ARE YOU SHARPENING YOUR AXE?

Surely, most of you have heard the story about two woodcutters named Jack and Jeevan.

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They often argued about who was the better woodcutter, so they decided to hold a competition to determine the winner. The rules were simple: whoever cuts the most wood in a day wins.

So the next day, both Jack and Jeevan took their positions and started chopping away as fast as they could. After an hour, Jeevan stopped. When Jack realized that there was no chopping sound from his opponent's side, he thought: “Ah ha! He must be tired already!” And he continued to cut at double the pace. After a few minutes, Jeevan resumed cutting. But by that time, Jack was tiring and slowed down. Again, after about an hour, Jeevan stopped. This motivated Jack, and although tired, he kept cutting, assuming that he would be the winner hands down, as he did not take a break and kept working nonstop.

When the competition ended, to Jack's astonishment, Jeevan had actually cut down more wood. Jack was furious and asked, "How could this have happened?"

Jeevan calmly replied, “Well, it's really simple. Every time I stopped work, I was sharpening my axe. In comparison, you kept on cutting with a blunt axe, no rest, no water break, and no sharpening your axe.

Well, this must be a very simple story, but as seafarers, we can well relate to it. How many times have we seen the following? In fact, in the recent past, during my audits, I've noticed some of this still happening.

• During poor visibility, passing through rough weather or in restricted waters, the Master is on the bridge for 18 to 24 hours.

• During discharge operations, the chief officer has been in the cargo control room for over 24 hours, as they believe they are in control and responsible and want everything to go according to plan.