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Back in the days of CompuServe, I was wondering what was the use for HTML and Mosaic. I played with it a little, locally, but couldn't see the advantage over other means of creating and displaying a page. Of course, what I was missing was the benefit of publishing that information to the world, and hyperlinking to information others had published.
Then, because I was on staff of a couple Compuserve forums, I was given the opportunity to create my own "home page" that would be accessible from the "World Wide Web." I was still puzzled. What did I have that others would be interested in reading? No one cared about my hobbies.
Wait a minute! What about my sailing hobby? I could create a site dedicated to the Alberg 30, and post some information on maintaining the Atomic 4 engine to interest people who didn't already have an Alberg 30.
And so it came to be that I first created this website in 1995. You can still see early versions of it on the Wayback Machine, from December 1996 to August 2000. In 2000, I purchased the alberg30.org domain and moved the content to a shared hosting server. For a few years I maintained my own server in a colocation facility, but due to the rising cost and effort of doing so, ultimately went back to a hosting service.
--George Dinwiddie
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Offshore Sailing
by Bill Seifert with Daniel Spurr
We went to a Windjammers lecture to hear Bill Seifert and I was impressed enough to buy
the book on the spot. I've heard a lot of people talk about ways to improve a boat, but
I've never heard one person suggest so many good ideas that I hadn't considered. Part
of the charm is the specificity of the suggestions. Everyone says you should secure your
floorboards, hatchboards and batteries. Bill shows good suggestions on how to do so.
The suggestions are very practical for the do-it-yourselfer, too. Many show how to
make or adapt inexpensive solutions. Tip #12 on closing the deck blower vents is one
that will pay off for me without ever going offshore. I'll implement that one to
stop the wintertime storms from finding their way belowdecks.
Besides modifications, the book also includes advice for operating offshore, cooking,
boat selection, dealing with bureaucracy, and more.
Bill Seifert has worked at Tartan, TPI, and Alden Yachts. He's a veteran of many
Marion-Bermuda races and now runs his own yacht management company. His tips are
born of experience--not of book-learning--and it shows. He obviously knows his
stuff.
(Note: commissions earned from this link help defray the costs of this website)
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