A message from the helm...

[CapnK]

Another note to let all of you know that I really appreciate your membership and your contributions!

Between getting this place going properly (which I am still working on, thanks for the patience and the suggestions!), it being Christmastime, and my being a member on other sites and having other things going on, I haven't been able to personally Welcome everyone, nor to respond to every post. This *does not* mean that I don't read everything (I do!), or that I don't appreciate all of the great content everyone is adding. Actually, I think it is *awesome*. :)

(There are many posts that I haven't gotten around to doing my very own blabbing away about the content therein - but don't worry, I *will* get around to doing so... ;D)

Thanks also to those of you who have taken the time to let other folks at other sites who are small boat sailors know about this site - it is directly due to your selflessness and effort that over half of our current members are here - and that is *great*! :)

If I haven't welcomed you personally, allow me to do so now - I'm very glad that you are here, and I look forward to getting to know all of you better as time goes by. :) I hope we cross paths out there in person some time, get to shake hands and maybe have a cocktail as the sun drops below the sprit and down into the tropical water. That would be my ultimate outcome as a result of making friends here.

And by way of a bit of background, I have to tell you that I really didn't expect the site to take off as fast as it has! I thought I was sort of my own type of weirdo, sitting here on my small boat with big plans for going long distance, and I cannot communicate to you all how rewarding it is to know that I am not the only "weirdo" out there. ;D LOL

Your being here, our getting to know each other eventually through this website, that is one of my best possible Christmas presents. Thanks. :)

Kurt

[Jack Tar]

Kurt:

     Great Job. Great site. Ill make every effort to help by posting lots of interesting stuff. Hope you and yours have a great Holliday season.

                                                                      Douglas G Young
                                                                      AKA Jack Tar

[Zen]

"Your being here, our getting to know each other eventually through this website, that is one of my best possible Christmas presents."


I second that!!
I am feeling very pleased to find this site and the folks here are great. I had been feeling somewhat "portless" since selling my Ariel. The Islander site does not really have much in the way of active feedback. you guys are the bomb!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays ( whatever floats your boat) to all

[seanshine]

Great site and nice work Krunch.  Yes you may be the only wierdo out here that would take on this much work and resonsiblility....heh heh.  Thanks.  I'll pass the word on to the crew here in the PNW.  So what's with the karma?  We don't need no freakin' karma....Arrrrrr!  Make mine "the swashbuckling newbie".  Sean

[Skipper Dave]

Kudos,

I really like this site.  I think it's off to a good start and will only get busier after the Holidays.   Will continue to post, support and read.

Thanks,
Skipper Dave
---------------------------------------------------------------

This morning it looked so nice out I thought I'd leave it out.

S/V "Tina Marie" Cal 2-27

[yuletide]

Kurt! us weirdos gotta stick together,and a great site like this is a good way to do it.I have 30ft excaliber steel sloop,am currently up to my neck in refitting for north atlantic passage to england,then beyond from lake ontario,via St lawerence river,newfoundland,possibly Azores.then Falmouth Eng,various south eng ports and up thames to gravesend,see family.This will perhaps be the tuffest voyage i could choose.If ican do this i can do anything.No stranger to north atlantic,have crossed 5 times on ships,been lifelong dream to go bluewater in my own vessel.But preparation is everything!Vessel is full deep keel,10/6in beam,5ft draft,Needs self steering,SSB,charts,reefing system,liferaft...ect,ect..very long list o stuff,will get away eventually, but much work yet,Will be seeking advice! All good things gotta start somewhere! KEEP UP GOOD WORK,FAIR WINDS,BOTTOMLESSBOTTLEOGROG! WS

[CapnK]

Well, thanks, y'all! :) I think that the "crew" here is great and only getting better. Glad to have ya' aboard! Arrrh! ;D

[Solace]

Really love this site. Its right up my alley, being a smaller boat sailor who likes to sail far.

Feel like I know some of you - lots from Lats and Atts - hope to build great online relationships with lots of you.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers!

John

[CapnK]

Thanks a lot, John, glad to have you here being an active contributor. :)

[CapnK]

Saw an admin on another site post this type of info, and thought it was a good, neat idea. Here's a chart showing what traffic on sailFar was like this past year.

Jan/Feb/Mar of the past year were really busy, I think because that's when we had our first big 'rush' of members posting lots of information specific to our niche of sailing, one which hadn't really been covered before. After the initial rush, and with the onset of better sailing weather in spring and summer :), things slowed to what would probably be a more-expected pace. Since that time, there has been steady growth, probably more like what we'll see moving forward in time. Pretty neat stuff. :)

April 06

• Total Unique Referrers        92
Total Unique User Agents    165

Dec 06

• Total Unique Referrers        248
  Total Unique User Agents    486

[CapnK]

Subtitle: The Return of Grog ;)

I'll be upgrading the Forum software and other such webbish tasks starting today, so you may get some generated errors or "page not found" kind of stuff until all of it is done.

I might even wind up migrating the whole site to a new server, in which case the site would effectively go down for several hours to a day and a half or so; if so, don't worry, it'll be back soon. :)

See you on the other side!  8) ;D

[Frank]

grog to Capt K for fixing the grog ;-)

[CapnK]

T'anks fer da grog, mate - and to you as well! :D

During the upgrade, I played with the site logo some. Also made a desktop wallpaper utilizing the logo image, it is in the Gallery, poke this link to get it if you'd like. File size is approx 185K.

[Parrothead]

I really apprieciate the effort your putting in. This site is very cool. Latt's is cool and all but its not a "Real" sailor site. Its more about Bob and how he can make a buck or get free poop for his boat....quote...I liked this SO much I bought this for my boat! unquote....well not really...getting it free for saying so is not the same as putting up hard cash is it. Then when the boat was loaded up with brand new free stuff he sold it.Good for him..its still America and all but everytime someone trys to make money off a hobby then someone has to lose. Thanks for haveing a place for us "Real" peeps without a million bucks to exchange ideas.IT makes the whole thing much more fun. Peace.

[AdriftAtSea]

CapnK-

Any chance of getting a larger version of the wallpaper... I have a 30"monitor to fill.

[CapnK]

Parrothead - LMAO! I came to a similar conclusion about the mag a few years back. Loved it when it was a renegade-ish production, but now - you can't see the good content for all the ads, and it bugs me to pay money so that advertisers can hawk their wares to me. I see a copy of it every few months, and so far haven't felt as if I have missed much. :)

Dan - 30" monitor?!?!?! Geesh - that thing must have cost more than my first and second boats! lol What resolution are you running at? I don't think that the original image was taken at anything larger than 1024x768, but I might be able to scale it up a bit...