beancounter
New member
Why I\'m saddened by Scuttlebutt..
The recent slanging matches over the demise of Peters Opal are another example of the "trial by internet/jumping to conclusions/trot out a few hobby horses" event that crops up periodically.
A previous example that springs to mind was the demolition job done on the guy whose girlfriend piled the brand new boat on the rocks on the South Coast last year (would he have had the same treatment on here if he had been, say, a teacher in an old Westerly Centaur, rather than an city type in a new AWB?...)
In addition, if the regular rants are to be believed, then:
a) Magazines are run by spineless toadies in hock to their advertisers;
b) Yacht brokers are lazy ne'er-do-wells who fleece sellers for a dubious service;
c) Marina owners are price-gouging scrooges who squeeze yotties till the pips squeak;
d) Chandlers are rip-off merchants;
e) In fact, the whole marine industry is a self-serving clique dedicated to feathering their nests at the the expense of the poor yottie...
And that's before politics creeps in - judging by some opinions expressed on here, quite a few posters regard the Daily Mail as a dangerous left-wing publication, and Margaret Thatcher as a bit of a liberal softie.
Somehow the joy of sailing gets a bit buried under all this.
Sad, really.
The recent slanging matches over the demise of Peters Opal are another example of the "trial by internet/jumping to conclusions/trot out a few hobby horses" event that crops up periodically.
A previous example that springs to mind was the demolition job done on the guy whose girlfriend piled the brand new boat on the rocks on the South Coast last year (would he have had the same treatment on here if he had been, say, a teacher in an old Westerly Centaur, rather than an city type in a new AWB?...)
In addition, if the regular rants are to be believed, then:
a) Magazines are run by spineless toadies in hock to their advertisers;
b) Yacht brokers are lazy ne'er-do-wells who fleece sellers for a dubious service;
c) Marina owners are price-gouging scrooges who squeeze yotties till the pips squeak;
d) Chandlers are rip-off merchants;
e) In fact, the whole marine industry is a self-serving clique dedicated to feathering their nests at the the expense of the poor yottie...
And that's before politics creeps in - judging by some opinions expressed on here, quite a few posters regard the Daily Mail as a dangerous left-wing publication, and Margaret Thatcher as a bit of a liberal softie.
Somehow the joy of sailing gets a bit buried under all this.
Sad, really.