Why do skippers shout?
If you haven’t experienced it your self, you may well have observed the phenomenon.
While watching the boats come home from a beautiful day’s sailing you hear the skipper yelling agitatedly as he docks his beloved boat.
One of my most important lessons when first sailing as a couple was when my partner quietly shared with me after a frustrating anchoring exercise; “It doesn’t help to shout.”
I’ve heard some skippers say they have to shout because it is the only way they can be heard above the noise of the engine and the wind in the rigging.
If that is the case, then investing in developing a system of hand signals might be useful.
But much more likely, the real driver of ‘shouting’ is the skipper’s anxiety and nervousness when boat handling, whether it be changing sails, anchoring or berthing.
While it is not manly or cool to acknowledge that I’m anxious about this boat handling business, talking about it did allow me to not fuel her anxiety with anxious shouting.
After that conversation, I made a commitment to myself; no shouting.
Instead we talked more about how to execute the boat maneuver and quietly debrief it after the fact. With dialogue and practice, we both got less anxious and had fewer problems.
But most important, our relationship thrived on sailing together.