mary-south
July 2013
Dear Mary,
As a subscriber to Yachting I have been following your Letters with great interest and am so happy to hear that you have solved your mid-life crisis and are looking for a boat! I am currently boatless and am in a constant state of withdrawal. If it were not for the fact that I live in Fort Lauderdale where I get to see so many awesome yachts I would have definitely gone over the edge long ago.
Now I can hardly wait to receive my next issue of Yachting so I can see what your next home is going to be. Please keep us posted and happy hunting!
David Ferebee
Wilton Manors, FL 33305
July 2013
Dear Mary,
I have put off writing you as long as long as I could. In my heart I have felt a lust to read your Editor’s Letter, since the day I read the first one. Today’s issue of Yachting again set my mind free after your letter about detachment. Your love of the sea, boats and all the ramifications associated with it have been the story of my life. I have never found any words, phrases available to describe emotions held deeply at your core, and so generously shared with us, that explain to me my own addiction to the same environment.
I found it necessary to obtain Yachting magazine for the past 55 years, and during that time I have owned, was purchasing, or was dreaming of buying another boat. Your publication was always on my priority reading list, and now your words bring me such great joy in learning that another person could share the exact same emotions.
I have sat on the docks all over the world, as this is where I can meditate. In a cold rain leaving the harbor in St. Petersburg, I felt comfort in watching unknown humans sailing to sea. I have embellished with joy the experience of a frothy wake, and dreamed of leaving my ashes at sea. Until I read your words, I truly did not understand my obsession.
I moved to the mountains on my 68th birthday in hopes that the commune with nature at high altitudes, would suffice for my love of the sea. I made one mistake and continued my subscription to Yachting. Its arrival in the mail was like a junkie finding heroin. At 70, I flew to Fort Lauderdale after making an inquiry about something I couldn’t resist. You get it, and today at 82, I have bought my fifth boat in 12 years. Each boat has been a new love and another chapter in a wonderful journey.
Meeting you has been like meeting a person in recovery from a terminal illness. We both feel better knowing we are not alone. Some day I would love to meet you personally as I feel we have connected at the heart.
My present boat is a 49 East Bay, Just Reward, and I keep her at my beck and call somewhere on the ICW in the Carolinas. I am doing a cruise through the Chesapeake and up to Maine this summer. I have a captain as a running mate. There is, I feel, an imprint on our genes that predisposes our life’s story and I know mine. Someday I would like to share that with those who have the same disease, as it will bring them peace knowing that they are perfectly normal. My warmest blessings on your wonderful voyage.
WW Gilman
July 2013
Mary,
Please count my vote, along with the thousands you will receive, in favor of your photo. In support of my view, I’d like to share three thoughts:
1. Your photo is the first thing I look for each issue. Your radiant expression, your windblown look, and the dramatic backdrop capture everything you wrote about in your Independence Days column. I hope you never change it.
2. I can’t believe we are still seeing gender-biased letters like Mr. Rubinstein’s. You got your job because of your writing skill and your passion for the subject. They come across in every issue.
3. And by the way, you can really write. You never fail to strike a resonant chord in this reader.
Rod Heckman
Chester Springs, PA
July 2013
Never mind the new pic… I get it. That pic is a priceless memory for you. You probably have it framed in your home somewhere. It might be your favorite. And last time I checked, you were editor of Yachting, not Vogue. I’m sure most everyone else gets it too. You made the right choice the first time.
Pete Partridge
July 2013
Whoa there Mary,
I love that picture of you from Cape Horn! A sailor gal south of everywhere, on a decidedly extreme sailing adventure needs not answer to anyone about her hair. As a long-time reader, but first-time boat owner (26 Shamrock Express w/ single Yanmar), the fact that you do these incredible trips made me sit up and pay attention! Again, love the picture, love the magazine, please don’t listen to Lewis.
Bruce Lachiusa
Venice, Fl.
August 2013
G’day Mary
This is only my second issue to Yachting. Reading your letter Sunday morning over a slice of watermelon. Not to worry, people like you will always do just fine. Always land on your feet. You have done more with your life than most women can only dream of, and that includes most men. In 1961, I was a boy living in Australia, preteen. I just loved wood and wooden boats. My Dad made a deal with my brother and me. My dad bought a case of Pepsi. We found an ice chest and got a wheelbarrow. Every day at noon, we would push the wheelbarrow full of cold Pepsi down to a construction site and sell the cold drinks. My brother and I bought a six-foot rowboat. I’m 62 right now and still too young to fall off the perch. Still too much to do. If I was given the choice of any magazine to receive, no question about it, it would be Yachting. I read it over and over.
I wish you luck, I know the feeling.
Cheers
Wayne Silva
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