Sailing with seatbeltsPeople ask, “Do you learn about other stuff while sailing?” Cathy and Ron Johnson tacked out the York River and sailed on the spinnaker all the way back. He worked 38 years with International Harvester, which once had huge market share for building school buses.

So why don’t they have seat belts? (1) Bus seats are designed stronger than car seats. (2) A 25,000 lb. bus has sufficient momentum in a crash to prevail. (3) The passengers ride high, above cars that T-bone the side of the bus. (4) The roof is sturdy enough to sustain a roll. (5) Belted kids could wind up trapped if fire breaks out. (5) Drivers can’t enforce usage, so a monitor would have to be hired. (6) The traditional lap belt can break a child’s hips in an accident. (7) Kids act up. “Some of them cut the belt and hit each other with the buckle by swinging it at them.” (8) Multiple studies attest to other reasons. Ron stipulated that school buses are highly vulnerable to dump trucks and trains. He said Florida, New York and California mandate seat belts.

Sailing on Memories

Sean and Sue Ellen Fitzpatrick invited Bob and Shelagh Fleck to go sailing off of Yorktown. The men reminisced about their advertising agency days in New York and Toronto. Sean is teaching persuasive communication to business uSailing with seatbeltsndergraduates at the W&M Mason School. He raved about the students as smart, aggressive, savvy, mature and imaginative.

Also, he finds many of them highly communicative with excellent writing skills, which is vital to advertising. He felt the top tier is already capable of doing agency work in today’s cut-throat environment. The only drawback is that some of them suffer hubris and want to come fresh out of college to become consultants.

Let’s Go Sailing with Seatbelts

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