A note on falling and development

As a young skater in the nineties, skateboarding was not cool. More something for my younger brother. But even then, boarders scored one point: They fell, and tried once more. I didn't get the 'why' then, but I got that it was a principle point to get back on the horse and try again. My years in Delft taught me the same thing, over and over again. Every difficult course was learned by failures, small mistakes and trying once more...

This year, looking back on a challenging master and crossing some more difficulty, I got to spend some time with friends. Sailing wet weather on a wet piece of coast. Delightfully. In the spectacular harbour of Kj?psvik, we came past a high speed personnel-transport ship called 'Turbina'.

She is used to carry people inland and up fjords, into the middle of nowhere, to install and maintain wind-turbines in Sapmi. This installation is a shift for society. A critical part of 'electrification' in general. And 'Turbina' helps that shift.

Intended or not, the name Turbina brought a smile to my face. During my education, I saw how another high speed ship, the Turbinia, with an extra i, played a comparable role in history:

She was launched in 1894 and the first ship powered by steam-turbine, which also introduced the problem of cavitation. Cavitation was addressed with logic, by installing nine propellers on three propellershafts. This basically allowed for more power, and therefore more speed, to be put in- and made on the water. She thereby was a critical step, a real shift that pushed society, or at least shipping, forwards.

Seeing such parallels has cost me a lot, but given me equally much. Skateboarder Rodney Mullen summarised that as well as possible:

My drive in marine technology and naval architecture has shaped, and still shapes me. As much as it in other ways has pushed me to fall. And that is why the changes of Turbinia then, and Turbina now, appeal to me as the crests of equally beautiful waves of development.

"I wish I could relate the intangibles to you".

:)