Boatloads of respect for expertise

Do you have boatloads of respect for experts? Or do you take them for granted?

A few years back my husband Myles and I were yachting blissfully along in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 2,000 miles from land, when suddenly the wind was taken out of our sail. Literally - our forestay broke. No…not the best position to be in. We drifted on for another 4 weeks, eventually reaching land in Panama.

There we found Mike, a boat rigger from lil ol' New Zealand. We put our baby’s life in this stranger’s hands, knowing that his work would either make or break our dream of reaching Ireland by yacht.

Mike took a stern look at the mast, said “give me a-boat an hour”, then scurried up to repair the damage. Thanks to him and his expertise, the day was saved, our boat was floated and we set off once again on our sailing adventure.

When the chips are down, we have no trouble respecting someone’s expertise. Let’s face it, we’d hand over our first born in return for a repaired laptop that’s decided to die just before an urgent deadline!

But in fair weather, we can often take such expertise for granted, sometimes even mocking experts for being “geeks” or obsessed with their crafts.

So the next time an expert saves your day, take a moment to appreciate their skills and knowledge. Because without them, life would be much less smooth sailing.