Happy Birthday CD Message Board

[Cathy Monaghan]

October 18th marked the 20th anniversary of the CD message board. A big thank you to everyone who has contributed during the past 20 years.


Fair winds,
Cathy Monaghan
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay
Webmaster - CDSOA, Inc.

[mgphl52]

And a HUGE Thank You! for all the work you have put into it!!!

[bilofsky]

It was originally called the Cape Dory Information Exchange. CD had gone out of business not too many years before, and CD owners were hungry for information and to talk with other owners, especially those of us out here on the West Coast.

It seems obvious now, but in those days it was a pretty new idea to be able to have a community independent of geography, built around a common interest.

Today there are lots of wikis and other collectively created knowledge bases. But back in 1996, not so much. The first wiki had been created just the year before. But over 20 years this community has built a huge knowledge base of questions and answers, many of which are still relevant today. The boats, after all, haven't changed.

It's been a long time. It's accomplished a lot. And then, as now, a website is all about the content.

That content has been provided by all of you. So congratulate yourselves, and happy anniversary.

- Walt Bilofsky
Founding Webmaster, The Cape Dory Board

[Jim Walsh]

October 18th marked the 20th anniversary of the CD message board. I big thank you to everyone who has contributed during the past 20 years.


Fair winds,
Cathy Monaghan
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay
Webmaster - CDSOA, Inc.

Truly a noteworthy milestone. I'd like to thank all those who have worked behind the scenes to keep this valuable asset running smoothly and all those who have made use of this site thereby ensuring its ongoing success. Bravo!

[Paul D.]

19 years ago I remember finding and using this site. Things loaded quite a bit slower then and I remember it being a large factor in purchasing first an old Typhoon in 1998 that was hard up and then our current Femme du Nord a few years later. I believe this site has added monetary value to our boats as well as so much community value. Our boats, and maybe their owners too, will live on as long as we integrate the best aspects of new technology without losing the essence of what Carl Alberg and CD bred into them. It is this that really gives them value.

I simply cannot offer enough thanks for all the time and talent Walt, Catherine and others have invested into this board and into our strange but lovable Cape Dory community.

[Sea Hunt Video]

I share the comments and thoughts of Mike, Jim, Walt, Paul and all. This is a truly exceptional board and an amazing group of folks (I may be the one exception ) who participate on this discussion board. I eagerly look forward each day to new posts, new ideas, etc. There is no way I could have done the things I have done with S/V Bali Ha'i without the 100% support and encouragement of everyone on this board.

Cathy, Walt and all who manage, supervise, and update this website - THANK YOU

[tjr818]

I can only echo everything the others have said. This board was instrumental in us choosing a Cape Dory over several other designs. We have never been sorry. The camaraderie and the free sharing of hard learned lessons and ideas has been invaluable in help us bring Slainte up to the level that the now holds. Every project, big or small, was planed with the help of this board. Thank you, thank you, thank you . . . and Happy Birthday

[Warren Kaplan]

I joined in 2000. I found my CD27 on this board and bought it.

99% of my sailing needs concern sailing in general and cape dorys specifically have been answered by this board...and...answered authoritatively and correctly.

Many of my closest friends I met on this board because they all, at one time or another, had Cape Dorys. Though we have all moved on from CDs, we still are close friends.

Not a bad experience, this board!!

[jbenagh]

well, ditto.

I found my CD25 through here in 2007, moved on to my CD30. Met some great people!

Thanks especially to those who had the vision to put this together!

Jeff

[bilofsky]

The memories are coming back ...

The board started off using the WWWBoard message board software, written in PERL. It was easy and free.

By 2005 there were much better alternatives that made our board look crude, and it was vulnerable to spammers. So Cathy, Bob Dugan and I wanted to move the board to phpBB, the open source platform it still uses today.

But we had nine years of posts in WWWBoard. What to do?

Bob cobbled together a procedure to copy all the old messages into the new database. This was no small undertaking. But in the wee hours of February 5, 2005, he got everything moved over.

Cathy went to make the first post on the new board but a couple of you got here first.

And we're still here.

[John Danicic]

I do need to add my congratulations but by doing so it has made me realize that I have been a Cape Dory owner for more then twenty years now. With all that time above the keel, I could never had understood and learned all the things I now know without the help of you fellow Cape Dory owners which, after all, is the board. I thank you all for being part of it.

Our collective Cape Dory Marina is a big one, encompassing the whole world. We get to walk the docks and bat about ideas of the nautical kind to all sorts of people who sail all kinds of water, all in our very own specific boats. Our members look up from their helms from places half of us can only imagine and have experienced the joys, the foibles, the whims and the excesses of their boats in many different ways if not all ways. Many knuckles have been scrapped. Many tight places have been squeezed into. Many a dollar has been spent and many a lesson has been learned and then freely given out for other owners to heed or ignore what ever their pleasure. Information passed on but also recorded for the next dock walkers to search out.

It has been a joy to be part of this great big community. A community unlike any that has come before. Exchanging and storing the collective knowledge of so many. We do live in amazing times. The Cape Dory Board has been a big part of the last twenty years of my life and will live on for Mariah's next owner, twenty, forty and more years forward.