I've been away from this Forum for quite a spell while busy sailing WHOOSH across the
Med, Atlantic and back up to St. Pete via the
Caribbean. (I've also been subsequently toiling over a 1.5 yr refurbishing
project to pay WHOOSH back for 8 great years of cruising). So...it looks like a few updates about the SSCA services are in order and I'll tag onto this thread for a quick update on the SSCA
Equipment Survey.
Past: It used to be done every 4 years, was a pain to fill out, therefore lacked large participation by the members, and was a pain to sort/publish BUT it did offer interesting info from a tough testbed of
boat gear users: liveaboards and cruising folks. (Gord's original post related to the last paper-based ES, which thankfully has gone the way of the Dodo Bird).
Present: A volunteer
member built & installed an on-line Equipment Survey to replace the paper version but, in fact, it's a very different animal. All the data is cumulative (we passed 2000 surveys by the middle of 2009, it's 2nd year in operation), anyone who's posted a survey can return later to update experience with a piece of
gear or to add a report on new gear (so the ratings and anecdotal info, over time, is able to 'mature'), and the equipment info is in ten segments that include basic info on the types/models/rigs/etc. of the boats that members have chosen for their cruising.
This is a
service intended for members and funded from the
membership fees (unlike e.g. the SSCA Discussion Board, which is open to All Hands). If this sounds like something you might want to take advantage of, you can visit ssca.org and take the Virtual Tour of all the
current services provided by the SSCA.
Jack
WHOOSH, lying Ortega River, FL USA