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Sailboat’s Gonna Sail

What fireworks night taught me about calm leadership, strategic independence, and trusting your plan

It’s been a while since I posted here. I’ve been reflecting on whether to revive this space, not for announcements or opinions, but to archive real stories that have shaped how I lead, work, and live. I’m calling them “anchor stories”.  Experiences that ground my values and guide my decision-making. This is one of them.

Fireworks Night, Weymouth Harbor

July 3rd. The sun was setting over a packed harbor. Dozens of boats were jockeying for space ahead of the fireworks display. I had guests aboard; and my inboard diesel engine had gotten us this far, but it died right as we arrived and it wouldn’t start again.

We’d barely made it to the anchorage. I ran through every troubleshooting step I could in the fading light: fuel, bleed screw, ignition. Nothing worked. I could’ve panicked, but instead, I planned.

Before the first shell lit the sky, I laid out contingencies:

  • The headsail was ready on the roller furler
  • My inflatable dinghy, rigged with an 8hp outboard, was bridled and ready for towing
  • Charts were reviewed, spotlight was charged
  • Guests were calmly briefed

If the engine stayed down, we were going to sail home; safely, calmly, and within the law.

The Warning

The fireworks ended, and hauled the anchor, and raised sail. We eased out of the harbor under wind power, well ahead of the pack which I knew would come along strong soon enough.

That’s when the flashing lights appeared.

From a police boat: “STOP!”

I kept our course. Slowly, under control, heading downwind; no tacking, just deliberate progress out of the congestion.

“That’s… not how sailboats work,” I muttered somewhat quietly.

The Conversation

A Massachusetts Environmental Police boat pulled alongside.

“Where are you headed?”
“South Shore Yacht Club. My engine’s down, so I’m sailing back safely.”

“Can your dinghy tow you?”
“It can, and it’s ready. But right now, sailing is the safest option. We’re going downwind, we’re visible, nav lights are on, spotlight’s ready.”

“You should anchor and wait. I don’t want you tacking around traffic.”
“No need for tacking; we’re heading downwind.  I appreciate the advice, but we’re just keeping it steady. I’ve been sailing for over 40 years and I’ve got this.  Sailboat’s Gonna Sail.”

There was a pause. Then, a half-smirk:
“Too bad you’re not a 40-year mechanic.”

I laughed. “Right? That’s how it goes.”

Executing the Plan

As the wind began to fade, I shifted to propulsion using the bridled dinghy; exactly as envisioned. We stayed on course, stayed calm, and stayed out of harm’s way.

I later noticed a police boat trailing us quietly.  no lights, no further contact, just an unspoken escort to the mouth of the Back River. No one intervened. The plan was working.

We reached the mooring smoothly, ahead of the crowd, without incident.

The Next Day on the Boat

No mechanic. No TowBoatUS. Just me a socket set, a digital volt meter, and some time.

I isolated the problem, ran new wiring, bled the fuel system, and brought the diesel roaring back to life.

What I Took from It

  • Confidence isn’t bravado, it’s preparation.
  • You don’t need to outrank someone to hold your ground, you just need to know your craft.
  • Calm leadership creates safety.
  • “We’ve got this,” only matters when you mean it, and back it up with readiness.

This post is part of a new effort to document personal “anchor stories”.  Moments from my life that reveal something about how I work, lead, and handle challenges. Some of these will come from my career, others from parenting, sailing, or community service. All of them matter to me. Thanks for reading.

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Joining the Team at Whitman Hanson Community Access

The Board of Directors of Whitman Hanson Community Access & I are extremely excited to get to work in updating the facilities and operations at WHCA’s studio & headquarters located in Whitman, MA.  In the months ahead we hope to be sharing lots of exciting update in the services we offer to those in and around the towns of Whitman & Hanson Massachusetts.  For more information on what we’re up to check out our website at www.WHCA.tv and be sure to engage with us on the social networks linked from that website.

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I’m Very Proud of What We’ve Built at HCAM…

It is with a feeling of overwhelming success that I announce the bittersweet news that I am leaving Hingham Community Access & Media at the end of 2016 and am starting as the Executive Director of Whitman Hanson Community Access in 2017.  I sincerely appreciate having had the opportunity to work with the Hingham Community where I was raised and I hope that the community can continue to benefit from what we built at HCAM.

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A conversation with the candidates for State Senate

I really enjoyed hosting Joan Meschino and Kristen Arute in HCAM’s new studio for a “Conversation with the Candidates for State Representative”.  The production went wonderfully and not only was it our first production in the new studio since the grand (re)opening, it was our first time with a studio audience.  Here’s a few photos and you can see the video below!

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The ACM-NE’s Brian Wilson Mentorship Award

I’m beyond honored to have been nominated and Selected at the 2016 recipient of the Alliance for Community Media Northeast Region’s “Brian Wilson Mentorship Award”.  The family and I had a nice ride up to Portland Maine for the ceremony and we really enjoyed touring CTAM across the street from the awards venue.

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Welcome to HCAM’s Newly Renovated Facility

Construction is complete and many members of the Hingham and larger community Media community joined the HCAM board and staff for our ribbon cutting and studio dedication.  Some photos are below.  We thank everyone who came for attending!

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Welcome to EricDresser.com – version 3

EricDresser-com v2 screenshot

EricDresser.com – Version 2
Retired on 2013-12-31

Welcome to the newly relaunched EricDresser.com, I’ve retired “version 2.0” which served me from 2005 – 2013.  This was a major upgrade from version 1, but it was starting to feel just as dated as “version 1” had felt when I updated the last time around.  My last blog post (posted more than 3 years earlier) was entitled “Sharing is Caring”.  In this post I detailed the changing plan I had for the blog and an indicated that I’d be taking some time away from blogging.  I’ve decided however to keep the blog around in this new version of my site.

There are still a few reasons why I might still use a blog on my website and those are as follows:

  1. To tell you about the many changes or updates I make to this page.
  2. I plan to post some things that just don’t fit in to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or any of the other social networks I’m on.
  3. For the times that I feel like writing an article that is more in depth than a Facebook post about where I ate dinner or what mountain I skied at.  You’ll find that content here as it comes up.

I hope you find this site easier to navigate, but even more importantly I find it way easier to update.  At the point I’m at in my life that was becoming really important.  With a family depending on me, quick and easy site maintenance was really attractive to me.  You may notice the new header I’ve created (now in it’s 3rd revision) and I think it’s a good reflection of who I am and where I came from.  Thanks for visiting and reading

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Sharing is Caring

It’s not just what we share, it’s where we share, and with whom. You may noticed that I’ve added Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter buttons to my home page. I’ve decided that this website is a great central place to direct people to various points in my “cyber network.” However with all of the various social networks out there and the always increasing numbers of viewers, one has to be especially cautious what they share, where they share, and who they share it with. As an aspiring your professional I’ve been thinking a lot lately about personal branding (great video to that effect.) There’s a a lot of information on the web about how to do this and I thought I’d try and boil down a bit of what I found here.

I heard a great quote describing how a few of the more popular social network fits into your life. the quote goes; “MySpace is the Bar, Facebook the Backyard BBQ, and LinkedIn the Office.” I’d never really thought of it that way, but I suppose it is a pretty accurate description of how I use these services especially when I also throw in Twitter as a true “news feed.” I’ve found that my network (those I associate with) have for the most part stopped using MySpace so I decided not to spend as much time on this service, but the others certainly seem to have many uses for me. With new connections always being made it seems really important to put the right information out there. For me Facebook has really taken off for me lately, but recently it seems my demographic of “friends” on Facebook has changed and it requires me to present a much more professional look. I also decided that it was definitely worth it to give LinkedIn a whole hearted effort. I started working to fill in some parts of my profile I had skipped initially. If you’re asking yourself (like I was initially) why you might use LinkedIn check out this YouTube playlist I created explaining why to use LinkedIn, how to get started, and how to stand out.

I’m pretty happy now with the way things are organized, but one might ask, how does this blog fit in? That it a good question. With the trend moving towards getting your message out in 140 characters or less it leaves this blog as a place for longer format posts. As such, readers of this blog won’t likely see the frequency of updates increase, rather it’s much more likely that many new posts will end up on some of these other services. If you care to follow me further and see these updates I encourage you to visit my “follow page“. There you’ll find all that you need to keep up with me in the many corners of the internet where I post content. As always thanks for reading.

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Installing Flash onto Android 2.2

Ahh, so my phone just downloaded and installed Android 2.2 (code name Froyo) the other day. Not only does Froyo update enable native USB tethering and getting faster system performance With Android 2.2 loaded on my Droid, You are now able to start playing with Adobe’s Flash 10.1 Player. It’s not as simple as going to Adobe’s website and downloading the beta version of their Android-based Flash player, but within a few minutes even a novice can have flash up and running.

Here’s the deal. You have to have Android 2.2 OS installed on your phone of choice in order to install the Flash player. Finding the Flash 10.1 Player download link was the hardest part for me. That’s linked from the bottom of this post, you have to have to download the installation file to your handset. After downloading the .apk file, you can install the Flash-playing software directly from the phone itself. Alternatively, you can download the .apk file to your desktop and transfer the file to your Motorola Droid.

In order to install flash 10.1 You’ll also have to configure your Android 2.2 Froyo system to accept installation files from “unknown sources.” Do this by navigating to Settings > Applications and check the box for “Unknown Sources.”

If you’re ready to make the upgrade, simply download the Flash 10.1 Player apk file below you’re on your way!

Adobe Flash 10.1 Player beta installation file

[via: intomobile]

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Slingbox for Android drops today

I woke up this morning and saw amongst the emails I received overnight that Slingbox for Android has launched. This is very exciting news. When I initially looked into switching to a new handset I saw only a short list of features that the Motorola Droid would not do which my current Windows Mobile phone (while a bit clunky) was fully capable of. Finally I made the switch figuring it would just be a matter of time until the Android Market caught up. I seem to have been right. After recently seeing the LogMeIn App released (for beta, which I am a tester) Slingbox was really the next big thing on my list. Initial reviews of the app say that the folks at SlingMedia have done a good job and released a truly quality (albeit late to the market) app. My biggest complaint is the app’s $29.99 price tag. I understand that this app has been out for the iPhone and other platforms with the same price; however when it comes to the Android Market, this is quite a bit higher then the average price of an Android app which TechCrunch says is around $9.00. So where do I go from here? I hold. I’ll wait for them to get with the program and drop the price or until I find myself so bored that I just can’t be without the app a minute longer.

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