Hi,

Well I have set up the new Hobie 17 group.

It will take awhile to gain momentum, but I'm sure it will be fun and informative for all sailors, in particular...the Hobie 17 guys, but Hey!!...everyone is welcome....let's make this a great group.

Of course, at anytime ideas or suggestions are welcome....might even work on a Website with links and things.

Join now and be one of the Founding Members of this group..

To Join select the "Join This Group" are on the RHS about 1/4 down from the top of screen

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hobie17

or select ther following link....

Subscribe: hobie17-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Hope to see you at the new group soon

Nige

Why would you start a discussion on a different web site? This is one stop shopping here, if someone is interested in the topic they can take a look no need to log-in at a different site. I don’t see the benefit.
Maybe someone else can help explain this logic.
Thanks
Jon

I've spent a few hours on a H17 and consider myself a H17 sailor.
Steve

That's your option, but the group is growing as a focal point for all things H17. You are most welcome to join if you wish, but please keep an open mind...all we are trying to do is encourage sailing, in particular H17...that's not a bad thing..is it.
Nige

Well after 1 week and 19 members, I decided to kill the H17 Group due to all the knockers...all I tried to do was to get the H17 guys in one place to learn from each other....but some guys just like to criticize....so enough, at least I tried.

Nige

Nigel,

Thats too bad. I enjoyed what I saw with the group so far, and was looking forward to posting some pics this weekend. I was just about to email you as I could not find the group last night.

If someone did not like it, then they could just stay out of it. Who cares if it is somewhat a douplicate of other information out there. It is all for fun anyway!

Thanks for trying and your effort thus far, think it was a great idea!

Mike

Hi, thanks for the nice words about the group....yeah, the critics didn't even have the B...s to criticize in public as they sent there emails to me privately....shame. Maybe I might restart the club...dunno. Just have to ignore the oddballs that want to ruin our group.

I'll start it back up if you don't wanna face the music.

I thought it was a good idea.

Personally, I have always thought that NAHCA (North American Hobie Class Association), as the umbrella organization for ALL of the Hobie classes, should provide different forums or "groups" on their website for each of their different classes, since each type of boat has its own interests, concerns, issues, rigging situations, rules, etc. It seems as though the approach has always been to lump all the Hobie classes together generically as "Hobies."

Perhaps it would be helpful for each individual class to have more of a voice and a little bit of autonomy within the overall class association so that the individual needs of each class can be more easily seen and addressed by NAHCA. And so that NAHCA can conduct polls or have votes on issues that are class-specific.

If NAHCA has something like that, please tell me and I will apologize for mentioning it, because I am not always good at navigating through websites.

The NAHCA website is www.nahca.org

If they don't like the group nobody is forcing them to join it. I am subscribed to a few Yahoo groups, some with everyday banter, and some that only send out information once or twice monthly. The local windsurfing group runs an average of 5-10 emails a day as to where people are meeting up to sail when the wind kicks up. Our local Hobie Fleet group has become a Vehicle for sending out a PDF version of our newsletter thus saving money for the Fleet. So they have Value.

Anyway....let people exercise thier freedom to choose and don't let them get you down.
Have a Good one,
Doug Wilkins

Mary,

This really wasn't a "rules" body or political organization of any kind. It was simply a place for us 17 sailors to talk shop. For example, I FINALLY got an answer to my mast rotation question on there, and a healthy debate over the boom/boomless question was ongoing. What exactly were we doing that was stepping on NAHCA's feet?

Maughan, it's not about Hobie 17 people stepping on NAHCA's feet -- it's about NAHCA stepping on the Hobie 17 people's feet. And right now I'm the one stepping on NAHCA's feet here by suggesting that NAHCA should be the organization providing this kind of facility and this kind of support for its classes of boats.

Gotcha.

Misinterpretted your previous post.

Sorry.

Well, let's say the H17 group would like to stimulate discussion and build momentum for the H17 class of Hobie.

For now, I see value in sustaining those discussion on this website as we may get noticed by new members joining the existing group.

I appreciate Nigel's work and effort with setting up a discussion group as it is an investment of his personal time.

Unfortunately misbehaved "flammers" are a factor of life on the Internet in virtually most discussion groups. What you can control though, that they cannot, is the "delete" key on your own computer. Problem solved.

Anyway, I found the conversation and discussions amongst other H17 owners interesting and would encourage further dialogue as to where we may eventually want to settle. This site works fine and it has been a great source of information and community.

Others?

Sail faaaaaaaaaaast, Tom G

Something to consider: When a class of boats segregates itself, in a way, by setting up their own group all by themselves, they are denying themselves valuable exposure and, in effect, "free advertising" for their class to the rest of the beach-cat world. When other classes see that your class is active and involved and doing things, it makes other people get interested in maybe buying your type of boat.

Hi, the last thing I wanted was to "segregate ourselves" I just wanted a focal point for our class to learn from each other, not just a general forum. Nige

Nigel,
I understand that perfectly. I'm just saying that the more activity "OTHERS" see regarding a particular class, the more interested they get. When a class is off by itself, the only people who see the activity is the people who are within that class, and it becomes a closed circle which keeps getting smaller. Beach-cat sailors in a specific class are now competing for new sailors within the beach-cat world, as well as trying to attract newcomers from outside the beachcat world.

I don't think the purpose of the group was to separate ourselves from the rest of the catsailing community. That'd be akin to sticking our heads in the sand and not coming back for air.

Sometimes, I just feel out of place, maybe selfish, when I post H17-specific questions on here where theres not a definite area for the 17 questions. There wasn't that ambiguity with the yahoogroup.

Mary or Rick, Couldn't you guys set up another Forum for the H17 folks just like you did with the following groups?:
Cruise/Race Multis
Formula 16HP
Formula 18 & 18HT
Formula 20
Farrier Trimarans
Hobie 16/14/Trapseat
IRCA (Indian River)
LI CatSailing
Multihull Council
NAMSA
TBCS (Tampa)
Wave Class Assn
Windjammers/Clearwater

That way they would be HERE and not so segregated from the rest? An Email group though is still a good idea for those that choose to see the Value.
Thanks,
Doug W

Sure, thanks for asking. Rick can set up a forum for any group. I will have him look at this thread when he gets back from Miami, where he is setting up his boat for the Miami-Key Largo Race.