The Essence of Diane Reid

Driven ~ Determined ~ Motivator ~

Slightly Obsessed ~ Careful ~ Mindful

Diane in the One Girl’s Ocean Challenge Boat

Why are you so passionate about sailing?

Lots of people ask me “why sailing”. The answer is I don’t know. It may be just because that was the path I stumbled on. Truth is….if it was something else, I may have become just as passionate about it if it sparked the same pursuit of achievement.

Life has an interesting way of presenting one with opportunities. It was a beautiful sunny summer day. I decided to go to the Port Credit Yacht Club for lunch with a friend. We sat at a table near to display where this dynamo of a woman was staffing a booth. She had an infectious smile and a mannerism about her that made me want to stop and speak with her.

Diane was there promoting and fundraising for an upcoming race that she was taking part in, a race across the Atlantic Ocean, in a 21’ sailboat. If that were not enough of a challenge, she would be sailing solo! Her catch phrase was “Living the Dream” which is ironic as that was our company moto at the time.

Diane’s campaign was called One Girl’s Ocean Challenge. I loved the idea of her meeting the challenge head on. As the consummate planner I loved all the elements she would need to consider planning such a trip.

I photographed Diane on the water and under sail. She arranged for a chase boat. All the images were from the 2012 photo session.

Here are two things about the actual sailing part that I thought were fascinating – when she sailed in one tack (direction) or another, she would need ballast to move from one side to the other side of the cabin below. She used her freshwater supply in barrels as her ballast. She would go below deck and shift the ballast back and forth depending on direction. She even had a system of putting seawater into the empty containers to continue having the ballast.

Another issue that has stuck with me all these years later is that she could only sleep in twenty-minute increments. That’s the length of time it would take her to cover the distance to the horizon. Sleep any longer and she would risk running up against something she wouldn’t see at the onset of the twenty minutes. Simply put by Diane, “20 minutes is the approximate time it would take for a freighter traveling at 18 knots to hit me….from line of sight on the horizon.”

Diane was following her dreams, something I encourage our clients to do. We arranged for a client event and a presentation by Diane about the race. To do a presentation, Diane and I arranged to photograph her in action, while under full sail. I was in a chase boat and circled her boat, which would be under full sail. We got our action shots. Then I switched from the chase boat to her boat to get the close ups.

When Diane spoke to the clients, she had them mesmerized with all the stories about the upcoming race. As it turned out, there was a massive storm shortly after the start, which broke her mast and disabled her for the race. There was a significant number of other boats taken out of the race.

When I decided to write the second book and the title was decided as “The Passion and Purpose of Ordinary People” I was ecstatic that Diane agreed to participate in my passion project. Diane truly lives a life of passion. She is a professional Skipper, racer and instructor who has sailed over 100,000 miles.

Let’s review the race and what she was up against. Diane prepared for the race on many fronts; she needed to qualify based on racing experience and distance travelled. Communication was restricted during the race with support teams. Additionally, the race start was delayed several times due to inclement weather. Once the race started, and almost a 1,000 Kilometers into the race, Diane ran into a Gale. It was not just any weather, these were storms with winds more than 25 knots and waves between 5 and 6 meters. In reading Diane’s notes from November 2013, she was in a storm that was quite severe with wind gusts up to 40 knots. For the layperson, on the Beaufort scale that was a defined as a Gale. A Gale means wind gusts of over 70 (km/h) and seas of 5 to 6 meters.

I don’t have the source of the statistics; I remember reading that early on, a full 25% of the boats were sidelined in the first few days. Diane’s boat had a significant mast breakage, and the boat safety became an issue. The batteries stopped charging fully. She elected to go to a nearby port for a permitted stoppage for repairs. However, the length of time for the repair became an issue. Additionally, in a race there is an entire assembly of support and the group under sail was getting too far ahead making Diane’s ability to catch up and run with group impossible. The race committee ended that dream. However, as Paul, Diane’s husband was quoted as saying, “Diane didn’t fail, it was her boat that failed her!”

She has had many sailing successes since, and she and Paul bought a sailing supplies store. Meet Diane.

The Diane portion of the story was an interview we had by phone. It may not have the structured delivery the other subjects, I will take blame for any indiscretions on that front. At the time of the interview, Diane’s wrist was in a cast. As usual, with every interaction I have had with her, I walked away energized for having spoken with her, she has such a positive and cheerful disposition

What has been your biggest challenge, and how did you overcome it?

There isn’t a single challenge that comes to mind, rather it is in how I make decisions. Biggest challenge is deciding I made the right choice. Every challenge has not one, but possibly several ways to tackle it. I must consider all the options because in a race, decisions can have significant consequences. The issue is being in the moment. Choices don’t come lightly. I may have to decide whether after looking at mast, do I jury rig from the deck or do I need to go up the mast to fix the issue?

Being in the middle of a long race making the decision to go left or right based on weather is a decision that will be impacted immediately. The challenge is still the same – have I entertained all the possible outcomes? Did I equip myself with all the pertinent information to make an informed decision in this circumstance?

Ironically, one would think that decision making would come easier over time, but challenges become bigger and as a result decisions are more complex.

At some point, you reached a fork in the road. At that time, it didn’t feel like it, but looking back, you realize it was a big moment. One that changed your life. Describe yours.

When I was a child of 12 or 13 years old and in school, my best friend wanted me to accompany her to chase of a boy in Sea Cadets. The friend never did sail, quit and I am not sure what happened to the boy, but I started sailing and loved it. The rest is history.