Budding writers needed

[Rupert]

Have you noticed how our home page tends to stay looking a bit static as the weeks go by? Do you ever think it would be nice to have things to read on it? Well, as Autumn comes and the nights draw in, it is time to do something about it! The cvrda is by the people, for the people, so we need things written by the people, too!

Anything boat related (even obscurely) will be considered for publication, so long as it isn't too rude... so, great places to sail, stories of events, the history of your favorite boat - anything you'd like to read yourself, chances are we would to!

If you email anything to me (rupert at cvrda dot org) I'll check the spelling and grammar (if you are worried about such things) and post it up. Send me photos separately, and I'll try and put them up, too, lack of computer skills allowing...

So, who is first?

[Obscured by clouds]

well I have my Blog, such as it is these days, a part of which is the rebuild of my N18, but the traditionalists here might take exception to what I am doing to it.

[Rupert]

If you would like to pick bits out of your blog to make an interesting article (most on here are pretty broadminded when it comes to rennovating boats) and then link to the blog itself, I'm sure that would go down well.

[davidh]

Rupert,

I've a number of the old Dinghy Mag articles if they'd be of value

D

[chris]

I wrote something out about Gently (Holt's own merlin) , its history and restoration. I could tidy that up if its the sort of thing you had in mind.
Chris

[Rupert]

Perfect, Chris, thank you.

And David, too, if you are willing to have them up on site.

The aim is to make sure the front page keeps bringing people back - there are certain people on here who come direct to the forum every time, and others who must see that nothing has changed for a while and so lose interest in visiting regularly - we have the chance to be the go-to place for interesting articles on the old racing dinghy scene, in all its facets, so lets make the most of it! We don't want to be adding stuff every few hours, but every few days would be nice.

Unless the site can't cope? Pat, Neil?

[Pat]

As far as I know the site can cope and I think it's a great idea. Items could either be emailed to me or we could sort out contributor logins which can be limited to specific categories e.g. a blog in the renovation and restoration section to avoid any risk of accidentally changing something elsewhere. Contributions would then have to be moderated by us before final publication. WordPress is designed for all that so it is easy to set up.

[chris]

Would you want to include images within the text or how best to deal with them?

[Obscured by clouds]

If you would like to pick bits out of your blog to make an interesting article (most on here are pretty broadminded when it comes to rennovating boats) and then link to the blog itself, I'm sure that would go down well.

I'm still putting it together with some photos [some have gone missing]. revamping bits to put it all into the past tense.

[Fireball14017]

Hi Rupert - Johnny here
Firstly; I sail a relatively old Fireball just for fun these days as I'm 70 years old but that's still not stopping me getting the thrills and spills. I've been dinghy sailing since when I was 8 yrs old when I was fortunate enough then that my late father built me a Cadet No 1967. I would be happy to write you an article or two mainly about my dinghy experiences over the years and with the handicap of insulin dependant type 1 diabetes since I was 16 yrs old. I actually bought my latest Fireball GBR14017 "The Border Reiver" 2 years ago so that I could relive the experiences of my own youth of Fireballing in the 70's and 80's in a proper wooden boat before I popped my clogs!
If this is any good to you or your readers I'm quite happy to help.
By the way though- I noticed that the Fireball is not listed on the handicap number list. Is this deliberate or an error? The Fireball as you know was designed by the late Peter Milne in 1962 so is inside the 1965 limit set by yourselves by my reckoning. She should be listed if I recall at 85. All the best for now.
Johnny Fireball 14017

[alan watson]

Hi Rupert,

Only slightly tangentially there is already a huge amount of information in the various topics and posts within the forum of the CVRDA which , if it could be brought together in one document and with some chronology and order - class, design, build, sail quality, photos and antidotes and so on and would be the basis of really interesting history and record of racing dinghies.

What's needed is some sort of application or soft ware that would allow people to make entries but automatically sort them and list them in order.

What I was thinking of was some sort of form like internet businesses use for their customers to submit queries and or comments. They have boxes for specifics like name contact details which could be relabelled class, design, builder and they a page for comment stories and most importantly pictures.

If such an application existed then hopefully an interesting and vibrant history / story of racing dinghies would emerge and write itself.

But does it ? Does anyone know of such a thing. .?

Cheere
Alan Watson
Lightning
Magnum 5
Magnum 9.9

[Pat]

What's needed is some sort of application or soft ware that would allow people to make entries ...

If such an application existed ...

I think it's what we've already got - WordPress - but we currently keep the posting security pretty tight, as allowing everyone to post without a login invites spam and we aren't paid moderators who have all day to sift the input and remove the dross. Having said that I can give contributer logins out to forum members to let folks post into specific sections.

If it is some specific class information for the Dinghy Database please use http://www.cvrda.org/wp-cvrda/dinghy-database-contact

If it is longer articles and images, please either email (button below) them to me or pm me (button below) and I can add items or create you a contributors login and send some instructions.

[Ed]

@alan mothman

lots of ways of doing it....as Pat says, we could use Wordpress....or we could set up a wiki, which might be a slightly better job for the tool....

the issue is nor really in 'how it is done'....but more in finding someone who knows how....who can be bothered to spend the time to set it up properly. It is just that if it was done....we would need to take care to try and do it in a way that it requires little administration, is secure and is sustainable.

I have often thought about it, but just don't really have the time myself at the moment.

cheers

eib

[alan watson]

Hi Ed

You are exactly right. I would be happy to manage a system if there was a system.

Such a system if it exists would need some degree of automatic sorting and ordering. The problem in the Moth class and probably all the others as well is just that collating the information.

The year books alone is a huge and painstaking business of scanning endless A4 sheets add to that the CVRDA material, class national and international websites, and personal pics and anecdotes and there is a huge and to me at any rate fascinating body of story and history.

The question is is there an application which can manage sort order and store information sent to it from contributors. If there is then that is one answer.

Hey oh...always the idealist.

Cheers
Alan

[Captain_Pugwash]

I bought an old British Moth 3 months ago, joined the association and the web site and thought it might be interesting if people could follow my renovation. I started a topic and now have 3 pages with pictures detailing the process plus some idle chatter along the way! I must admit to being both astonished and humbled as the topic has over 6000 viewings so far. One could argue that this means that many people may now have visited the site who may not have done so before. They may well have viewed the 'For Sale' page. They may also now know a little more about British Moths. It would seem to be an excellent way of promoting classes and associations.