Background Information About
“Captain’s Log and Captain Mark Gray”
The seeds were planted for Captain’s Log almost forty years ago in the early 1970s when I first fell in love with boating. My first love (boat) was only a 21 foot Islander sailboat but it was the largest boat I had ever looked inside of. She was like an Arabian tent in a cartoon. Small, attractive and unassuming on the outside but a huge multi-functional palace on the inside. There was a head, galley and sleeping quarters for 4 people! I was totally awestruck. That was the very moment that I fell in love with boating. Like an orphan seeing his real birth family for the first time I knew that I had finally found my real home. Prior to that day boating, fishing and the water had passed by me without even so much as a single thought (although I did use a canoe and rowboat as a child).
The moment I knew I was hooked on boating the first thing that popped into my mind was the most important question I have ever had about boating but the one question that was never answered until Captain’s Log was created. I pondered, “Now that I am into boating what do I need to learn and do to survive "the boating experience"?”. Where can I learn how to avoid or at least be better prepared for and survive a challenging or potentially life threatening situation?
I knew only three things about boating.
1. I was hooked as boat fever had caught yet another new fish.
2. I knew absolutely nothing about boating.
3. Like anything from riding a bike to skydiving, I knew that boating can be very dangerous (most especially for newcomers that knew absolutely nothing about the sport)!
In the early 1970s there was hardly any boating safety information out there that someone new to the sport could easily find or would even know how to find. Personal computers and the Internet had not yet been invented. There were not even such things as VHS tapes and surely no TV shows about boating safety. The only thing I could find was a very small book people referred to as “The Boater’s Bible”. It explained things like how a sailboat moves, the rules of the road and how to tie some knots but it did not give me any information I was looking for like what do I need to know and have to avoid or be better prepared for emergency situations that surely would arise out on the water where there are no gas stations to pull into for help.
My solution was a simple one but more action packed AND educational than I could have ever imagined. I jumped in with both feet from day one (gaining the best experience and the best OJT education possible from an experienced boater) by signing on for an extended sailboat cruise. That choice seemed to be safer, quieter, a smoother ride and much more cost effective than learning on a power boat. In years to come I would Captain and even own several powerboats as well as sailboats but for an extended cruise, my first action packed learning experience, I decided sailing was the only way to go.
It just seemed to make sense. The large lead keel under a sailboat is like a nail in a cork. No matter how you toss a sailboat into the water, the heavy lead keel always wants to go down keeping the sailboat upright. The keel offsets the torque of the sails and along with the hull design it helps a sailboat glide through any water conditions VS bouncing nonstop on a flat or V bottom power boat. Besides, sailboats seemed to go on many more extended cruises than power boats with mega motor yachts being the one possible exception.
In hindsight perhaps buying a small sailing dinghy like a Snark to learn on (as many newcomers very wisely have done), would have been more normal and smarter but I did not even know that much information about boating at that time. The adventure began when I decided to walk the boat docks of Fort Lauderdale Florida until I saw a “Crew Wanted” sign. It was hung on a wooden 30 foot double-ender sailboat that had an 8 foot fin keel and was built in and sailed over to the USA from Ireland. The owner / Captain of the boat explained that he was sailing the Bahamas and South America for a couple of months and needed one other person to help him. I explained that I had no experience but I really wanted to learn. He said that my lack of experience would not be a problem. I only had one rule, no drugs! I was very fortunate in that I did not get into the drug culture of the times and most importantly I did not want to end up in some foreign prison. He assured me that there would be no drugs and he would even pay me for crewing on his boat which also included sleeping quarters and all meals!
I had no idea what helping him would entail but was amazed that I would even get PAID to go on a great sailing adventure gaining hands-on experience form an experienced and knowledgeable boat owner / Captain! Knowing nothing I even thought he might want to charge me 1/2 of the expenses or something. WOW! Paid to learn!!!!!!! I was very impressed and even more confident in his abilities when he gave me an introductory tour of his very seaworthy yacht. He had precut a piece of plywood for every opening on the boat from hatches to port lights (doors and windows for boating newcomers like I was back then). He even had a small Honda generator to power a drill so he could quickly drill and screw any replacement hatch into place in an emergency. Little did I know at the time that we would soon have an opportunity to use this emergency gear.
Keep in mind that back then we did not have things like GPS or even radar on our small boats. We only had a marine radio to call for help (if we were within radio range of shore or a passing boat) and to navigate we only had a compass (and a spare compass), a sexton and good timepiece for celestial navigation (hard to use in a hurricane but possible at the top of mammoth waves with proper timing), and an RDF - Radio Direction Finder used to navigate when you are closer to land (from 100 to 200 miles offshore) to a port or city of choice.
During a few of months of sailing we worked four hours on and four hours off but only got between two to three hours of sleep every eight hours 24/7 because we had to cook, eat and navigate during the four hours we were not at the helm. Our adventure included a Whale hitting our keel on our first day and everything else from being chased by Haitian pirates one night to escaping them by sailing into the hurricanes off the southern tip of Haiti where within minutes our front hatch blew off soaking everything below because we did not have it locked down. The Honda Generator and spare hatches came in real handy that night. Sadly, the boat never really dried out. With the hurricane seas bouncing us up and down 24/7 we slept rolled up in a sail wedged into the walkway in the middle of the boat. The soaked bunks did not bother us one bit since we almost never got to sleep in them.
We sailed in the hurricanes for weeks (as there were several back to back that year) all the way from Haiti to South America and then again we sailed into more hurricane weather going home (which by then seemed to me like normal sailing). The weather finally broke when we hit the western side of Cuba where our spreader also broke.
One night during a hurricane I was ejected overboard into the 80 degree water. I had just given the Captain our 1 harness as he took his shift at the tiller (which was cleated with 1" surgical tubing to help absorb the shock and save our arms). I turned to say something to him (perhaps what he wanted to eat or about something on my shift?) as I sat totally in the very low profile hatch while holding on very tight to the top of it. I think the keel broke free of a wave and the boat lunged instantly and very violently to port ripping my hands free and throwing me right out of the main hatch and overboard.
I was saved by keeping a cool (but very exhausted) head, my eyes open and grabbing the lifelines as I few by them. I held on for dear life and rotated rapidly upside down slamming my head into the bottom of the boat (cutting it open as the sea washed my nit cap away). My feet fell into the water and were being sucked under the boat with enough pressure that I could not free them. The boat lurched back the other way freeing my legs allowing me to manhandle myself back onboard by first getting one foot up on deck.
Totally dazed, somewhat in shock and exhausted beyond belief I finally got to look at the Captain. He had both hands on the tiller and both legs firmly braced just to hold it and his eyes were open so wide that he looked like a cartoon character. At that point I knew he could have never turned the boat much less found me if I went into the water. He said to go below and get some rest. I was so dazed and totally exhausted by that time that I did not know if I was going on or off duty and thought he gave me double sack time for some reason. There were many other exciting learning experiences from challenging to life-altering adventures on that first trip but the details of that are for another time, perhaps. I do teach those lessons like safety and comfort (to prevent exhaustion etc...) in my seminars.
To sum up my first boating experience, it was the greatest learning experience one could possibly have. I gained extremely valuable knowledge and experience while I was young therefore reducing my boating fear levels forevermore. (Knowledge + proper preparation + experience = confidence) = peace of mind for you = increased visible confidence and safety for others which = peace of mind / comfort for friends and crew members that are brave enough to go boating with you thus putting their lives directly into your hands. That's my boating safety equation. (K+PP+E=C) = POMFY=IVC+SFO=POM/CFO in short. Its not catchy or pretty but it's real and it works too :-)
In the early 1970s I was very fortunate to be able to take that much needed break to go sailing. I had been working in the entertainment industry ie: Multimedia, (radio, and newspapers) and marketing (which is really the bottom line of all business including entertainment and multimedia). In the mid 1970s I bought my first small sailboat (a small Snark which was a lot of fun) and took it to New Orleans for three years to work in one of the best boatyards in the nation, O. J. Young’s Yacht Sales. Yacht Manufacturing (the NY 40s etc) and their boat yard were also divisions of Young's Yacht Sales.
I wanted to learn everything about boats and boat maintenance so I started out on the bottom doing bottom jobs working my way up to the top job of driving our company's 18-wheeler hauling the 40 foot yachts (NY 40s) that we built for the New York Yacht Club and bringing other yachts back to New Orleans to sell in our Yacht Sales Division or place in the boat shows. After my well planned out 3 year stint at the boatyard I returned to the entertainment and multimedia business which I put on hold for this OJT (on the job training) educational experience / opportunity of a lifetime.
I also had the great privilege of becoming the Captain of an incredible privately owned power boat / yacht in Florida (for about six months). My new found boating experience opened up many doors for me in the boating world. I viewed the 3 or so years of sailing and working in the boat yard that I invested a part of my life in as being paid to learn (OJT in the real world) vs paying to attend a college which could not teach anything that I was seeking to learn. Not that there is anything wrong with a formal higher education but, many things can be learned faster and better with real world OJT, especially the things there is NO structured formal educational system in place to teach. Best of all, you can be paid to learn as you build your resume' vs paying to learn and then seeking your first (often low or no pay) internship (and being in debt).
Several years later I found out about the USPS Basic Boating Safety Course. I took it but again found it great for what it was (basic) but very lacking when it came to answering my questions like how to avoid or be better prepared for disasters at sea. To be fair it was only their BASIC Boating Course where one learns the very basic academics of boating such as how to read a chart with a large emphasis on the legal requirements. Things were taught such as the rules of the road and what the law requires such as how many fire extinguishers must be on board. They did not even teach you where the best or safest place is to put your fire extinguishers or that you might need more safety gear than the law requires and what that gear might be such as a hand held VHF radio or a small fire extinguisher in your dinghy in case the engine catches on fire (which happened to two elderly friends of mine awhile back).
To be fair, it was only a basic course but this all important boating safety information that I wanted was nowhere to be found (that I could find) in the 1970s or 1980s so I created it myself in 1987 when I expanded my multimedia business to include television production with “Captain’s Log with Captain Mark Gray”. Although originally designed as a VHS tape educational tool for new boaters it immediately caught the interest of The Learning Channel (TLC) and remained on the air from 1987 to 1990 until the Discovery Channel purchased TLC.
I was allowed to sign yearly contracts VS every 13 weeks (4 times a year). The show ratings ran between 4.5% and 6% (percent of all American households) and I was very well compensated (over THIRTY [30] times higher than any other TLC show and still have the contracts to prove it). Captain’s Log was also a great vehicle to use for bringing the boating industry (advertisers) into the world of Network TV marketing.
I used a very simple common sense formula to achieve the highest possible TLC ratings:
1. I designed shows to be of interest to both men and women and from ALL age groups.
2. People do not feel like they are wasting their time watching TV if they learn something of value to them and people love to learn something new via the ease of watching TV or a video.
3. I design shows to be very G rated allowing the entire family to watch them without parental fear that their children (of any age) will be hit with "objectional material" either in the show or via the commercials. IF there is someone in swim ware on one of my shows it is ALWAYS 'in context" (such as normal people in normal beach or boating situations).
4. I go to great lengths to make sure that there is NEVER any language that might be considered objectionable (if at all possible ie: live shows may have a very minor slip once in awhile ??? but NEVER as a rule). I feel very strongly that if you need to use "objectional material" to "sell" or "lure" your audience,,, then perhaps your show does not really belong on the "public" airwaves. Any show that can not stand on it's content "foremost" is truly substandard... In short, I most like to view (and therefore produce) entertaining and highly informative / educational TV that truly the entire family can view VS SHOCK or x rated (public?) TV.
By addressing the practical side of boating safety with expert guests and experienced boater’s true stories I was able to give the newcomer a clearer and more honest / realistic overview of this sport with safety always at the forefront. Giving the viewer many boating safety tips and solutions while highlighting what else they need to know and where to find more information would hopefully provide the tipping point that previously prevented them from entering this exciting and rewarding sport. Captain’s Log was my first video production and by all measures a great success. Now I am happy to offer the timeless wisdom of our guests to viewers for free via this new fangled invention called the Internet.
* Please keep in mind that Captain's Log was created over 20 years ago and was the very first TV show / series that (without any formal education in this field) I created, produced, marketed, distributed and hosted (and took out my own trash too :-). Formal education is great although not something that will teach you OJT hurricane sailing etc etc etc... and since I am the kind of guy who likes being paid to learn (or needs to and thinks it is smarter to be paid to learn) well, it all works for me. The real test is always "did you succeed and if so, to what degree?". Thus far on that scale I think I have done OK, perhaps even a bit above average since in my life I have met (and even instructed and/or helped) many highly degreed people that never produced anything. My lack of formal education is not a badge but only a handicap that I found a way to overcome via using my God given talent of plain ole common sense and a deep desire to achieve whatever my mind can conceive.
*** IF I look exhausted on the shows I was because each week I would put together FIVE SHOWS and in less than 4 hours each Saturday morning I had to shoot and host ALL (5) FIVE 1/2 hour shows ON LOCATION with multi camera - remote studios - live edit to tape (sometimes on 5 different boats with 3 different gusts per show)! Indeed it was more than exhausting especially when things did not go quite as planned!
As Paul Harvey might say, now you know the rest of the story (in extreme brief)!
In the early 1980s I returned to California and have owned several power and sailboats over the years.
I am available (via email) for consultations about anything related to boating from saving you thousands of dollars when buying a new or used boat to properly maintaining your boat and of course, the best boating safety information available anywhere. I do not work for or represent any yacht brokerage or boat manufacturer so you can trust my advice as being totally non-biased in that regard.
Mark Graves AKA Captain Mark Gray