I’ve lost my voice

It would seem a mixture of cold, wet yacht racing together with a night out celebrating with the crew with a dash of late night strolls and coffee at cute cafes has branded me with the unforgiving winter flu currently being shared amongst… Ok, it would seem that I am the only one with this God forsaken illness that has reduced my ability to speak. Actually, this horrid cold has totally wiped out my voice altogether and instead I sound like a rusty chainsaw in desperate need of a service.

With not being able to talk I have a lot of time to think and I began to wonder what sailing would be like if we could only hear and see. It would make calling “Starboard” and “Buoy Room” a little difficult without the ability to voice the rule and if sailing with a crew, the communication levels would be almost diminished.

Think about it for a second…

No voice…

No audio means of communications…

No screaming of rules at the start line, windward and gibing mark or port starboard encounters…

It would certainly make for some interesting races!!!

How would you communicate with your crew?

How would you call the rules to infringing boats?

Realllllllly think about it…

What if you had to pick one?

“Ok sailors, in today’s race you have to option of the inside course or outside passage race. If you choose the inside course you will lose the ability to speak, and if you opt for the passage race, you will lose the ability to hear. Which do you choose?”

Seriously… If you had to choose would you prefer to sail a race without being able to speak or without being able to hear?