In the sport of rowing, the catch is that moment when the vertical oar blade is an inch above the water and the rower’s body is coiled in the position of strength. Her shoulders are forward, knees bent, torso twisted, arms extended, lungs full and her heart is pumping.
Then the oar blade drops, legs extend, seat and shoulders move toward the bow, the oar blade moves toward the stern, and the boat accelerates. Once her legs are straight, shoulders back, arms bent, heart pumping, and lungs empty, her oar comes out of the water. This is the release.
This is when the run of the boat begins. While it may seem that the speed of the boat is determined by its acceleration after the catch, that is wrong. The success of the boat is measured by the distance it travels while the oars are out of the water.
Traditional investment advice measures the acceleration after the catch, meaning historical performance of their managers. At Poetic Justice Capital, our performance benchmark is the run of the boat, meaning dollars of future cash flow. For us, time off the clock means time and money to spend on the things that have meaning.
To maximize speed, the rowers must be perfectly balanced, synchronized, and efficient while the oars are out of the water. Then it begins again, hands away, body over, oars level, eyes forward, seats slide, blades feather, hearts pump, and lungs inhale – all to preserve the hard earned run of the boat. Elegance and simplicity buys time, and requires disciplined training and singular focus.
The boat is the life of the investor, they choose the meaningful course. The rowers are the managers we hire, and our Capitalists are the coxswain that steers and sets the cadence. When the investor’s financial life becomes overfunded, we let the boat run. If it becomes underfunded, we come to the catch, drop the oars, and dynamically rebalance the investment strategy.
Why? Because the efficient integration of money, markets and values is what accelerates the motion of an investor’s life of purpose.