John Matthews letter in Jan MBY

[jfm]

TCM, are you gonna reply to the letter complaining about you in MBY? The writer was a crew member and quite rightly said you have no appreciation for the stresses and strains of Arnie-esque life as a captain. He also got ripped off €20k for his yachtmaster course so I guess he has reason to be bitter. SunCoast would have done it for €19k I'm sure

I didn't understand all his ramblings (thought there was a clear sense that he was pissed with you) but what's all this about your new 9-5 job, eh? Tell us more.

If you're planning a reply please post draft here so the forum can ensure you don't pull any punches

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[tcm]

um, well, i can't say that many if any crew members would write in to MBY and say "Yeah, fair cop, this boat skippering job is a total doddle!"

I have had a few sniggering agreements from various people in the know who thought that the piece was quite mild. You will be able to check for yourself if you spend time in a port nearer more boats with skippers soon enough. At first though, you may believe that they must be the owners. I did!

As for writing a reply...I hadn't any plans to do this, and i don't think that they would be printed. I mean, if one month there's an article that says "pro skippers are lazy gits" and then the next month there's a letter printed from a pro skipper or thereabouts thats says "that john matthews is a know-nothing wassock" it isn't the done thing to wade in with a retort. I believe that the correct term for the current situation is "editorial balance".

However, my own thoughts are that if there is somebody (yes, with "only a few weeks" holiday a year) sitting on a boat with a drink after a few hours boat cleaning - how would one know if they were the owner or not? Not easy to tell. If there are lots of other youthful/nubile types on board having an animated chat, if another faily turns up en mass with a small child, if they look at you in a proprietorial manner wearing Expensive Sunglasses.. they could be either. BUT if they have matching expensive white/blue/fawn t-shirts and/or shorts, they are crew. Also, the CD player will be quite loud.



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