The Right-Brained Skipper

Thanks to Facebook, we often see silly posts, memes, and quizzes that we are hopelessly compelled to click. Recently, several friends posted a link to a quiz about being either left- or right-brained. With great surprise, my score came in at 94% right-brained.

Though the theory of the lateralization of brain function has been mostly disproved since its discovery in the 1960s, I believe the overall concept can still be applied to describe how different people process information. Some people are very logical, analytical, good with numbers, and have excellent reasoning skills. These people are said to be left-brained. Others however are said to be right-brained and have higher levels of creativity, imagination, insight, and intuition.

A Very Brainy Child

Growing up, I’d long interpreted myself as a left-brained person. I was good at math and science, I could reason my way out of any issue, and never had an issue with solving problems. Reflecting on this in my mid-30s, I now see that I was probably a 50/50-brained child. I was also incredibly creative, always playing, constructing, interpreting, and highly artistic.

For the last 16 years, I’ve pursued an incredibly left-brained career that has a false sense of right-brained relief. IT is very analytical, logical, and problem solving. False creativity comes from the illusion that designing a solution for a client allows you to be right-brained. In truth, there are only a limited number of possible solutions to implement for a client and their criteria are fixed. This has often lead me to ponder if I shouldn’t be pursuing other outlets.

Having taken this surprisingly “scientific” quiz about my brain, I quickly googled for other tests to see if there were different results. I found several other quizzes all having different types and numbers of questions. The results were fairly consistent: I’m 87-95% “right-brained.” Despite the fact that analysisis an inherently left-brained trait, I set out to interpret how this has shaped my life, especially on the water.

My On-The-Water Brain

For the last several years I’ve raced sailboats with mixed results. We head out on the water, join the fleet, wait for our start, and then embark on our journey around the pins as fast as the winds can carry us. There’s a crew member at every position, plenty of rail meat (human ballast), an opinion at every turn (an often several between turns), and the occasional paint swap (near collision). Everyone is constantly tweaking, adjusting, trimming, easing, and analyzing. We usually cross the finish line, often DFL (dead f-ing last). I’m always happy for the experience and proud our times consistently improve over the season, but those left-brained crew members always want to analyze the race ad nauseam. I prefer to remember the fun we had.

I’ve found significantly more pleasure in cruising. Joining with fellow right-brained cruisers, we stock up on provisions, raise the sails, aim for open water, and see where the wind may take us. We sit back, relax, and enjoy the weather, the wind, the water, and each others company. If we happen to notice something out of whack, we casually make an adjustment. We return to shore when we choose, not before a specific time. It’s a true experience.

When the time comes for the purchase of my first boat I will definitely go racing. With short Chicago summers, we need every excuse to get on the water. My crew, however, will be as right-brained as possible. As long as we set sail, enjoy the race, finish, return to shore, and don’t break anything … who cares?