When I started piloting, Captain Sever told me, “Don’t think about a ship before you get on the pilot ladder and forget about her once you get off.” This makes a lot of sense, but it’s harder to do than you think, especially when your life is on the line. — 191: 2839-2840
Felix Riesenberg, Jr., mariner, author, and 1897 graduate of my college, wrote, “The sea is slow at recognition of effort and aptitude, but fast at sinking the unfit.” As cadets, we had to memorize this. It’s as true today as it was when he wrote it. — 191: 2843-2845
President Lincoln once told this anecdote in regards to politics, but it can be applied to going aboard naval ships as a civilian pilot. One day a man was riding a horse when it started bucking so violently that he could hardly control it. His horse finally leapt so high, it put one hoof into a stirrup. The startled rider, seeing his dilemma, indignantly said, “If you want to get on, I’d better get off!” This relates to piloting because only one person should be in control of the ship. Piloting by committee doesn’t work. — 227: 3378-3382
Captain Sever warned me, “Never think about a job before you get on the pilot ladder and forget about it once you let go of it.” He was so right. — 287: 4276-4277
Once I jokingly asked a doctor friend of mine from Lake Merced Golf Club if he was a good hand surgeon. He replied, “No, but I’m a lucky one,” so I called Gordon “Lucky” after that. That may sound droll, but you have to have a certain amount of luck piloting ships, just as you do in golf, or life for that matter, because not everything works out the way you planned it. Like Gordon, I’d rather be a lucky pilot than a good one. Andy Ugarte, a dear Peruvian friend of mine, was very successful. He thought success was achieved by being smart, but you also needed luck. You needed to be in the right place at the right time, which is what happened with Captain Sever. I was surprised how many pilots agreed on one thing; we all used body English to help move ships out of harm’s way. This is the equivalent of golfers talking to their balls. I caught myself moving my hips a few times, hoping to shove a huge ship sideways to avoid trouble. I mumbled a few prayers when ships got too damn close to something. Considering how shallow San Francisco Bay is, it must have helped, because I was only aground three times, and twice it wasn’t my fault. — 295: 4387-4395