Just add water

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"Why do I always get my best ideas in the shower?"

Albert Einstein

Some of the best ideas happen with water. So when I picked up Xaver Walser of SGP Media at London’s Stansted Airport, which happens to be closer to the county Essex where we keep our yacht Sophie, I took him sailing. Xaver came to town for inspiration and input and where better to get it than on the River Crouch. Although I am not sure how much inspiration SGP Media needs because in just three years, Xaver has set up a TV Channel in St. Moritz, Switzerland. To do so he had to crack open a conservative isolated market not ready for change or competition. He is challenging the established regional TV news outlets competing for the market share of viewers and advertising space. His channel offers a variation of local news, features, weather and a ski report available on cable TV, as well as a variety of TV monitors strategically placed around St. Moritz and at the local cinema. However, in a force 4-5 wind with Xaver crewing a sail boat for the first time ever, there was little chance to find inspiration for the innards of an emerging TV channel. Instead we flew westward on a Main sail and a tangled Genoa on Yacht Sophie with smiles closer to the water than most flying fish.

Xaver is an inspiration alone, even without water. He set up his own company to do what he loves, filming, travelling and surfing. His TV channel which caters for the winter tourist market closes down for the summer leaving him to trail the world’s top waveski surfers to isolated waves and dangerous places with his camera, making surf videos. I asked him if he ever feels discontent? He said that he does but it quickly disappears when he reminds himself that he does what he loves, and makes a living out of it. He also runs his own distribution outlet for his films across nine countries that keep on selling day and night.

It is so easy to loose our sense of achievement in life. We set goals and often reach them but forget to smile a little or pat our own backs unless we’re choking. Instead we move the posts a little further away aiming at greater, better bigger goals that dwarf our humble evolution. This time the inspiration comes from Xaver: Lets not forget to smile a little at our own great achievements, even on those days when we are not plain sailing.