Today I am going to discuss something affecting the whole nautical industry, from user to builder, from designer to broker, all over the world.
Traditionally, a human being who has made it to an outstanding position, be it by knowledge, management skills or as a craftsman, defends it and clings to it like cats clinging with their paws to the back of the sofa. If that person has earned that position by personal effort and by knowledge, experience and results (not only economic), such behaviour is reasonable. Unfortunately, such positions are often abused.
Historically and culturally, lifelong achievements postings have been granted as a prize by governments, associations, clubs and other groups of people united by a common interest. And a lot of people have deserved it and made good use of it, least are those who have received it as a currency payment for favours done, or for having good connections, and whose merits do not meet those fundamental qualities to deserve it.
We see this almost daily in all types of communications media, and it is perhaps politics where the cases are seen more frequently, not necessarily because it is where it occurs most, but because they are not careful enough, making of themselves an easy target.
Now to the point:
In the nautical industry there are many, many groups of people who are defined by higher and common interests: learning to know the sea and the wind, live with them and enjoy them. And there are also other groups defined by their club, class, sport variant or type of propulsion, among others. And there are the local, national and international associations. And the port authorities, and the maritime authorities. And the associations of the nautical industry, and associations, and the federations.
Let’s go back to the singular person. Until about 70 years ago, who climbed and climbed and reached the pinnacle of the pyramid, stayed there at the very top until his retirement or death. The person learnt a lot in his career or performance, applied his experience, and made things work. But in the last 20 years all this has been disrupted. Why? Because we are not coping quick enough with the way the world is changing around us, our capacity for adapting drags behind 21st century technology and the social changes implied. The dependence on the mobile telephone is not totally negative, because if we do not depend on instant communication, someone related to us could. We do live in society and as part of it must adapt to its rules and best practices, sometimes very hard to reach this speed which those who are 40 years old and above were hit almost suddenly, we the mature had to adapt taking the blows (intellectual and emotional), as well as to use computers.
In the ‘80s, one started with PCs at about 35, Windows did not exist, and we had to make our way to acquire a more or less passable familiarity with the gadget and then the mouse that you could not get rid of by having a cat next to you.
I believe that anyone who so wishes can remain aware of what is happening around them, be it the radius of their comfort circle of 100m or 10,000 km. But what should be interpreted thanks to that information will be a mix of what experience, knowledge and emotions tell you. And that’s where I doubt that in a society that is changing at a much faster pace than it was 50 years ago, someone who was born in the ’40s and’ 50s of the last century, however modern, can interpret what that society demands in 2021. And much of the experience of those past years will be less and less useful in a world which gives no value to looking back, because those who have already grown with mobile phones, iPads, tattoos and piercings may not have the minimum experience to put into perspective the base values of yesteryear, but it is also true that those base values are being lost as no educational priorities, and few people are interested in applying them.
These social dinosaurs should be kept close to people of the next generation and help them, not become an anomaly of the present clinging to their past. When Rome’s victorious generals paraded entering the city after their triumphs, they had to have a slave at their side whispering “remember that you are mortal.” It was an anchor that kept them down to earth, a voice of reality at the times they were flying high. We must venerate those who proved they deserve it but help them connect with a today that they (we) do not understand. I admire those who realize this and step aside not trying to perpetuate themselves, and I hope that their example will abound in our nautical industry and help us to take adequate and very, very necessary steps.
Internet
Internet information should be valued for what it provides but not taken as an infallible source of knowledge. More and more people of all social levels address internet everyday as an almost unlimited source of information. In its daily use through the mobile telephone, Internet – and the applications developed for the purpose- make life easy providing instant data such as public transport, latest news (uploaded within minutes of happening), how to drive to a destination, movie theatre programme and timetable, own position, currency exchange rates, tourism information and to stay in contact with a selected group of acquaintances, friends and friend’s friends with whom to share more or less important thoughts, activity called “social networking”.
For the marina world, it provides specific information as world tide tables, weather forecast and sunrise and sunset times, plus access to the marina web site where complete information is accessible and kept upgraded. Internet makes it possible to send and receive and communicate across borders by e-mail and whatsapp.
Human nature makes us get bored with what we have for granted. Today, we are used to it and consider part of life the information we have access through the Internet and the communication possibilities of a mobile phone. Many people use already a laptop as main computer because it is portable, powerful (for graphics), with very high storage capacity, and long-life battery, making possible to take it with us, browse Facebook or whatsapp at lunch, watch movies in bed, and definitely take it on holidays.
One of the consequences of such behaviour is the quick, superficial use of such information. People do not care to dig a bit deeper when investigating a fact, it is browse, zap! use the info, go on. We are getting used to use the Internet as a source of answers, and answers we get, but that light layer of information everywhere and at hand, cannot replace knowledge and experience, because its intrinsic “quick and good for all” status makes it necessary to adapt to the marina project we are addressing. And us dinosaurs must be aware of the limitations to adapt to new clients, investors and operators that started with computing knowledge in primary school and are infinitely more comfortable connecting with others through IT.
GG is a man in his 60’s who has developed many marinas and dry stacks. He started a project some 4 years ago in Florida, the dry stack was built but the occupation was not as fast as predicted. After a few months playing all the known tricks he knew for the last 30 years including organizing a boat rally to the keys, he decided to engage a youngster to promote the facility using social media. The guy had a chat with GG, a look at the facility, and started working. In one month the occupation was as predicted, and the clients were looking forward to participating in the rally: a perfect dinosaur-social media expert combination.
But such an example could not have given the results should GG experience not been there in designing the facility, optimizing the operation, sizing the car parking and the waiting pontoons, establishing the right mix of boats, and “seeing” the dry stack working in 3D as only an experience designer-operator can do.
Let’s never forget that we deal with human beings on holiday, people in an emotional state ready to get impressions more than making an analysis of the situation. The app to tailor emotions to a determined person and moment is not invented yet, and let’s hope it never will. An experienced marina consultant will use its own human experience to trigger the human emotion out of design and operation of a facility. It will be unique to that facility and involve evaluation of surroundings and integration with local community, to mention two important factors not considered when designing marinas until few years ago.
Dinos, social media and apps are there to stay and support each other in creating and operate the perfect marina for a given place in the rapidly changing world we live today.
By Oscar Siches
