“You can always trust a yamaha!”
Jan was sitting in the pub. It was the 3rd night on a nice long fishing trip up near Xai-Xai, Mozambique. The first two days of fishing had been productive on the ski’s despite the long days of paddling and working the waters. The offer from Jan to crew his boat the next day was met by much excitement by ol Bundu and myself... anything to get out on a boat and catch a heap more cuta.
The last 15 years of diving has taught me to have a healthy respect for the ocean and in particular to be fussy about the craft I use! I immediately started to worry when I heard Jan working his engines late that night. They weren’t turning over. He worked on them for hours until eventually they got warm. When we arrived at his boat the next morning I got even more concerned at the state of the boat! There was fuel on the floor, hatches couldn’t lock, no emergency equipment...
Bundu and I let our eagerness get the better of us. Despite me asking him to warm up the engines in the lake, we headed down straight to the launch site. Jan’s plan was to put the boat in the shorebreak and warm them there. A few minutes later we were bouncing around in the wash, Bundu and I holding the boat, when Jan screamed “Lets go!” I challenged him on the cold engines but he was insistent so I hopped on board. We lurched forward into the mid break in decent sized surf. Then it happened. Dead engines. This is extremely dangerous and I immediately began to plan my escape. Suddenly the engines fired. Jan grabbed the wheel and threw the throttles down full tilt! We simply crashed through the surf at breakneck speed. I held on for dear life and was amazed to see we were still upright a few seconds later just behind the breakers. Jan turned to me and exclaimed...
“You can always trust a yamaha!”
The whole day was a nightmare. Jan insisted on taking us 23km out to sea. His boat nearly sank, his fishing tactics were messy. Fact is - despite beautiful mozambique waters all I wanted to do was get back to the beach.
Trust signals are actions that we take which either build up trust or break it down. Jan’s actions meant I was focussed on survival and had to be continually aware of inherent dangers. I was not focussed on the possibilities but rather fearful and desperate to get out of the boat. His signals pushed me away from him rather than toward him.
Like Jan, you too send out trust signals. Examine your actions and ask yourself if there is anything you could do differently to ensure that people will ‘go out to sea’ with you.
We stuck to the Ski’s from then on!