We’re getting seriously off message here, but to close the topic of women’s breasts .

First of all I freely admit that I have been hoist by my own petard (bra straps or whatever) by the story about women’s breasts . My original point was that Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes were perhaps a little naïve in their choice of boat name and – hands up, mea culpa – the same could be said for the photo I used to illustrate it. Please, m’Lud, she was asking for it.

As to whether the photo is pornographic, I found the comments on our forum interesting and there was quite a bit of food for thought here, but really the question was rhetorical. It was not. Even if it had not been modified with a great big’Do Not Enter’sign, it would not have been.

The popular press and the film rating classifications used in Europe and the US are a good guide and allow unaccompanied 13-year-olds (14 in the UK) to watch scenes that are violent, sexually explicit or both. There are minimal restrictions on non-sexual nudity, even for U and PG certificates.

My employer has plenty of top half nudity for unrestricted sale in its teen (or teen-minded) magazines and free on its websites Nuts and Loaded . Maybe I should cross-promote them?

So really it’s a question of taste, sense of humour, and of workplace policies for internet browsing, which of course all vary enormously. In respect of humour and taste, I should add that this blog is brought to you from the land of saucy seaside postcards, What The Butler Saw, Benny Hill chasing buxom nurses round park benches, and Barbara Windsor in Carry On Camping. ‘BOING!!!’ (Lots of clips on You Tube, BTW)

And finally . as to whether one should expect to see images of scantily clad women in a sailing context, I leave you with two to ponder. Above is one small example from our long (and frankly very bawdy) maritime history.

The other is a story I ran a while ago about a promotion with the Spanish America’s Cup team Desafio Español in Valencia during the Louis Vuitton Cup. To me, it’s artful and amusing. To you? Who knows.

You can get an eyeful of it here.