesitation comes the first of a possible three-step cascade toward disaster. Most disasters have at least three mitigating factors. The first may lead to an inconvenience and the second to a got-lucky near miss. Add the third and it may be game over. The game-over scenario lurks just beneath the surface, perhaps disguised by misplaced confidence, maintenance delayed, a sunny day or never-tested gear stuffed away.

Here is a three-step cascade scenario that will require at least three ad lib moves and the last one may not work. Number one: The clock is running to get back after an overnight cruise, never a good thing. You head home in marginal conditions on a day hinting to be just a tad past your skill level. Number two: Niggling away in your head is the loose rudder-gudgeon but it shouldn’t present a problem because you have been sailing with it that way all summer. Number three: Your recent garage-sale find short-shaft outboard has never been tested in big waves. A squall line hits two hundred yards off the now lee shore breakwall of home port, diminishing everything in sight. In full ad lib mode, you realize you are in the deep end and turn into the waves in an attempt to reef, something you have never practiced. Ad lib works and delivers a really good scare, whew, that was close! Just as you begin to crack off for the entrance your rudder breaks away and in desperate ad lib mode you realize you need to do something and fast. Grabbing an oar you jam it next to the back stay and it works, but the rocks ahead loom large. The second ad lib moment produces a marginal moment, a maybe it’s time to go to that short-shaft engine. Enough said perhaps?

The need to ad lib should be avoided if possible and with this in mind I prepare to sometimes crazy levels, layer on layer of redundancy. I do this because I have made all the mistakes possible and have tried to learn from each. I think of my preparations as antidote to the ad lib moment, yet I still catch myself at times not being ready enough.

Experience over time on the water across conditions is really important and for the new sailor step-wise progression into more challenging conditions is important. Gradually attained experiences can at times trump lack of preparation. Experience means I can (in most cases) react without thinking, without proper preparation or forethought. Sometimes I just intuitively know and do, and sometimes I plain get lucky. I sail in what I generally refer to as auto pilot mode. I feel the boat and all its movements and sounds. In this mode I can stand looking aft as I charge along, I can navigate, watch for marks all the while steering with tiller, sheets and body movements. This auto pilot mode ability is borne from a lifetime afloat in many different circumstances and on many types of boats and it helps me avoid ad lib sailing moments.

In an odd sense the ad lib is at the very core of what I love about sailing, the hint of unpredictability of it all. These moments can be an adrenaline rush, sheer terror, woo-hoo—just made it through the pass, we blew the guy on the chute just in time to avoid a round up or, in spite of myself, I made it through a squall. Perhaps you have a list of your personal ad lib moments. It is good to reflect on them now and again. I try to use them as learning tools for rare is the day afloat where I get it all right.

I am drawn toward the edge of sailing performance and mix this with a healthy sense of curiosity. These can put me in places where every moment counts, narrow passes at flood tide, breaking surf in shallows, open water crossings and the like. This means I am going to have to have to ad lib sooner or later so I embrace it as part of the game. If you sail long enough and frequently enough you will run into bad weather, broken gear, unfavorable wind shifts, blown gybes, someone overboard, you name it and ad lib will be the order of the day, some day.

A good set of general guidelines like this might help: Make a mental or written checklist of steps needed before setting out. Make a stowage map of what’s in your boat. Make sure your boat is clean and in order. Check fittings and your engine on a regular basis. Have backups in place. Try to have multiple uses for items you carry. Sweat the small stuff. See you out there! •SCA•

First published in issue #105