Dear editor,
I would like to reply to the article on page 22 of the last issue.
I was the captain of Aguirre from May 1988 until Sept.2002, working with two owners. The last owner had Aguirre for one year until Sept.2002 when he went bankrupt and she was sold to a new owner.
I would like to correct the statement that was made in your article regarding "Aguirre which had, let´s say, gained a certain reputation".
The reputation that I and Aguirre gained over 15 years, was one of a yacht which always paid it´s bills immediately on the completion of work; in fact I would telephone companies if accounts were not presented promptly.
When my employment was terminated on the 2nd Sept 2002, I had contacted contractors to whom we owed money and paid as many as I could with the funds available.
Those I could not pay, I phoned and made arrangements with the owner, that when he arrived to sell Aguirre he paid the outstanding accounts.
This I am led to believe was done; the account of one engineering company was not paid due to the fact that it was not given to me but sent to the owners´ company in Wales that was in the hands of the receivers.
I would like to know which yacht service and supply companies had problems with me or Aguirre, perhaps the person who wrote the article would like to contact me.
For the writer´s satisfaction he would be well advised to contact any of the following companies, who I´m sure will give myself and Aguirre, ´a glowing recommendation´.
Ocean Coatings, Cormorant Carpentry, Dan Brit, Express Lube, Coronet, Multi marine, Drake, fast laundry, Marina Puerto Portals, Boat Yard Palma, and Palma yachts to name a few.
I think it would be prudent to check the facts before printing a statement which is not true.
Regards,
Graham Pinch, Ex Captain MY Aguirre
Ed´s comment- On further investigation I believe apologies are in order!
Hi John,
As follow up on the letter I wrote you about M/Y Camelot´s paint job in Palma de Mallorca we have finally arrived in Martinique for our cruising season.
The work promised by Nautipaints was not completed as I expected but we had to leave on the Superservant 3 so we will be finishing ourselves.
Nautipaints held our main doors hostage until final payment so I had to pay for a job that was not complete to be able to escape Palma.
We are already receiving unsolicited comments on the poor quality of our paint job and blisters are already showing all over the vessel.
Several areas were finished by brush, the worst of these was my stbd. side exhaust box where slow drying reducers meant absolutely filthy paint from black carbon fallout in the Palma Harbour which is impregnated deep into the paint.
The vessel is now not a complete paint job but a series of very obvious patches and lots of over spray which I have photographed for our lawyers.
In 30 years at sea, the last 15 in yachting I have never had a worse contractor than Nautipaints on any vessel; not in Venezuela, the US or Caribbean.
I have painted Camelot 3 times in the last 10 years and all previous times I came away in 3 months feeling that the boat had improved.
This time however with Nautipaints I spent 10 months on the job; a contract over-run by 7 months leaving the vessel as a hotchpotch of patches and dirty paint.
The bosses of Nautipaint went from apologies in the beginning to defensive in midstream ending up with downright lies and evasiveness at the end.
What a bunch of clowns these guys are.
Anybody having any doubt as to the truth in these statements only needs to talk to people who watched us sit in Muelle Viejo for a year and were witness to the entire fiasco.
I sincerely hope you publish this letter as not only do I want some payback now (although we intend to screw them in the courts) but surely hope that I can prevent some other poor skipper from suffering these fools.
Regards Greg MY Camelot
Dear John,
My nephew Craig was in Boston with my dad last weekend. Being a caring grandson he took his grandfather to a Bruins home game as a present on his 71st birthday. They got good seats, some popcorn and a hot dog. Then the beer man came by and they thought it would be a good idea to have a brew. What happened then can only suggest that some of the vast amount of money being spent by the US government on legislative lunacy could be better spent on a course in common sense at school:
Beer Man: Can I see some ID
Craig: My passport´s back at the hotel so I´ll just sit this one out
Dad: I´ve got my driving licence
Beer Man: Which state is that from?
Dad: Britain
Beer Man: Where´s that
Dad: Europe
Beer Man: No, which state?
Dad: You know, the other side of the Atlantic, England, Europe.
Beer Man: I have to see an American ID
Craig: Why?
Beer Man; Because I´m not allowed to sell beer to anyone under 21
Craig: He´s my grandfather. Can´t you see that he´s over 21?
Beer Man: How can I tell that if he doesn´t have any ID
The magic number of 21 was obviously matched by the beer man´s IQ!
A little bit of research (albeit in a drinking establishment nearby) elicited the information that most of these guys are college students making a buck!
This would be funny if it wasn´t frightening.
Good Luck
Steve Thomas, MY Fadladha