Humber Yawl Club

WHAT USE IS A WEB-PAGE FOR A SAILING CLUB?

Not a lot really? One day perhaps, when VRML (Virtual Reality) can create the illusion of being afloat with bucketfuls of cold salty weather flying out of the computer screen and a simulated heaving deck can make you really feel seasick, there'll be no need to go sailing. Perish the thought since then it would be like standing in a cold shower without tearing up five pound notes.

In the meantime, as more and more of us 'get connected', it can serve as an additional source of information and channel of communication for the club - a sort of additional newsletter.

This could be a way of distributing uptodate information through the season as a supplement to 'word of mouth' - which can extend the range to those who are not online.

There are advantages to this perhaps odd-seeming idea. Some information can be placed on a website much more easily than it can be sent out to all members on paper.

As well as information, a website could have a social function if many members were to contribute and late news about events, race results, cancellations etc. could help this.

By LINKING to other clubs, national sailing sites (RYA, RORC etc), class association news (Do we have a Flying Fifteen site yet?), regional and international sites of sailing or general maritime interest, not only useful information but also an element of 'entertainment' can be introduced.

This might be a way to while away a winter's evening but also could help to find details relevant to cruising in new waters, allow contacts with faraway destinations, locate chartering and chandlery information or help with selling or buying a new boat.

These kinds of information and communication uses are likely to be the main benefit, but if anyone would like to use the club's webpages to run a quiz, tell (respectable and sailing) jokes, promote Cadet or training activities or publish anything else of interest to members or outside visitors, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO HAVE A GO! Send Trevor Bending your ideas on paper, floppy disc, by e-mail or electric telephone. (Morse, semaphore or code flags by arrangement!)

BACK TO HOMEPAGE