I know Kevin mentioned the Blind Dinghy Race in an earlier post but I wanted to highlight that particular event because it is proof that the work we’ve been doing on our communication skills has finally paid off…and we have a bottle of rum for our efforts!

How did we accomplish this achievement? Before the race we talked strategy and went over which is my right and which is my left. Since we were facing each other this was different than Kevin’s right and left. Good thing Kevin knows me as well as he does because sometimes even though I told him right he went left which wound up being right and he was blindfolded so I’m not sure how he knew to go the opposite direction than I was indicating. It may have been the added pressure or tap on the correct hand that gave him a clue, just like when we’re in a car and I point left but say right, he knows to go to the direction I’m pointing. Also prior to the race we talked about how to explain when the oars needed to be straightened so we would glide through the water better and decided I needed to tell him which oar (again using my right and left) and whether to move his knuckles toward me or him which worked well in practice.

All of us lined up at the starting line and on the mark we got set and then when the command was given and we went. Kevin shot out in front and from that point on listened to my navigation instructions; “Right, right, RIGHT! Now left, left, knuckles forward, right, right, no left, right, left, knuckles toward you, left, right, right, right, RIGHT.” The race was on and no one was even close to us so things got a bit easier. We didn’t take out any of the moored boats, didn’t get stuck between pilings, nor did we do a 360 at any point in time. In other words, we were boring…there are no pictures of us coming across the finish line but quite a few of the other boats all tangled up in each other. That’s okay, it was fun and felt good to know that when we have a common goal, we can reach it with a little preplanning and good communication!