People got older and race less often so that takes A LOT of the conversation away.
Not as many younger people got into, and/or stayed in the sport, especially at the intense level so many of us were involved before.
There are way more recreational choices now than a generation ago and children's sports have developed to require a far greater time (and money) commitment than in the past that limits other choices for a family.
Another big consideration is that much information about products is available on the web and most people have easy access to that info. Much of what we used to ask about is more quickly and easily answered online from the usual sources and more people have learned that they can find it easily enough on their own.
So, less use of the forums.
i took a long time off from this forum. the
drill baby drill
thread ruined catsailor for me by showing me a side of some of my friends i couldn't stomach. older? sure. wiser? prob not.
i'm still racing on a variety of boats, but not as often as i did a decade ago. own an F16 (falcon) and it has become my most favorite cat ever, even though it is likely just a fad. soured on volunteering and took much of what's happened within US SAILING personally - ironically, it has been 10 years since i was given the CREW award.
picked up a couple of other hobbies and i've put a lot of time into my kid - she's coming along nicely.
nice to see some names i associate with really good memories. grateful for damon's efforts to keep this site going following rick's passing.
Besides all the other reasons give (the fighting, trolling, all topics beaten to death)
the web 2.0 (user generated content) was the dawn of social media (circa 2005) and the beginning of the end for most forums
I think Facebook has drastically reduced the use of the forum - despite the fact that it makes for a terrible repository of data and is not searchable
Hi John,
I have the Falcon's predecessor, a Blade F-16 and love it; with the self-tacking jib, my wife likes to sail again - I have made some nice wings for it so it is our
cruising boat
now. It is as fun to sail as the Boyer A class cat I had but unlike the A cat, I can leave the mast up on it and be sailing in just a few minutes. The spinnaker makes it faster than the A cat and the snuffer makes that easy. The light weight makes my back happy so it is also my favorite cat now with a nice mix of all the desired traits!
wings on a blade! please post pics, mike. agree on all points - rolling up the beach or the ramp at the end of the day with a boat i can move around by myself is a joy.
still grateful to you for the effort you put into the mystere 4.3 - i really liked that boat, and seeing so many on the start line at spring fever years ago was a hoot.
hope you and yours are well and happy!
Hi John, glad to see you check in. Rarely check this forum, but was shopping for some used Wave parts for Sail Sand Point in Seattle. www.sailsandpoint.org.
The Hobie Fleet in Seattle, and the NW is going strong, with a lot of new youth and new familys. Mostly due to the efforts of Laura Sullivan and Peter Nelson. They are setting up a nonprofit to serve the Youth program. I even checked the Politics...section, and see Mike, Hobie1616 is still busy talking too himself, pages 75-81.
Regards, Caleb
Come on back, the site is back in business.
I still cruise through from time to time. I miss my
glory days
of cat sailing, but times change. I've been doing the majority of my sailing on a 1D35 out of Charleston with a few trips a year on other boats up the east coast. I do not miss all the off-topic BS threads that went around the forum.
And I do miss Todd Hart.
I ended up with a severe burn-out which prevented me from doing much of anything for some years. My sailing suffered a lot as my physical condition took a nose-dive.
My boat however (1985 Nacra 5.2, with added spin and removed center bar, square-top main and beam-sheeted blade jib), is still doing fine. Its time to re-gel the hulls though, they look like a slippery rock you might see in a river somewhere. I swear folks in ship-shape yachts turn around when I greet them, pretending not to have seen the Frankenboat... Do I give a $h17?
I'm faster than their 4KSBs anyway..