On the other women's thread, Hobiegary posted a response regarding HeadItUp's post, and I am going to answer him here. (Still can't get the right margin to come in on the other thread. We thought it was Thom Merrill's dog picture, but we took that out, and the thread still goes way off the page.)

Gary said: "I think 'HeadItUp' says it best in her post. Here is what I believe: The internet is predominntly male. Catsailors who want to talk about cat sailing on a forum are mostly male. Women are less assertive when using the internet, for very good reasons; they usually get harrased in some form eventually. GARY"

So here is my response to Gary:
I think you are absolutely wrong. This is not the Old Forum. Nobody gets harassed on this New Forum. If anybody dared to harass a woman here, there would be a cavalry of knights in shining armor coming to her defense. Many of the topics on this forum would be of interest to women sailors and could also benefit from a female point of view. Let's be more positive and encourage women to get involved. If some of the guys prefer a private men's club, they can use the Old Forum.