Friday, March 06, 2009

Dr. Laura caught cheating at the yacht club

BlatherWatch: Dr. laura caught cheating at the yacht club: "Dr. laura caught cheating at the yacht club"

Posted by SM Schwartz at 12:44 AM
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Stephen and PHRF committee members,


My name is Kenny Kieding, and I am the manager of Dr. Laura Schlessinger's sailboats. Since I am responsible for making most of the decisions concerning outfitting her boats, I am writing in regard to a letter sent to her that suggests that her boat "Sting" has violated Rule 7 of the PHRF rules.


Your letter indicated that we had removed certain items from the boat, including the holding tank, sink, and cabin door. First of all I would like to say that Dr. Laura loves sailing and has owned quite a few boats. She has bought both new and pre-owned boats during the past six years. When she buys a used boat I first take it completely apart and paint the entire boat. I then install new equipment both on deck and below. For every pre-owned boat she has bought I have installed a new head, holding tank, and hoses. She bought the "Sting" pre-owned from J Boats. It was sailed in Key West Race Week and many other regattas by their factory team. I had a boat maintenance person remove the used head, hoses, and holding tank when the boat was shipped from the East Coast. He then installed a new head and hoses. As it turned out, the system was plumbed to go overboard but not to have the option of going into a new holding tank as well. I did not go back and check the work carefully enough, and therefore the new holding tank bladder was never re-installed. Although it was an honest mistake, I take full responsibility for not having a holding tank on Dr. Laura's boat, "Sting."


As far as the cabin door, it was shipped to us separately in bubble wrap. When the boat arrived by truck we put the door into her storage unit and never thought about it again until we sold the boat. Again, that was a mistake on my part, but an honest one. It never occurred to me that I was breaking a rule.


In regards to the sink, on February 3rd I spoke with Chuck Brewer, the new owner of "Sting", about this issue. He confirmed over the phone that the boat included an installed sink when he purchased it from Dr. Laura. We have never raced Sting without the sink.


Please know I am taking your letter very seriously, as my integrity and reputation means everything to me. I spend many, many hours making sure all of Dr. Laura's boats are completely legal and that all her safety equipment is on board and up-to-date. That said, I take full responsibility for the issue of the holding tank and the cabin door. Please accept my sincere apologies for making these mistakes.


Thank you for your time, and do not hesitate to contact me with further questions. I would be happy to speak with you or any of the PHRF board members about this situation.


Sincerely,
Kenny Kieding

8:26 AM
Hank said...

I find Mr. Kiedings letter weak at best. Why believe a word he says?

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:Mv64rkGjP40J:www.phrfsocal.org/meetings/08-08.pdf+%22Laura+Schlessinger%22,Keidings&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Read for yourself.

4:40 PM

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