Purpose And Durability (A Life Lesson In A Word: Seaworthy)

Walter Schulz makes boats. Not just the kind that don’t sink. The kind that are seaworthy. 

And what makes a boat seaworthy? 

It’s beyond the “it can float and survive some rough waters” thought you’re having. It’s OK, I had that thought too. Robert Myers, who shared this story and question also thought the same thing.*

Walter Shulz says the definition of seaworthy relies on how well the boat protects the life and vigor of the crew. 

If all of this stuff is not exactly right it conspires to beat up the people on the boat and thus the boat is not seaworthy. You can put construction aside, completely aside, and focus on the ergonomics and the livability of the boat, which is very hard to do.

…

When you get tired you don’t realize how tired you are, and they’re just starting to put this together with people driving automobiles (I don’t know what took them so long) but it’s the same thing on a boat. You start doing and making dumb decisions and bad mistakes. And I don’t care how well a boat is built, how well the deck is bolted on, what kind of nuclear pot lights you have. And it’s not just storms. It’s long trips. It can beat you up very very badly.

The purpose of the boat is not only to be a durable structure, it’s to enable the durability of its operators and inhabitants. 

Whatever vessel you’re making – a business, a team, an investment portfolio, a family, a band – make it seaworthy. 

I’ve been on some very fancy metaphorical boats that have beat the crap out of people. They weren’t seaworthy. They were boats and the didn’t exactly sink, but the didn’t protect the life and vigor of the crew. 

*read Robert Myers post, #Seaworthy and spend some time on his blog. He comes up with stuff like this regularly. Check out the seaworthy video below – lord only knows how he ended up on this!

ps. In case you don’t know the song, writing this post got “Sea Legs” by Run The Jewels stuck in my head. I’ll put the track below and you can read a post about THAT concept here, “You’ll Stand Or Fall, But You’ve Got To Test Your Legs.”