Georgs/members, What a week. Put my two penneth in, ruffled some feathers, got the moribund site on fire, got one disagreeing private e-mail from a guy who tells me he's going to Greenland but doesn't want anyone to know about it, lot's of private words of encouragement from the shy ones hiding from Big Brother, and of course a slap over the wrist from Georgs. So I say what's the big deal - at least we are all alive and kicking, so let's get on with it? The Mark Twain quotation by Randall is so relevant to my thinking. Tony Bullimore was an English single handed sailor who cost the Australian taxpayer a reported $6 to $7m to rescue him in the Southern Ocean by the Navy. I think this blew our whole years defence budget after what was spent on helping the Yanks out in their little wars. Tony went on to become famous for this, the Australian Government got a letter from the Queen, he got a new lucrative sponsors deal, then eventually went missing at sea on another adventure, a victim of risk for reward, and of course, extreme ego. Will a 13 yr old girl solo circumnavigating the world be usurped by a 12 year old one day? Will a women give birth to a baby and have it pushed away to the Southern Ocean like Moses in his papyrus raft. The mind boggles at the stupidity of all of this. Cruising the barren far north coast of Western Australia recently we ran into two Navy patrol boats, and countless coast watch planes asking us whether we had seen anything suspicious. This is an area where unscrupulous operators using dispensable poorly founded Indonesian fishing boats bring in poor duped refugees, men, women, and children from war torn Afghanistan & Iraq for a substantial fee. If they live, they go to a detention camp, assimilated (which I support), or returned. Others get eaten by crocs or sharks, or die of thirst if they make land undetected. Would I go to help a stricken boat (as most of them tend to be), of course I would, AK 47's or not. This is because it is the humane thing to do, and our deep responsibility when we go to sea. So risks of a water pump failing is small potatoes compared to all of this. Censorship is the enemy of the human spirit and progress. They still practice it in China where my wonderful boat was built. One persons view, delicate or not to other people, should not be condemned out of hand, but seen as just expression of thoughts. If not agreed with, so easily discarded if sensibilities are offended or plainly disapproved of. So is a rebuke accepted, which is nothing more than the reality of a different point of view, and really should be no big deal for mature people. Georgs thanks for keeping this site up and going. We are all grown ups with a passion for passagemaking on motor yachts (At least I think we all are) so lighten up everyone is the advice I can offer, don't hurt anyone maliciously, and don't criticise anyone without explaining yourself fully and based on plausible grounds. It's only fair after all. Peter Sheppard N55#38 Melbourne Australia