Save the oceans...

The nature of drilling

From Sailing Anarchy

The creator and director of one of our favorite short sailing documentaries ever weighs in on an issue few mariners are paying attention to, and one we will all be paying for when it inevitably goes wrong: Donald Trump’s expanded offshore drilling proposal, which was unveiled Jan. 4. The public has until March 9 to weigh in on the proposal, and you can learn more at the end of this guest editorial.

I remember holding the tiller for the first time with my late great Uncle Bob, Robert Keleher, a racer of the San Francisco Bay. “You have to feel it, Barbara. Then you’ll find the groove.”

It’s taken me over 30 years to find that groove and maybe we’re all beginning to feel it now.

With the threat of offshore drilling looming over us, we sailors of the San Francisco Bay should be feeling the threat of our precious coastlines and waterways that have been our playground, a place where we got to feel those powerful elements of wind and water, a reason to come together as a community to revel in love of the water. And now there is reason to come together as a community to revel in a responsibility as our oceans face acidification, off shore oil drilling and more because of our landlubber habits.

In 1981 there was a great union strike, the air traffic controllers stood up to President Ronald Reagan in order to speak for honesty, as campaign promises had been made and then not given. Those following years proved disastrous for my family with high  levels of guilt and anger as my father was labeled a federal criminal for striking against the federal government. I hated my father for years for his decision to strike, to follow his ego instead of being a family man, as my grandfather, a sailor himself, had said to me. We suffered great financial difficulty for years. I was just 13 years old.

I grew very close to my Uncle Bob, who had proven himself to be the saltiest, grouchiest and most critical person in my family. He had offered me sailing lessons in my twenties, but I refused them because I felt I was too busy with landlubber responsibilities. But when he died, my mother gave me a photo of him sailing, along with a 1st Place silver platter from the St. Francis Yacht Club he won in 1962 with his boat Magic Bear.

That’s when I realized I had lost out of the gift of learning from a master racer who could have taught me how to navigate The SF Bay, one of the toughest places to sail, as some say.

I set off to learn how to sail.  I took up dinghy classes with the nonprofit Sailing Education Adventures, and quickly learned the power of wind and water and how incredibly liberating and beautiful the sport of sailing is. A ten year love affair began with running the nonprofit,  teaching, racing regattas and an ocean voyage.  The most beautiful day? When I got to sail Magic Bear, owned by the Maloney Family. I sailed her across The Bay, through the wicked onslaught of youth Red Bull catamaran racers of America’s Cup series, straight to The Maritime Museum, for the annual Bear Boat festivities. While people watched America’s Cup excitement, I instead laid on the docks and looked straight up the Bear boat masts to a blue sky, a feeling of heaven of having discovered a beautiful family heritage and fantastic Bay Area sailing culture  that I had known nothing about just years before  – sailing blood can go deeper than even family blood.

Life began to change for me after that point. I started to discover a different story in our collective national history.  Reagan’s economic and environmental policies have actually led us to a horrific path, one leading to ocean acidification, global climate change and our incredible economic disparity, policies that have given the wealth more wealth. As I began to understand these policies, I also had to apologize to my father and tell him “Dad! You stood up to a miserable president! That takes guts.” And that is powerful family heritage!

This newfound truth led me to a new passion, as I learned hard truths about our oceans. I cowrote and produced an ocean documentary film called Racing with Copepods, understanding we have a duty to the next generation. Dr. Sylvia Earle, the world’s famous oceanographer joined those efforts, as did the sailing writer Kimball Livingston, the very announcer of America’s Cup. I personally call him Neptune. I had never made a film before and I’m pretty sure Neptune blessed its success.

I lived with a lot of anger and hatred toward my father for years until I discovered something profound. Anger creates more anger. And it’s best to let it go and instead live with love.

As sailors, we have a love for the ocean and this is the time to take a stand for it. And show the landlubbers the beauty, freedom and courage that the ocean has given us during our pursuits of trophies and racing honor.

It’s time we take to the water, with a message of peace, love and harmony. And share with landlubbers, that a wave hitting us over deck won’t make a good helmsman and crew wince when they are on a true course. It’s time we sailors take lead on what will be the greatest battle on our oceans since the days of Sir Francis Drake . . . and the trophy waiting for us? Integrity and freedom.

Barbara McVeigh is the author of Redemption, How Ronald Reagan Nearly Ruined My Life. Her film Racing with Copepods is now free on line. Her next film, The Man Behind The White Guitar will be released this summer, a message of peace and harmony with world musicians.
Comments can be made through the regulations.gov web portal. Navigate to http://www.regulations.gov and under the Search tab, in the space provided, type in Docket ID: BOEM-2017-0074 to submit comments and to view other comments already submitted. Information on using www.regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing documents, submitting comments, and viewing the docket after the close of the comment period, is available through the links under the box entitled “Are you new to this site?”

Comments can also be made by mail, in an envelope labeled “Comments for the 2019-2024 Draft Proposed National Oil and Gas Leasing Program” and mailed (or hand delivered) to Ms. Kelly Hammerle, Chief, National Oil and Gas Leasing Program Development and Coordination Branch, Leasing Division, Office of Strategic Resources, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (VAM-LD), 45600 Woodland Road, Sterling, VA 20166-9216, telephone (703) 787-1613. Written comments may also be hand delivered at a public meeting to the BOEM official in charge.