WAVE ~ While the promotion and the sailing may or may not be related, can you tell us more about the linkage between your adventures and your career?
Richard ~I started my rookie season sailboat racing in May, got promoted in August, finished 2nd in my division after a 19 week racing season ending in September. Also, I traveled to Uganda in October . One of the highlights of the trip was that I met the World Vision child that I have been sponsoring for a number of years. It involved a one day bus journey each way to the western part of the country, then a 4-hour hike up a mountain to a remote village in which I was not only the first WV sponsor to climb the mountain, but the first white man that the children had ever seen.
Really, as I look back over my life, change has been a continuum and the ability to shift with new circumstances has always served me well. I think that my 18 years of skippering sailboats in an array of circumstances has taught me a variety of lessons in this arena.
WAVE ~ Had you wanted to do this for a long time, or was it impulsive?
Richard ~ While I have years of nautical experience, this was my first racing experience as a skipper. And this was also my first missions trip besides weekends at orphanages in Mexico. Neither were impulsive, both came after years of daydreaming and much planning.
WAVE ~ How old were you when you did this?
Richard ~42
WAVE ~ What challenges did it create and how did you overcome them?
Richard ~ Well, there’s a financial commitment involved in maintaining a sailboat including joining a yacht club. For me, I had to overcome the challenge of comparing my present circumstance to my past, as well as comparing myself to others. In terms of sailboats, I used to own a beautiful 46’ boat and now own a much more modest and smaller 25’ boat. After the first few races and getting close to last place, “I quit” actually came out of my mouth. But rather than giving up I went to the library and rented a stack of racing DVDs, recruited an experienced crew, and we actually practiced. When a goal is important, we find ways to overcome the challenges. ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ and as long as I can get beyond my ego, (whom I call Freddy Crewger), I can succeed in surprising ways. For one thing, if people are busy underestimating you, it is easy to surprise them with exceptional success. There is a direct correlation between what we highly value and what it cost us.
And for the trip to Africa, there was some degree of fear as well as the temptation to go somewhere else like back to Barbados.
WAVE ~ Did doing this thing impact other areas of your life? How so?
Richard ~ When we make mistakes, they can become great learning moments. Since I was working in a field where I was teaching and counseling others, I was able to share my experiences and create a stronger bond which inspired them. My past and current experiences brought my leadership skills to a stronger position and I was strong candidate for a promotion.
I must mention that my faith is my foundation and basis for all that I do, so when I can walk it out knowing I had divine help from above, it builds my faith even greater and gives me a courage and determination knowing that all things are possible. I know I need inspiration and I want to inspire others.
WAVE ~ What recommendations do you have for anyone who is afraid of change and/or the unexpected?
Richard ~ Several years ago while I was headed to the airport riding in the back of a pick up truck / Taxi traveling thru a small village on a island in the Galapagos, I had a life changing epiphany. I was headed back to a high pressure stressful corporate job that I knew was taking days off my life. And here in this village I could clearly see how Less was More and something had to change. It was one year later that I had the courage to leave a very well paying corp job and take on a position at The Union Rescue Mission on Los Angeles’ Skid Row. I believe life often brings change and opportunity to crow, (with a balance between contentment and willingness), pushing ourselves to new limits, working towards goals, investing in others, and stepping outside of our comfort zone. It is there where we discover what we are really made of.
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