Dart 15 Forums

Dartful Codger II wrote:

Is there anybody out there ?
Are Bob & I the only surviving members of the Dart15 fleet after some strange black hole has wiped the rest of you off the face of the earth ?
W H Y ? - No Stewartby report appeared until this weekend on the Y & Y site , and that seemingly sent by Bob - Still no report on the D15 web-site other than the brief results posted by Bob on the day - Buy & Sell notice board not up-dated since 31/10/01 - surely something has happened since then - Magazine still refers to Autumn 2000 features when 2 more issues have been published - next Winter meeting still shown as Stewartby - nobody has posted any other comments about next years circuit currently under discussion etc.etc.
Surely you haven't all gone into hibernation yet, have you ?
So come on guys and galls , let's hear from you - it's your fleet , and we try to shape it in your best interests , but we need your input to do that .

Jonathan replied:

Hi Paul,

Yes I'm sorry the website has got a few days out of date,
but I'll get it sorted out very shortly.

Actually I have been working on the website, but behind
the scenes - in fact I have virtually completely
re-written the forum software to make sure it will handle
many more postings well into the future! And that should
also allow me add new features, such as the ability to do
searches for all the gems that have been contibuted over
the 2yrs its been running.

It actually takes a lot of hours to do something like that
- not only in writing the new software, but it has to be
tested before going live. I have build a test server here
with a similar configuration to the real one, and before I
update the website forum software I have to spend time
regression testing the changes to make sure it all works
as expected. In this case you probably won't notice any
changes (other than the page seletor changed slightly) -
which hopefully means I got the testing right!

I'm also in the process of restructuring the photos
collection - there's some good ones from the Nationals
waiting to go up, but since we are managing to generate a
nice collection now, I want to get it in a form that we
can expand over the next few years but keep it well
organised. But it just takes time when you are doing it as
a volunteer.

Meanwhile my sailing doesn't seem to improve - its very
soul destroying sailing round at the back of the fleet,
with no other boats near you to learn from. What would be
really nice would be if the more experienced club sailors
could occasionally help us beginners with some
*on-the-water* coaching - even spending 1% of the time I
spend on this website would be appreciated!

Jonathan

Paul Smith replied:

Hi Jonathan
I hope my comments didn't come over too much as a criticism, more as an observation , but probably brought about by almost zero communication during last week's items under discussion . As it turns out, no news would appear to be good news - in the long term anyway , as a result of your considerable efforts to improve and up-date the Dart15 web-site , which I was not aware of , but am very appreciative of nevertheless , as I am sure everyone else in the association is too .
Regarding your sailing frustrations , I can only say that we all go through it . Sailing is a sport in which we never stop learning , but as I have stressed before , you can read all the books you like on the subject , but nothing will replace practical experience . You just have to get out there and put the time in , sailing in all conditions , be it drifters or gale force winds , and slowly you will work out what the fast guys are doing , and become one yourself . I have been through this stage several times with different boats , and even when you think you know how to sail , changing class takes a minimum of 1 season of regular racing to learn new boat techniques , especially when going from monohull to catamaran . So please stick at it , with hopefully a little help from your friends , and if I meet you at any open meetings , I will be more than willing to pass on all my bad habits !
So get out there , think positively and enjoy your sailing above all , and you are sure to improve .
Good luck from the Dartful Codger 2 - soon to be 3 .

Bob replied:

Jonathan - you are doing a great job - keep it up. You only have to look at other web sites to see how good ours is. The Dart 18 one is dead, for example.
On the coaching side I promise to get you going faster if you stick with it.
See you soon
Cheers
Bob

Bob replied:

I thought Graham Shrimpton was going to do the Stewartby write up, but nothing happened!

Robin replied:

I agree. Our website is the best. This can only be due to the time and effort of those individuals who take on such a task.

Its a great reference for the class, especially to prospective members\sailors.

Well done Jonathan