RCYC ACADEMY REPORT – by Lindani Mchunu
I would be tone deaf if I did not acknowledge the current affairs that have been taking shape in our country. By now we are all aware Zuma has resigned, change remains constant once more. Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC party in Zimbabwe has died, change remains consistent. Time and Tide waits for no man that is what they say. Change suffers no fools. That is what I say. Woe unto you, who cannot see it coming before it has arrived, shame on you, who attempts to delay it or hold it back in any form. Napoleons words still ring true today. “The one thing I have learned from history is that we never learn from history”.
How bizarre, that Zuma should suffer the same fate as his predecessor. I am no politician, only an observer of his environment with a vested interest in the future of his country, hence my work with the youth. I believe none of us as ordinary South Africans, know enough to have a meaningful discussion about the politics of our country or the world for that matter. Yet we should be intelligent enough to recognise that life is a mirror on all fronts, nothing that occurs in and around your life, your time, is not directly somehow linked to your existence, your community and sphere of influence. When such occurrences take place we should all look within and ask ourselves are we on the right side of change? Zuma has suffered the fate of smarter men than himself. Power it would seem is a very compelling drug. Life is an intricate labyrinth with constantly shifting paradigms, what worked and mattered not so long ago could completely be irrelevant today. Technology is hot on our heels, constantly shifting the goal posts. No one and no organisation can afford to live in Silos and echo chambers, follow your morals like the Sunflower follows the Sun, keep your principles like the Dessert keeps the sand. The only certainty is change, make sure you hear its call before it sweeps you off your feet, like well seasoned helms men, anticipate the wave and ride it, using it to your advantage, instead of letting it derail you. Life always comes with its duplicities, I learned that a long time ago growing up in the townships. Due to a lack of land and space, townships are and have always been densely populated urban dwellings. People live on top of one another. Everything is in close proximity, life and death live side by side. On any given Saturday or Sunday in the Township, there is a wedding and a funeral taking place across from each other. This always made an impression on me as a young boy. People celebrating and mourning so close to one another. It was clear to me then as it is today. The show must go on. If there ever was a time, for us as a sailing community to conduct some serious soul searching, it is now, while our nation is in transition once more, the only question we should ask ourselves is “are we moving in unison with the coming change”? Zuma said he could not understand the urgency, why was his organisation in such a hurry to relieve him of his duties, he said why has he not been furnished with reasons for his removal, he said, “something untoward is at play”. He was probably right, yet he forgot some old age wisdom. You live by the sword you die by the sword. You reap what you sow. In a band of thieves morals are cheap. It was rather startling to hear a man who has blurred the lines of moral conduct, request his party to follow protocol and policy. Life is an intricate labyrinth with constantly shifting paradigms. We will never know what the future holds, yet we can be sure it will bring change. That is where our academy is, in a state of flux, I am looking for change I am searching it out before it finds me ill prepared. I can only hope you are doing the same. The show must go on. Arch Angel is out the water and sitting on the hard, the mast is finally out and the work is about to begin. One of our senior academy members is going to do his Senior instructors course in Mossel bay this coming weekend, other members are writing their day skipper theory exams.
This coming Saturday the 17 we are going to MAC open sailing day. We have ambitions of embarking on a dinghy program, yet we would like to do it on our terms, until such a time that we can have our own boats we will be active bystanders. I look forward to a time when the youth of our academy takes their place in our club and lead us all on a path that will be congruent with the coming change…
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