I frequently sail a cruising ketch. The boat is high, dry, stable and definitely no rocket ship -- perfect for ''comfort sailing,'' as my wife calls it. Micromanagers
strike againIt's fun to give novices a stint at the helm. They turn the wheel. Nothing happens right away, so they turn it some more...then some more. Eventually, the boat responds. The bow comes around too far, the sails flap, we lose momentum and go ''in irons,'' dead in the water with the breeze on our nose.
The secret is to turn the rudder just a few degrees and...wait for it. After the boat corrects, do it again. The fastest helmsman steers least. Turning slows the boat.
The school board this week decided it wasn't going to wait for Superintendent Herman Aizawa to turn things around. They changed his contract terms and he quit, leaving us dead in the water to wait for a new skipper to put the statewide education system back on course.
The Senate education committee made things worse, declaring a $90,000 salary perfectly adequate for the next CEO of Hawaii's $709 million per year educational establishment. Never mind that the state's assistant librarian, a civil servant, makes $1,000 more than this. Nope, our senators feel the best candidate cares more about students than money.
When the boat's in irons, it's time to start the engine, not to throw common sense overboard. This is no time for small-minded penny-pinchers to cripple recruiting efforts.