Seven Seas Cruising Association

[Triton318]

Is anyone a member of SSCA? If you are, how beneficial do you find membership in this organization to be? Would you recommend becoming a member? Thanks.

[CSY Man]

Yup, been a member for 11 years.

Quite useful to me as the library is close to me: I get books there all the time.

If you live somewhere else than Fort Lauderdale the library may not be to your convenience, but still lots of benefits and good info from SSCA.

[Mata'irea]

Even though we are about to complete our circumnavigation and head home, we just renewed our membership today for another 3 years. You know, just in case land life doesn't agree with us and we decide to head back out.

The monthly bulletin is one of the most useful cruising publications available. It is full of accurate, up-to-the-minute information about cruising destinations. That it is delivered electronically to my email account every month no matter where we are makes it especially useful for the full time cruiser. In addition, members are now able to download the latest issue of Ocean Navigator for free every month.

Best,
Danika

[SvenG]

We have been paying members for a while (on the order of a year). We joined mainly to support the discussion forum which was quite active at the time. The forum itself is free but we believe in supporting the community.

Ever since the site was hacked last fall the forum's reliability has been spotty at best. Several user have posted questions and complaints which were met with helpful responses like 'learn to multitask while you wait'.

We will not renew our membership.



-Sven

[Randyonr3]

Been a member for 10 years now.. and agree the monthy bulletin is worth it weight..

[CSY Man]

In addition, members are now able to download the latest issue of Ocean Navigator for free every month.

Good info, thanks

[tallyhorob]

I have been a member for about a year, like it and also have signed up with there seven seas U, good useful web classes IMO

[Ocean Girl]

Just joined, so far so good, love the resource.
Tallyhorob, can you expand a bit about the classes, I am interested in taking a few.
Erika

[osirissail]

I have been a member for 20 years and will not renew. But for potential cruisers interested and finding out what the life is all about the SSCA is about as good a source as you can find. Especially useful is going to the master GAM's in Melbourne Fla or Annapolis MD.
- - The SSCA is a treasure house of experience for "wanna-be's" to learn and get some inspiration to expend the perspiration to get ready to go cruising. A lot of old timers will share their experiences and wisdom at the various seminars and presentations at the GAM's.
- - For the active - out there - cruiser there is little the SSCA can offer. Politics and policy decisions in the last few years have -IMHO- greatly diminished both the Bulletin and the benefits for active cruisers. There are other sources available especially on the internet for current information about destinations especially with the billions of sailing/cruising blogs by people out there actually doing it.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by osirissail

Politics and policy decisions in the last few years have -IMHO- greatly diminished both the Bulletin and the benefits for active cruisers.

Something to consider next time one of our moderators closes down a thread because it's 100% about politics and 0% about cruising.

[maxingout]

We are long term members of the SSCA. We used the montly bulletin all the way around the world. Whenever we sailed into port, we looked at what the bulletin said so we knew what to expect on entry. It also provided valuable information regarding services that we might need while in a particular country. Coming into port and exploring a new country was definitely easier because of the SSCA bulletin.

[s/v 'Faith']

While the normal policy of this forum (and one I respect) is not to post links to other forums, I believe that it is appropriate in this case since the SSCA forum has been discussed here.

As many of you know, I moderate/Administer on multiple forums, and have served as a moderator of the SSCA for almost 5 years.

The public discussion forum is run as a service to the cruising community at large. No fees are involved and it is open to all. It is currently a non-revenue forum, google adds were used for a time to support the forum but were abandoned at the last server upgrade.

The 'political' threads are minimal, and mostly the product of a couple of posters who left here after the strife they caused was squelched by the effective moderation here (thanks a lot guys)

SSCA is a slightly different animal. It is much more 'out there' oriented, and ... mostly just different.

I am thankful for this forum, as well as the others I participate on. I wish them all well, and am grateful for the friends I have made (and met) from some of these resources. They are resources though, and will be exactly what you (and the rest of the members) choose to make them.

[Tellie]

I haven't re-newed this year. But I appreciate everything I received from SCCA over the years. We used to go to the pot lucks years ago in Ft.Lauderdale. It was the best thing for my wife. If you have a somewhat reluctant wife the pot lucks are a great place to expose your wife to other women that can give real world experience. My wife was able to get advice from women sailors that helped her. No matter how hard I tried to explain things, sometimes it just takes another woman. Do they still have the monthly pot lucks?

[Jon D]

I am also a moderator over there for full disclosure however my response here is as a member

Tellie - yes there are still the monthly pot lucks and Sunday Ft Lauderdale breakfasts. I'll contact you off line and get you the details.

As far as worth joining - it really depends on your objectives, if you are planing on going cruising full time or are out there full time, it is really worth it IMHO. As mentioned above the bulletins [which are avail on line for members] and the GAMS are a great resource for getting the info you need whether on a remote port or just what works and does not. Also there is an equipment survey that members can access and figure out what stands up and does not. We have been members for a long time and even once done cruising will stay members to give back what we have learned. I have not done any of the webinars so have no opinion but have attended live sessions on weather etc which were very valuable to me.

If you are just having fun locally or not interested long term in live aboard./ full time cruising then probably not worth the money.

[YOGAO]

SSCA Commodores here. We clearly think it is worth it to get monthly reports from people who really are cruising.

The forum is not as active as this one, but again the value of what is posted is pretty high, IMO.

Fair Winds,
Mike