Your feedback

Some heated debate on the Commodore's Cup, sailor classifications and Graham Dalton's qualification

Olympic 49er sailor Paul Brotherton (above) sent us this regarding our comments about the amateur/pro classificiation system in relation to the Commodore's Cup:

I'm sure Stuart [Childerley] and Ben [Vines] will not mind me defending their amateur status! Idiots like me who have nothing else they can do have to, necessarily get paid to sail. So after one regatta it's straight to the next or off to do some coaching. Either way, my mind is pretty well focused purely on sailing 100% of my working time. I'm almost certain that the morning after the Commodore's Cup fininshed Stuart would be back to work, running the aggregates company that he has been working with for 10 years. Or that Ben will be dealing with something far more significant than a wind shift in his surgery. You seem to be implying that by being good they should be subject to the same restrictions that someone like myself is rightly under? Surely, they are just excellent amateurs and should be reported that way in order to motivate those sailors who have, like the two mentioned above, real jobs that help them pay their real mortgages. From an arrogant and not very good professional. P.S. How do the married men on Bear pay their mortgages?

Another contributor agreed:

What anomalies? You're a professional if you get paid to go sailing or if winning races enhances your career/business. If you do it for fun, no matter how talented you happen to be, you're an amateur. In the ranks of amateur sailors in this country there happen to be quite a few world class sailors, and in the ranks of the professionals - especially those people who are called professional because of what their jobs happen to be - I bet there are some pretty mediocre sailors albeit very good at their jobs...

On page 5: Sir Robin Knox-Johnson gives Around Alone Race Committee's official verdict on Graham Dalton's qualification issues