Did I Do That?

by Stuart Gogh, our man in the UK

I do consider myself somewhat fortunate in that I have dual nationality. I am a British citizen by birth and an American citizen by choice. I understand of course, that this is in no way unique and that I am not about to gain any awards for special achievements, there are literally many thousands of people who have such and similar status.

But I have to say, it is a little bit special and I feel rather privileged in that I have been given this kudos. One of the things it does provide me with, aside from the opportunity to travel to most places in the world without applying for as many tiresome visas as I would normally have to do, is the chance to look at the different aspects of life in both countries from each side of the coin, as the saying goes.

Britain and America are joined together by a similar language… ‘kind of’… if you catch my drift. But we certainly see things from a slightly different perspective sometimes, which I believe is healthy and good, but can occasionally be confusing to a simple soul such as I.

Take for example the International Buoyage System. Ever since the Egyptians lit the first beacons to warn mariners of rocks, navigation marks have been keeping mariners safe over the centuries. It is fair to say that an understanding of buoyage is pretty important when you’re heading out to sea, or in my case, returning home.

Here in the UK, and for that matter in the majority of the rest of the world, Red is to Port and Green is to Starboard when heading towards land from the ocean in a marked buoyed channel. Always has been and probably always will be.

However, as hopefully most of us know, in the US, Canada, South America and some countries in SE Asia, it is the opposite way round. “Red Right Returning’ is the name of the game. This was something that I became very much aware of when I first arrived in the US many years ago. Within a very short space of time and without any particularly damaging claims on my BoatUS insurance, I actually found it very easy to adapt to. In my odd little mind, for some reason ‘the wrong way round’ seemed to make sense… not sure of the structure of such thoughts in any normal person, something to do with mirrors possibly? All went well, as the story goes… until I returned to the UK The only thing I can liken it some five years ago, following 12 to is perhaps driving on the years of sailing in US waters. For wrong side of the road. some mysterious and unfathomable rationale, I found I could not return to the system I had been originally taught, understood well, knew and grew up with. I am still, to this day, several seconds behind everyone else on board when searching for the correct buoys in a seaway channel. My mind automatically and without reason thinks ‘Red Right Returning’ immediately followed by… are you sure… quickly moving on to… no that’s not correct… go the other way. By which time, my crew has now dealt with the issue and is already considering the next obstacle. This dilemma has reached a stage where my quickly diminishing number of regular sailing friends now accept and expect this slight time delay in computing the issue in my brain. I am either forgiven as perhaps showing early signs of dementia or having

We all mess up at least once, and most of us a lot more than that. Here’s an anecdote from one who not only has made a few mistakes, but actually fessed up to them. Got a story of your own? Why not send it to us!? He did!

become a product of the accumulated side effects of an alcohol-related past. Either way, it all results in the fact that I am actually finding it harder and harder to locate crew these days.

Newcomers on my sailboat sometimes view things in a much broader and more cosmopolitan light, simply putting it down to my lack of sailing knowledge, or possibly a slightly cavalier attitude towards rules and regulations. They could be right with either, I don’t really know.

The only thing I can liken it to is perhaps driving on the opposite side of the road. As we all know, America drives on the right and the UK drives on the wrong. I am very fortunate in this regard, in that it doesn’t make the slightest difference to me which side of the road I drive on. For some auspicious and unexplained reason, I adapt within seconds to whichever country I am in. This has proved very healthy for the odd pedestrian and other drivers several times, when leaving airports minutes after my arrival in a new country in a hazy jet lagged state.

Here’s the thing… once out of the car and I have quickly metamorphosed into a pedestrian, I am instantly ‘all at sea’ when attempting to cross the street. It is as if the international buoyage system is following me around like a dark cloud, hovering above my head and playing tricks with my mind. Result: absolute total confusion.

As I attempt my first crossing, somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind I can still hear my mothers voice from 60 years ago, telling me as a little boy… ‘look right, look left and look right again, before you cross.’

By the time that thought has occurred to me and I have managed to unraveled it, knowing it is the opposite of what I really need to do, I have probably escaped death by fractions of an inch.

Some cities have been gentler with me than others, for example, Savannah where I lived for 11 years. I found that I had more time to think than, say in New York. Or, was it simply that the good people of Savannah had somehow got used to the idiot Englishman who had not yet mastered the childish skill of crossing a road? I don’t know and perhaps never will, unless I go back and establish if they were just being kind and forgiving to me at the time, or they had lost the patience to drive around me.

In the meantime, I keep battling on with my own inverted international buoyage system in my on-going efforts to sail safe and look good at the same time. It is, ......somehow got used to the I believe, made slightly idiot Englishman who had not easier for me in the UK because of the coastal fog, yet mastered the childish skill of which provides me with a crossing a road? certain amount of cover. Not to mention a wellrehearsed, ready-made excuse designed to reassure new and non-tooknowledgeable crewmembers that they really are in good hands… ‘kind of.’