Why Apollo 13 was the Ultimate SailFar Journey

[Captain Smollett]

I recently finished reading the Technical Air To Ground Transcript (Warning!! 765 Page PDF) for the Apollo 13 mission in 1970.

We all know the general story...a couple days into the flight to the moon, an explosion damaged the spacecraft and the crew (with great help from the ground team) had to overcome numerous obstacles to bring her back home.

As I read the transcript of the radio traffic between Mission Control and the crew, it became clear to me that here is an excellent model of what we call the SailFar Spirit - on an EXTREMELY grand scale.

• Those guys knew their vessel inside and out; She was the ultimate "project boat," not some production model you bought 'cruise ready.'  The level of knowledge and understanding of not only each system but of how all the systems interrelated saved their lives and gave us one of the coolest engineering success stories of the 20th century.
• When they ran into problems, they did not call for a "rescue."  Of course, none was possible for them, and I cannot help but think that some in the sailing world today would have curled up in the corner and wimpered until the lights went out if faced with that kind of 'do or die' situation.  Yet Lovell, Haise and Swigert not only got the job done, they did it while maintaining a sense of humor.
• They demonstrated the ultimate essence of the 'jury rig.'  One thing after another during that 3 or so days between the initial explosion and splashdown was put to use in some way other than its designed purpose.  For example, charging batteries in the Command Module by REVERSING the normal current on the Lunar Module Umbilicals had never been tried before, but John Aarons and his team figured it out on the ground and the guys in the ship made it work.  Amazing stuff, really.
• The electronic navigation gear was rendered unreliable due to electrical problems onboard.  Sound familiar to modern stories of cruising?
• Even with fancy computer guidance and navigation equipment aboard and uplink telemetry from the ground POSSIBLE, their ultimate navigation was done via sun, earth, moon and star sights using a sextant and similar optical equipment.  Just wow.
• Though their ship was designed fat on energy if all systems were 'go,' the initial explosion took out all their electrical generation capability and the rest of the trip was made under a fairly tight energy budget.  In other words, no matter how much 'charging capacity' you think you have, you have to know how to operate well enough to get safely back into port with NO charging capacity...it can happen any time.
• When all was said an done, the operation of a multi-million dollar spaceship came down to the Mark I Eyeball and pencil and paper.  In one comment just hours before Entry into the Earth's atmosphere, Fred Haise commented that one thing that was missing from the initial flight plan was a book of just plain old blank paper.
• And My Final Thought: They did not give up...they worked very hard in very trying conditions just to make it in.  Compared to their trip, what is a broken mast or engine failure?  Can't we say, "If they could do it, so can I"?

[Tim]

So true,
  Reminds me of a book I read years ago "Deep Survival" Laurence Gonzales about why some people make it and some don't.  

Certainly the relationship between a skipper and his small boat built up from years of working on her can make a difference out there.

At the rate I am going ::) I will have the time in, hopefully I will have the knowledge.

[Frank]

Great story and comparison.Grog for posting it.

[Delezynski]

2 GREAT BOOK!!!  :)  :)

Thanks for posting the Ap 13 item!

Greg

[newt]

Just catching up on  the discussions...I enjoyed the comments on Apollo 13. I agree that attitude is everything. Before I was into boats I grew up in New Mexico and was into desert survival. As a teacher, it was my impression that 70% of the students, when faced with a true survival situation would die. They would just curl up in a cave (or on the desert floor) and wait to be rescued. My goat was to get those into the creative- make it work mode. Sometimes I succeeded, other times I didn't. But it was a great thing to teach.

[ThistleCap]

Great analogy, and you did a great job presentlng it.  I enjoy reading everyone's contributions, but further enjoyed your ability to express yourself and use proper English.  If Americans relied on their use of their language for survival, our country would be almost unpopulated.  A single example:  My son was having computer problems.  He called tech support in Texas, but between slurred, gutteral, unenunciated speech and the heavy reliance on slang, my son couldn't understand a thing the guy was saying.  He was transferred to tech support in India, where the woman not only solved a problem the in-country technician couldn't even understand, but spoke better and clearer English as a second language than most Americans can manage with their native tongue.  That's my soap box for the night, but thanks for the post and a grog for raising the bar in the process.