Dear John

We announced the other day that we were going to hire a writer named Laurie Fullerton to write for us. It all seemed good until we got this letter from her:

Dear Scot,

It is with regret that I inform you that after some consideration and feedback from my colleagues since you announced I was writing for you I feel I have to renege on our agreement at this time.

It is a difficult but clear choice that writing for Sailing Anarchy is posing a number of professional conflicts of interest for me in the long term - particularly with my continued hope to report on the America's Cup as a member of the press corps.

I love the website and feel you have done a fabulous job. Your style and approach is unique and in some respects is now permanently established as the antithesis to other sailing publications and news outlets. In that respect, it is a weightier choice for me to be "on staff" and, as indicated, lose out on other professional opportunities.

It is an immensely small circle of professional sailors and media people who work together in this interesting field. My sailing friends and associates were thrilled to hear I was writing for you but my professional colleagues have alerted me to some very real conflicts for me. I feel at this time it is more important for me to continue writing for magazines and newspapers only.

You know I am your friend for good and I respect you immensely.

I do apologize for being unable to write for SA at this time in my life. I thank you for the opportunity and all the great experiences I have had.

Laurie

Interesting, no? We aren't angry with Laurie, she can do what she wants, the fact that we put her on the map notwithstanding. What does piss us off though, are the weasels in this sport, mostly the AC public relations morons and fuckwit "journos" who have their panties in a bunch over Sailing Anarchy. It is clear that they have leveraged whatever unfortunate influence they have to basically tell Laurie, "Write for SA, and you'll never work in this town again." And you wonder why we can't stand the politics of this sport?

01/10/05