8 February 2013
Today I was invited to go to the Rotary Club of Point Loma. My former host picked me up at 11.45 sharp. We drove to the club down the road which is a sailing club.
I met with the lovely President and African American woman from London. She had the kindest eyes and I felt an instant connection with her. I was introduced to some other Rotarians. One gentleman told me he is travelling in his motor home but sees San Diego as his home away from home. We spoke about peace education and he was quite an innovator curious about how to get Rotary more involved in peace. He was looking at internal structures and was quick to mention that the club was typically involved in projects where you could get the hard data on outcomes. Peace education is not so easy and so we traversed the world of the invisible when you evolve and grow as a person, not so easy to evaluate that. I am a former Market Analyst and yes we can look at social emotional intelligence but sometimes what is taught in peace education could take years to germinate given children are 8-10 years old. Some kids will take away the importance of peace, others will learn empathy in bullying situations, others will see it is important to not discriminate but include people in their group and others will learn more about how we include and exclude through beliefs. So to evaluate this is not so easy as every person’s consciousness focuses on a different element and interprets differently given background, awareness and personal interests. So if clubs will evaluate and then decide to support it won’t work. It is a new field, newer than conflict resolution (1960’s) and is typically associated with anti-war or fluffy subjects. It is not yet recognised as the absolute foundation to creating a culture of peace. However, as times get tougher and people see that zero tolerance, guns (fear) or ignoring the problems do not change outcomes, then there will be a point in the future where people are receptive. I will just wait until that time.
I was told the San Diego Yatch Club is the sister Club of Perth Yatch Club and was reminded about Dennis Connor and the America’s Cup. I saw Dennis’s name up on the plaque. I remember being in Perth and seeing some dots on the horizon as the America’s Cup was being raced. Fremantle a coastal town really was undeveloped but starting to look more modern at that time due to the America’s Cup. Here is the story of the America’s Cup (refer Wikipedia).
The 1987 America’s Cup was the twenty-seventh challenge for the America’s Cup and the first time for 132 years that it had not been defended by the New York Yacht Club.
The American challenger Stars & Stripes 87, sailed by Dennis Conner, beat the Australian defender Kookaburra III, sailed by Iain Murray, four wins to nil in the best of seven series.[1] Conner thus became the first person both to unsuccessfully defend the America’s Cup and then to win it back again.
The series was held in Gage Roads off Fremantle, Western Australia during the Australian summer months between October 1986 and February 1987. The Royal Perth Yacht Club was the defending club and the organiser of the defence series.[2] Yacht Club Costa Smeralda of Porto Cervo, Sardinia was appointed the challenger of record and hence the organiser the challenger series.[3][4]
The 1983 America’s Cup off Newport, Rhode Island was the most significant America’s Cup regatta since the first event off the Isle of Wight. Alan Bond’s Australia II pulled off a major upset by winning the series from Conner’s Liberty to become the first successful challenger in 132 years. The New York Yacht Club had previously enjoyed the longest winning streak in international sporting history, having successfully defended the trophy over twenty challenges.
Designed by Ben Lexcen, built by Steve Ward, owned by Alan Bond and helmed by John Bertrand. Lexcen’s Australia II design featured a reduced waterline length and a short chord winged keel which gave the boat a significant advantage in maneuverability and heeling moment (lower ballast C of G) but was a significant disadvantage in choppy seas. The boat was also very quick in stays.[2] The winged keel was a major design advance, and its legality was questioned by the New York Yacht Club. During the summer of 1983, as selection trials took place for the Cup defence that autumn, the New York Yacht Club challenged the legality of the keel design. The controversy was decided in Australia II‘s favour.
So there was controversy around the Winged Keel. Since then In 1992, Bond was declared bankrupt with personal debts totalling A$1.8 billion. He was subsequently convicted of fraud and served four years in prison.
Looking at the windows of the San Diego Yatch club it was not hard to see this is a sea faring culture here and they love their boats.
Our speaker at the Rotary event was Franchesca Gelbart who was a holocaust survivor. She spoke of her life story where she as a 10 year old went to 5 concentration camp. She spoke of what she had learned (her story in the next blog).
I met Frank a Rotarian and ex-naval audio expert deciphering signals for the Navy. He was based on Midway island out in the middle of the Pacific during the Vietnam War. Here is some information about Midway Atoll from Wikipedia…
From August 1, 1941 to 1945, it was occupied by U.S. military forces. In 1950, the Navy decommissioned Naval Air Station Midway, only to re-commission it again to support the Korean War. Thousands of troops on ships and aircraft stopped at Midway for refuelling and emergency repairs. From 1968 to September 10, 1993, Midway Island was a Navy Air Facility. During the Cold War, the U.S. established an underwater listening post at Midway to track Soviet submarines. The facility remained secret until its demolition at the end of the Cold War. U.S. Navy WV-2 (EC-121K) “Willy Victor” radar aircraft flew night and day as an extension of the Distant Early Warning Line, and antenna fields covered the islands.
With about 3,500 people living on Sand Island, Midway also supported the U.S. troops during the Vietnam War. In June 1969, President Richard Nixon held a secret meeting with South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu at the Officer-in-Charge house or “Midway House”.
We had a great chat and he ended up dropping me off at Balboa Park to investigate the museums. I had a lovely coffee there and then went to the Museum of Man.
I decided to walk to the city and stopped off the World Beat Centre and café. I met a guy selling his artwork. He just wanted the money. We discussed that. I told him I was in a similar situation moneywise. He said his family had him do work but didn’t pay him. I talked to him about being positive. In truth it is better he goes about his selling with an attitude of gratitude, he will get more money in the long run. People don’t like to feel they have to buy because he wants money. This sadly is what money does to people. What was interesting about this guy was that he had dark skin (afro American) but it was peeling off and underneath was white skin. It was a strange skin condition, my heart did go out to him as getting work would be hard for him, people would recoil. But he kept trying. I tried to give him a positive feeling and encouraged him to go for what he loves, I know that is hard to swallow when you feel you need money but I could only speak my own truth and hope it was useful for him.
I spoke to a woman saying ‘isn’t it chilly’ to my surprise she walked off faster. I marvelled at the fear of strangers, when in truth I am being friendly and had she been open she would have met a nice person and had a fun chat. I was just making friendly conversation, it was indeed a cold day and I am told it is snowing in the mountains. However, I did want to walk and walked all the way to Broadway then to the end near the Pacific Highway and stopped at Starbucks for coffee and to ring my hosts to pick me up from the bus stop at the other end.
They came and collected me and then bought me some lovely Mexican food. We sat down afterwards with a nice red wine and food and chatted about US politics, we found ourselves like-minded. They then started to move off to bed. I came back to my room and typed up my blog. I finished at midnight, such is my hours.