…or why to publish about James and Kimi’s experience.
On December 23rd, 2019, sailing from Fanning Island to Hawaii, the sailing catamaran Zingaro, crewed by James and Kimi, had its starboard hull break loose from the bridge deck.
After safely arriving in Kona, with assistance of the Coast Guard, James sent out a blog post that announced what had happened and that they were safe.
In private correspondence, James told me they would not repair the boat, but sell it and find money (possibly through getting jobs) to buy a new boat.
This is an interesting story. It begs for follow-on stories beyond the narrative of what they do next. Their story leads into blue water boats, duty cycle of catamarans, the dangers of buying a home-built boat, the danger of plywood boats, proper safety equipment, the list goes on and on.
I also like James, with whom I correspond and for whom I have boxed up at his request an ST4000+ autopilot that I planned to take to him when we return to our boat on Oahu. And, I like Kimi through her on screen persona.
CaroBabbo.com is a work of journalism. I abide by newspaper journalistic standards as I have learned them by working in the newspaper industry off and on for 38 years. I wrote an industry publication column for an Asia-Pacific newspaper journal. Other than that I was not a journalist.
As James understands, he and Kimi are public figures. They actively court press attention. As such, they are not subject to the same privacy rules as people who do not. I have been a public figure for thirty years.
The second reason for writing the post was to help James and Kimi raise money, for what I though would be, another boat.
Youtube channels, like TV, thrive on adversity. This is a great story of facing adversity. Whether Kimi and James repair Zingaro or buy another Zingaro, their viewership will only grow: Sailing Nandji, for example, had their patrons pay for re-powering their boat and their boat yard fees through an appeal. People want to contribute to fulfill an acute need.
So why didn’t I pull down the post: (1) because it was interesting; (2) James and Kimi are public figures. Less importantly: (3) my subscription base is very small – my posts are read after I advertise; (4) I did not want to pull down a published article because it confuses my readers.
Instead, (1) I changed the headline, (2) I corrected all the errors that James pointed out, including the uncertainty about what they are going to do. This is also very good human interest. Immediately after the event, James (and Kimi, I presume) wanted to ditch the boat. But as they have reflected and learned more, they are reconsidering the decision. (3) I did not advertise the post as I normally do. (4) I sent an email to all my subscribers telling them that the post had been updated and they should reread the post.
This the biggest laugh, less than five people have read the post. My readers tend to read first thing in the morning, and without advertising via facebook, it is unlikely more than 20 people will read the post before Monday. I won’t advertise this post for the present.
Lastly, a very small percentage of my readers sail. While I do have a small international sailing readership, much more than 80% of my readers do not sail, they do not watch sailing videos. They read me because they come from the newspaper industry or because they know Jennifer and me from other sources. This can include having an interest in Alzheimer’s. For the first two years, this blog was largely about sailing with Alzheimer’s.