Another good article by Julie Ash in yesterday's Auckland Herald, this one on our sailing team captain Craig "Monkey" Monk (NZL)....


Yachting: Still proving the headmaster wrong
Friday December 15, 2006
By Julie Ash

"You won't make a living out of sailing," John Graham, headmaster of Auckland Grammar, told a young Craig Monk.

Monk, then a sixth former, had just informed Graham he was leaving school to become a sailor.

As Monk recalls, the former All Black loose forward, who had mapped out a rugby career for the burly youngster, didn't take the news well.

"He looked blown away," Monk said.

"He said we have you set up to be a prefect, play in the first XV and maybe become an All Black.

"I said 'no, I want to be a sailor'.

"He said 'you won't make a living out of sailing'."

A year later Monk went back to Grammar to talk about his trip to the world youth championships. In 1992 he returned with his Olympic medal and in 1995 with the America's Cup.

Having already proven Graham wrong - and they have since shared a laugh about the comment - Monk hopes to rub it in next year and win the America's Cup for what will effectively be his third time, as a grinder with Chris Dickson's Oracle.

Full NZ Herald article