My Reply to Yacht Broker, Bill Haynie

MY RECENT PIECE ON WHAT I PERCEIVE AS A LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE YACHT BROKERAGE BUSINESS SECTOR DREW HEATED CRITICISM FROM THIS PARTICULAR YACHT BROKER. MY RESPONSE FOLLOWS HERE.

Courtesy of Steve Colgate, Offshore Sailing School

Preface: I recently published a background opinion piece in conjunction with the series that Peter Swanson and I are doing concerning two class-action suits that have been filed against a number of prominent firms in the yacht brokerage sector. The suits allege price-fixing, restraint of free trade, and other violations of anti-trust law and regulation. While waiting for further developments to emerge in the legal cases, I took the opportunity to detail what I’ve long-perceived as a significant structural flaw in the yacht brokerage business — namely, the drift toward operating from behind a passel of liability disclaimers and purposely one-sided, self-protective contract language. My objective in writing the article was and remains to stimulate open discussion of these matters. Consequently, I genuinely welcome Mr. Haynie’s expression of disagreement and his readiness to take the time and make the effort to lay out his thoughts on the matter. Which does not mean, however, that I will treat him with kid gloves, especially since he chose to couch his disagreement in terms of a personal attack that completely distorts what I wrote. Consequently, if you find disagreement disagreeable, you might want to turn the page and move on. But, if you love the boating and yachting business as I do, and believe in a free and open exchange of ideas, then, by all means, read on.