I Did Not See That Coming

Walt Spevak

I offer two, unrelated, life experiences in the “I didn’t see that coming” category, although perhaps I could have.

The first is my continued enjoyment of the sport of sailboat racing, specifically in the Laser class, a one-person boat which is sailed in countries the world over. Having spent childhood summers at Lake Okoboji, Iowa, I first sailed at the age of nine. And now, fifty-seven years later, it is still a passion. When I turned fifty I entered my first Laser Masters World Championship in Bitez, Turkey with more than three hundred competitors from more than twenty-five countries. Masters of the sport are thirty-five years old and up (some in their seventies and even eighties!) competing in 10-year age divisions.

Training has taken me to Cabarete, Dominican Republic; La Cruz (Puerto Vallarta), Mexico; and Cascade Locks (Columbia Gorge), Oregon; with San Francisco being one of the best, and hardest, spots in the world to sail a Laser. World Championships have been held in Fortaleza, Brazil; Terrigal, Australia; Muscat, Oman; Hyeres, France; Kingston, Canada; Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico; Split, Croatia; Dublin, Ireland; Port Zealand, Netherlands and most recently in Geelong, Australia in mid-March, 2020.

Each Worlds lasts ten to twelve days and follows a similar flow: spending a few days getting over jet lag; seeing friends who typically we have not seen since the previous Worlds; and getting used to the venue through practice sails. On the water we are full-on competitors while off the water we tell stories of our glory days. (Many of the competitors were Olympians once upon a time, and have themselves coached Olympic aspirants and former Laser World or National Champions.)

I never imagined that sailing would take this kid from Iowa all over the world with friendships spanning the decades. Sailing, and in particular Laser sailing, has kept me physically fit (10,000 sit-ups happened a long, long time ago), mentally focused, my reaction times short, and peripheral vision wide. All these combine to give me the ability to make a successful race-time decision and to get ready in a microsecond to make the next decision. The spillover effect for the decisions we make in business has been very beneficial.

In a completely different realm, and delightfully unexpected, has been my growing friendship with Kien Pham and this “Phamily.” In 2010, Kien made the generous offer to guide classmates and spouses on a two-week tour of Vietnam. I offered to be the stateside organizer as my life at the time had lots of flexibility. Being single then I needed a roommate and with Kien’s wife, Thuy, staying home to look after their three young children, Kien and I became roommates.

We arrived late on the night of Friday, April 29, and who was there to greet us the hotel? Kien. Who enthusiastically said, “Let’s go for a walk. I’ll show you around.” Even then Kien could barely see and yet wanted to be our tour guide to Saigon at night. The next day, April 30, is the anniversary of the day when Saigon fell in 1975 and is celebrated as Reunification Day. In the morning we made a difficult (for me) visit to War Museum and the Reunification Palace, where the South Vietnamese government presided until the end. Later that day we visited, and crawled, through the Cu Chi tunnels outside of the main town. It was a hot, humid afternoon and the thought of fighting a war under such conditions was harrowing. Indeed the entire first day, coming on that anniversary, was a powerful welcome to the country. Many of us felt a sense of guilt during the trip. Yet we picked up no sense of animosity whatsoever during our visit. Over the years, U.S./Vietnamese relations have strengthened dramatically.

The next day included traveling along the Mekong River visiting various businesses and hearing Kien tell the story of how his family escaped when he was a teenager. It is his story to tell. All I’ll note here it that is a story of courage and resilience and faith. Each day of the trip revealed one unfolding experience after another. We visited a school for the blind which Kien heavily supports and where technology is an important component of the learning so that students can be connected to the broader world. We visited another school in the north that Kien also helped fund to assist “something” (ask Kien) between the Vietnamese and U.S. governments.

It was memorable for us to hear stories of his youth in Vietnam, learn more of what life is like for him today and soak in his optimism and zeal to make the future the best it can be. All the while Kien knows he has a presence in Vietnam that keeps the government interested in him. One day we returned to our hotel room and he noted we had had a visitor…other than room service. I asked him how he knew and he pointed out various things that were different about his personal belongings and computer. Even though he could barely see, he had an uncanny ability to remember where things were. For Kien it’s a bit of a cat and mouse game that he finds humor in.

In 2016 more classmates took part in Vietnam 2.0 with Kien as our irrepressible host for more stories, laughter, and experiences. This time I was happily married to Anna, and Kien made sure we were well looked after, assigning us the “honeymoon suite” on the boat that took us through the breathtaking waters of Ha Long Bay. Both trips included many long bus rides which gave classmates a chance to tell stories of their youth as well as life since business school. They were wonderful opportunities to get to know each other better.

Over the years our families have become closer, enjoying visits when the Pham entourage is in San Jose, where Kien’s mom and several sisters live. We’ve delighted in seeing his children, “Penny” Tam, An, and Minh, grow up and who, since I’ve turned sixty, sweetly refer to me as Uncle Walter. A quick shout out to Kien’s daughter Penny, who for the last several years has awakened at some unearthly hour every weekend, traveled with Thuy to a Saigon hospital to assist with Project See Again. This is a program for which Penny has fundraised and since inception helped give clear vision to thousands of cataract patients who could not begin to afford such a surgery.

In 2016 Anna and I were at a holiday party at John and Laura Foster’s as a bit of a 2016 Vietnam trip reunion because Kien was in town. At the time Anna and I were planning to be married the next year. After the party, in the Fosters’ driveway (John probably doesn’t know this) we said to ourselves, “Let’s ask Kien to be our officiant.” We did and he kindly agreed. So on a very hot mid-June 2017 afternoon in Calistoga, Kien, with an able assist from Penny, led the ceremony. What a joyous day that was! And in a way only Kien can do he managed to get us laughing and crying with his wit and sentiments. We may have been the first couple ever married where the officiant made a crack about Donald Trump and a wish that Obamacare would look after us into our old age.

In early 2018 Thuy told us she was planning a surprise sixtieth birthday party for Kien in Vietnam in March and asked us if we would like to come for the Friday night event as well as a Thursday night family celebration. We were honored to be asked and enthusiastically said, “Yes!” The Thursday dinner was a small gathering in their home and when we walked in quietly to surprise Kien his head raised up and with the quizzical look he displays when he senses something is up said, I kid you not, “I smell California.” Anna said “Hello Kien,” and he was speechless as he realized what we had done–flown to Ho Chi Minh City for his birthday. Upon which he exclaimed, “You guys are crazy!” Maybe so. Crazy for a guy who lives by an example of generosity of spirit, love of family and friends, and gratitude for the gifts which life can bring.