On my recent trip back to Vancouver I had the chance to reconnect with a number of good friends, make some new ones, and remind myself what an amazing place it is we come from. The time and space for reflection also brought home exactly how incredible our trip has been thus far, and what we have coming up.
A lot of my time in Vancouver was spent catching up with good friends and relating all the stories from the past year in person. Inevitably a few of the same questions about the trip kept coming up:
What was your favorite place that you visited? – Tough one, Tuamotu’s, Moorea, Raitea… all incredible.
What were the beaches like that you visited? – Well, unfortunately we did see plenty garbage; plastic on pretty much every beach we walked. We saw some with more pollution than others, different types, and some beaches with surprisingly less than we expected to see. An article in a major publication that was passed along to us before the trip told of piles of ocean-born garbage accumulating on the beaches of Rarotonga. Interestingly enough we found very little compared to other islands we visited.
Did you have any bad weather? Yes and No. I guess my definition of bad weather has changed since we left Mexico. On the first part of the passage from Mexico to the Marquesa’s we had few nervous moments when there was a threat of a nasty low pressure hitting us, but in the end we actually had a pretty smooth trip. While on the passage from Rarotonga to Tonga we had 48 hours of pouring rain and 30 – 44 knot winds… definitely uncomfortable, but I never feared for my life!
Are you all getting along? – Before we left on this adventure almost a year ago, people asked us what the hardest part of the trip was going to be. My answer back then was “The hardest part is going to be not killing each other”. I realize now in hindsight that I didn’t actually understand what I meant by that. Now, after having sailed across the pacific with two best friends and experienced all the facets of the trip this far, I know full well what it means. And yes, without a doubt the getting along is without a doubt the hardest part!
Managing each person’s different priorities, their personalities, how they solve problems and work is challenge. There have been disagreements and some very frank discussions amongst us over the past year. It sometimes takes hours to work out differences, but in the end it has to be fully resolved. You can’t walk away from a discussion without having resolved the issue; there simply isn’t the space on a 40 ft boat for conflict to fester. But at the same time, it has undoubtedly been the most rewarding part of the trip for me personally. I’ve learned so much about myself and how I react to different situations. I’ve seen some things I like, and some parts of me that I’m not so proud of.
Along with the understanding of each other, there is also a great deal of trust. Being able to trust someone entirely is an incredible feeling. The trust between the three of us is immense. I trust every decision that Ryan or Bryson makes, whether it is about safety, sailing, weather, wind, or money. If it is blowing a gale at 3am, I can go off-shift and sleep knowing that either one of my crew mates can handle the boat safely or know when to ask for help.
As I said, I’ve very much appreciated the emotional challenges that we’ve overcome this far, and was looking for something to further the growth. When back in Vancouver, my good friend Kristy put me on to the Insights Discovery program. Insights offers a ‘personality profile’ for individuals to better understand themselves and how they interact with others. As they say about the system:
“Using Jung’s typology, this Insights Discovery profile offers a framework for self-understanding and development. Research suggests that a good understanding of self, both strengths and weaknesses, enables individuals to develop effective strategies for interaction and can help them to better respond to the demands of their environment.’
Sounds like a good fit for our situation! We’re really happy to have the people at Insights Vancouver on board; they have very generously donated their services to the Oceangybe team. They’ve supplied us each with an extensive outline of our Personal Style, Interaction Techniques, Strengths, Weaknesses, Effective Communication Strategies, and a number of other points about ourselves. All this information is gleaned from only 25 questions on how you would place your response to certain situations. It is fascinating to read how accurately the Insights System can summarize your personal style from only 25 questions.
For instance, here are a few things my summary said about my “Personal Style” that I thought were fairly accurate:
“Once committed to an idea or project, Hugh has enormous resolve to carry it through and would like others to share his determination” – Sail around the world – check. Ry, Brys, you boys coming?
“Material wealth may only interest him for the independence it buys” – hmmm $ailboat = great independence to travel… sounds right!
“Occasionally his ideas or so complex that he will have difficulty communicating them and making others understand how he thinks” – hmmm… that’s a nice way to say I ramble non-coherently sometimes!
“conveys great precision and economy of effort in both thought and language” he likes to nap a lot… 🙂
Anyhow, you get the idea… good stuff! We have been so busy getting ready to leave New Zealand, we haven’t had time to sit down together and go over each others profile, but in the coming weeks we certainly will. I’ll endeavor to keep you updated as to what we find.