Association Forum - Background, facts and perspective

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Background, facts and perspective

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

Member Avatar

Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/14/2004 : 13:39:13

Some may find this offensive and some may find it inappropriate, so be it. I firmly believe that these things need to be said due to the number of new participants and what I personally view as some very disturbing trends. With that said, however, please recognize that these are personal, not official, statements and that they do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Association, its Officers or its Staff; past or present.

Background: Approximately two years ago the Catalina 25/250 National Association struggled to survive due to the exodus of most of the Officers. The Treasurer, Clif Thompson, and the Chief Measurer, Duane Wolff, held the Association together and managed all of the day-to-day affairs with the assistance of some very talented Staff volunteers; no small task, believe me. Through their dedicated efforts, leadership and enthusiasm, the Association survived and attracted enough volunteers to fill all of the Officer and Staff roles in last year’s election. The resulting fully staffed team was able to 1) increase membership, 2) clean up, catch up and solidify the Association’s business, bookkeeping and relationships, 3) coordinate and hold a very successful National Regatta, 4) simplify the process for Fleet formation and successfully coordinate the formation of three new Fleets, 5) transition and enhance the website and forum from a paid service to a donated service, 6) enhance the Ships Store and product offering, and 7) successfully publish a C25/250 feature article in each issue of the Mainsheet Magazine.

Association: The real association here is the common bond of ownership of Catalina 25 and 250 sailboats; meaning that it is you, the Members. It is not the legal entity, the website, the forum or the Ships Store. It is the coming together of individuals with a commonality in order to share and rejoice in their experiences. The meager twenty dollar membership dues just barely provide for 1) the cost of publishing and distributing the Mainsheet Magazine which is the only stated benefit of membership, 2) the cost of managing the membership database, 3) the cost of production and distribution of the welcome and renewal letters and the Tell Tale Magazine, and 4) the cost of postage associated with the day-to-day operations of the Association. That’s it. No material profit. No excess funds for providing additional benefits. The National Regatta and the Ships Store are produced and provided to the Members as ancillary benefits on a strictly break-even basis. As a matter of fact, Jim and Karen (Spike) Baumgart provide the web hosting and management services to the Members free of charge. If for whatever reason Jim and Spike move on, then membership dues will need to be increased accordingly to provide for the cost of web hosting and management services; or the website will need to be discontinued. However, those decisions are ultimately up to the Members to make (see the next two sections for more on this subject).

Officers and Staff: The dedicated people that serve in the roles of Officer and Staff to the Association do so strictly as volunteers. There is no compensation other than personal satisfaction. After working all day, caring for children, fixing dinner, or whatever, these people put in time to make things happen solely for the benefit of others. People, especially non-member forum participants, would do well to remember that fact before offering self-righteous criticisms and self-centered disgruntlements. Furthermore, the Officers’ roles and responsibilities are not to control the association, modify its benefits or to even produce anything at all. Their responsibility is simply to see that dues are deposited, bills are paid, assets are protected, and to facilitate and coordinate the membership experience as desired by the Members. The Staff members’ roles and responsibilities are also not to produce anything at all, but to again facilitate and coordinate the ancillary benefits desired by the Members. You will get the Mainsheet Magazine based upon your membership, but nothing requires that it include any C25/250 material. If there is no Association business to report and no Members have submitted material, then what value is there in publishing a Tell Tale newsletter according to the posted schedule? Be that as it may, John Gisondi, Jim Baumgart, Frank Hopper and Arlyn Stewart have gone out of their way to develop material to enhance your membership experience; not because they were obligated to, but simply because they wanted to. How then can anyone criticize what they have produced? Bryan Beamer and Karen Baumgart were under no obligation to enhance the Ships Store, and yet they dedicated substantial personal time to achieve exactly that end. How then can anyone criticize the improvements over what had existed before?

Members: It’s your Association. No, more accurately, you ARE the Association. Do you have a problem with or a suggestion on how to improve a current benefit? Then submit a proposal to the Secretary with a motion to have the Members evaluate the merits of the complaint or the suggestion. Do not simply complain, criticize, or even worse, launch a direct and personal attack on the person you hold responsible. Is that how individuals in a civilized, democratic society relate to one another? Based on recent events and posts on the forum, I’m beginning to think that apparently it is; which is most unfortunate. The By-Laws do not vest the power to change the Association to the Officers group, because it rightly resides with a majority of the Members. Therefore, proposals, motions and balloting of the Members is the only effective and proper way to get things accomplished.

Forum: Finally, I want to address a very disturbing and growing trend that I have noticed on the forum over the past year. That is the tendency by some to disrespectfully and self-righteously attempt to form the forum in their own self image. The underlying purpose of the forum is to facilitate the association that is the linchpin of the Association. We live in a free speech society, and nowhere does it state what can, or how it should, be discussed on the forum, and quite frankly there is no method by which to control the free flowing interactions of individuals anyway. Can anyone imagine walking into a gathering of individuals, be it business meeting, family gathering or social event, and then not only monitoring all of the conversations, but thoroughly disrespecting those individuals’ rights by self-righteously dictating to those individuals what they should be discussing and how? Or worse, forcing those individuals by some means to comply with your view of the world? Of course, there are societal standards concerning manners and appropriate conduct to be observed, but if you don’t like the topic or disagree with the opinions expressed, or are personally offended by the style of an individual’s communication, then you can chose not to participate. The forum is for everyone and not just for the personal gratification and pleasure of just any one individual. Three personal instances of this disturbing behavior in the past year have almost completely destroyed my pleasure from, and desire to, participate on the forum. A real shame since I developed what I consider to be some very good friendships with about a dozen of the participants.

In conclusion, I recognize that this strongly worded diatribe might shock or turn-off a great majority of the Members and cause them to hesitate in supporting my nomination to a second term as the Association’s Treasurer. That’s fine, because quite frankly I wouldn’t mind having a large chunk of my free time back, anyway. However, after seriously considering resigning, canceling my membership and never visiting the forum again, I decided this past weekend that regardless I could not remain silent regarding the issues that I’ve addressed in this post. You might ask, why feeling as I do have I accepted the nomination for a second term as Treasurer? Well, the answer goes something like this: I enjoy interacting with the majority of the members on the forum. The twelve people I consider good friends also enjoy interacting on the forum. For there to continue to be a forum, then there must be an Association. For there to continue to be an Association, then the dues must be deposited and the bills must be paid. For the deposits and the bills to be handled, then there must be a Treasurer. For there to be a Treasurer, then someone must volunteer. If no one else volunteers, then I owe it to myself and to my friends to continue my service. I’ll gladly hand off the office of Treasurer to any one that wants it, or I’ll gladly continue to serve in the role for the benefit of the Association and my friends. However, as I stated above, the decision-making power resides with the majority of the Members, as it should.

Warmest regards,

JB

Edited by - Sea Trac on 10/14/2004 14:07:24

coach
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
231 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2004 : 13:58:24

Very very very well said. I can't imagine too many people that care about the association as a whole having a problem with this
post.

It hits the nail right on the head.

Nice job

Edited by - on

John Mason
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
687 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2004 : 14:10:02

Hear, hear, well said. Not offensive and not inappropriate.

I have much appreciation for all the efforts put forth on behalf of this association. Even more so since attending this year's Nationals (kudos to Gary B., his team, and all others involved). If you've never attended a Nationals, I highly recommend doing so. It really made me feel like I was a member of a great club!

Edited by - on

Ben
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2004 : 14:57:51

Thank you for serving JB, and thank you to all the officers and members who put in the necessary time and effort to make this Association the best sailing association I've ever been a part of. Perhaps I don't express my appreciation often or loudly enough.

Edited by - on

Ed Montague
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
499 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2004 : 15:49:02

I too am guilty of not thanking the association volunteers often enough. Like most of us, I get accustomed to the excellance of this web site, the overall good tone of conversation, and the fact that most discussion is about sailing/boating. I may not have been paying attention very well but evidently I missed something that has folks upset. What ever has been said or implied has been done without the knowledge of the majority of us who hover near this site. I hope that you will do what I do when the occasional idiot comes through and fires unkind words or personal opinions off. Ignore and move on. I am truly sorry to hear that Cliff is resigning. I met him at the nationals this year and know that he has a true heart for the association. Thank you Cliff!!!!!!

Edited by - on

oldsalt
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
578 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2004 : 16:53:03

Terrific post and right on the money, I think.

Edited by - on

At Ease
Admiral

Members Avatar

672 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2004 : 16:59:34

Well said...many of us, in fact most of us, take all this for granted, and should not. Re the comment about members and their...."disrespectfully and self-righteously attempt to form the forum in their own self image"....I belong to BoatUS and am a member of their various forums. Those guys (and gals) and their twin engine 310 HP each powerboat mentality can really get after it. Believe me, I have never seen anything on this site that can compare with those folks.

Edited by - on

austin72
1st Mate

Members Avatar

48 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2004 : 17:32:13

Very well said. I feel this forum has more than justified my donation, and while I read a lot of threads, I have not seen anything really offensive. Maybe there should be a vote counter to which enough votes could subjugate a depersonalized comment into a 'bad form' topic board so we could view the examples of tasteless posts.

I've asked an awful lot of novice questions out here and have always experienced great and supportive feedback. Now I read this, and JimB517's comment from earlier regarding someone spouted off that he posts Fleet 7 news.

Boy, I wish I could post 'fleet news'.

What's going on here?

FYI - I edited because apparently I used a naughty word.

Edited by - austin72 on 10/14/2004 17:39:43

ronrryan
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
561 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2004 : 20:36:36

I have a guess that most folks--like myself--have NO idea what has transpired. I don't write this in order to further tie up this wonderful group, quite the opposite. No officer should ever believe that the majority of members ever feel anything but appreciation and affection for the officers. It is always one or a few people who cause trouble, and in my experience (been on lots of boards) they never represent the majority. Hope you fellows will hang in there, God bless, ron srsk Orion SW FL

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 10/14/2004 : 21:49:14

Well said, JB... It's too easy for us to lose the perspective that the effort required to make all of this happen is done by volunteers whose only incentive is to make the association better for all of us. I once had a home-made sign in my office:

Ideas welcomed
Complaints tolerated
Debauchery banned
...in this office

But that was in a situation where I was paid pretty well to deal with the complaints! It appears to me that somebody (or some people) have lost sight of that distinction--the one between professional office politics and tensions, and a sailing association facilitated by people who have nothing personal to gain, and would gladly abdicate their titles to any constructive candidate who will step up.

Regarding your comments on free speech... I will defend our "informal, unwritten agreement" to avoid political and religious comments. (1) There are a plethora of venues for either of them, and (2) they are just about guaranteed to trigger reactions that are destructive to our sense of community as sailors and owners of "little Catalinas." I cherish these forums as refuge from the heated divisions in this country. I have very strong feelings about many things going on in America and the world, but they do not belong here. There are plenty of boat and sailing topics we can debate that do not offend and trigger offensive responses.

It appears to me that the association has a "brushfire" like this every couple of years--perhaps it's necessary to reset our perspectives and remind us that this is not the office. Nor is it national politics, or even politics of any kind. I haven't seen evidence of a single association officer or candidate who is remotely interested in "fighting" for his title. Proud, yes--they should be.

So, here we are--resetting perspectives. I regret the resignations of outstanding contributors, but they prove my point--the leaders and workers here are sought for their jobs--they don't seek or covet their jobs.

From what I know at this point, I'm confident that we are coming through this brushfire, the initial spark has been extinguished, the residual smoke is dissapating, a few outstanding contributors have taken this opportunity to pass the batons, some are withstanding the heat, and other solid volunteers have stepped up to carry us forward. I have nothing but respect and appreciation for those who are stepping aside... They have served us exceptionally well.

Let's put this behind us, move on, and remember: It's all about sailing--just sailing.

One more time, all together: It's all about sailing.

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 10/14/2004 21:51:50

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.