Letters To The Editor
editor@scuttlebutteurope.comLetters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.
* From Andy Rice, SailJuiceBlog.com: In response to John Forbes's letter to Scuttlebutt Europe #1465, it's not clear to me that John has drawn a distinction between the comments I made and the comments made by Richard Gladwell of Sail World NZ, whom I quoted in my SailJuice article. I encourage him to read the original article at sailjuiceblog.com/2008/03/03/biting-the-hand/ , so he understands exactly who said what, and where I'm coming from.
John might be surprised to find that I share the same views as he does about the travesty of the multihull being ejected from the Olympics. If he wants to mention my name to either Darren Bundock or Carolijn Brouwer, the new President of the International Tornado Association, he will find that I have been one of the most vocal and consistent critics of the decisions made in Estoril last November, and that I have been campaigning hard to get these decisions reconsidered.
Indeed, the irony of John reading out that leaked internal memo from Yachting New Zealand is that it was SailJuice who leaked it into the public domain in the first place. When I published this confidential email on 30 November 2007, it was political dynamite. You can read the original article here: sailjuiceblog.com/
Who knows? Perhaps the publication of that memo was part of what convinced YNZ to change its stance so dramatically. But in the context of this political issue, 30 November is a long time ago.
Even though John and I want the same thing - the reinstatement of the multihull - this is where we differ. A lot of water had passed under the bridge by the time John read out that YNZ document in early March. If YNZ had not admitted the error of its original vote in Estoril, then I would have strongly supported John's decision to read from the memo.
But when a former enemy (if that's not too strong a word) switches to your side, it doesn't seem to make much political sense to keep on whacking them about the head with their past misdemeanours. Better to thank them for the change of heart, and then work together to get the change you're looking for. The fact that YNZ has made a submission in support of the multihull is one of the strongest cards in the multihull lobby's hand.
Meanwhile, John will be encouraged to hear that things have moved on a good deal further since the Tornado Worlds. In the past week it appears that ISAF has received a high number of submissions from national authorities (including YNZ) on getting the Olympic Events for 2012 reconsidered. So for those of us who want to see the multihull reinstated, things are looking a little brighter than they have done for some time.
* From Richard Gladwell, sail-world.com: I have just read John Forbes comments in Scuttlebutt-Europe.
He puts a very nice spin on what he would like to have reported.
Forbes hasn't responded directly to myself or Andy, however I do have an audio recording of his speech, which is not as he would like to have it remembered/reported.
Unfortunately I don't have the Booing or Ooohing recorded (as this incident came 15 minutes after Forbes' speech and dessert had been served). However it did happen, Forbes would have had to possess very poor hearing to miss it. The YNZ President had to be persuaded not to walk out of the function, and several YNZ Directors would have followed her - or beaten her to it.
The first part of his speech was fine about the Tornado class having an excellent "product", however then second was well wide of the mark. At present the class needs all the friends it can get, not be slinging off at those who are prepared to stick their head above the ISAF parapet to support the Multihull Event in 2012.
