Rob, that's an interesting posting. I
sincerely thank you for posting it.
I've long been an admirer of your
designs, Russ's designs, and particularly of his dad's pioneering SeaRunner
multihull designs and many articles. It's not just multihulls for me, the
fact is that I'm fascinated by most designers and their boats. That's not
surprising as I made my living as an artist and sculptor for somewhat over 20
years before turning to engineering as a second career. The combination of
those skills would seem to bring me fairly close to the skillset of a boat
designer.
That's why I know firsthand that
most artists, all sculptors, every architect, and even some design
engineers suffer from a serious overload of self-righteousness. It sure has
afflicted me. That's easy for me to say since I'm a recovering ass**** myself;
and just like any type of " 'holic ", it's necessary to work on getting
better every single day. .
But from what I've seen, it looks like the fairly commonly known chest-beating problem of the innovative person reaches a real crescendo when mixed in with marine architects and boat designers.
I wonder why it is that almost
every boat designer begins as such a interesting person in quest of
answers and then turns into such a pig-headed boor? Is it simply
that success breeds arrogance? Or do they think that just because
they had a new idea that it is the last new idea that anyone will ever
have? Why is it that the arguments about technical differences turn so
easily to personal attacks? And I wonder if people who argue so vehemently
do it from a position of knowledge or because of doubts?
At what point do artists and
designers begin to believe that only things done by their own
philosophy can possibly lead to the final and perfect
answer? When does a different idea become a religion? And a
philosopher become a priest?
Roger L.
started with a Malibu Outrigger...then lots of
boats.... and now a folding tri
__._,_.___
.