Redundancy

redundancy: the duplication of critical components of a system with the intention of increasing reliability of the system, usually in the case of a backup or fail-safe.

It is very common practice, and entirely logical, to have backups for important systems, especially on a boat which could end up hundreds of miles away from civilization, and help. VHF radios, GPS units and navigation lights are just a few examples of gear that people often carry spares for. In our eyes though, the biggest system component which needs a backup is not some fancy piece of electronic gear. Rather it is us!

We have heard there are many cruising couples where one person has the lion’s share of the skills, whether that be sailing, docking, maintenance or what have you. We, and Rebecca especially, are working hard to make sure that we don’t end up in that same situation.

As an example, while I was typing this post Rebecca volunteered to go clean out the strainer in the head. Do normal people really volunteer for jobs like that? On our last trip out Rebecca made a point of lowering the dinghy off the davits by herself, starting it up and cruising around the bay, just to make sure that she could do it if needed. We also typically alternate important jobs such as docking and raising sails.

Of course we will ultimately end up with a list of duties which we are solely responsible for. That only makes sense from an efficiency point of view. Our plan is, however, to make sure that each of us could do the other’s jobs if we were forced into that role.

Out for a nice dinghy ride around the bay.