Dolphin24.org Newsletter #1

September 7, 2007

This is a kind of test to be sure the website's newsletter gizmo works.  I’ll keep this brief but it’s hard as this whole project is about details.  First I want to thank all of you who have so far signed up for the newsletter.

Newsletters will be archived in a link in the Home section. For the moment there will no pictures in the newsletter as this may cause some clogging for those who have dial up service. Later, we might just have a simple email announcement containing a link that will take you directly to the newsletter on the site.

Last time I looked the website is number 2 on both Google’s and Yahoo’s search engine lists (key words - dolphin 24 sailboat)

The new “Rosters” sections list all Dolphins we know of by hull number, builder and boat name – including past boat names where we have them. These lists will link to any info we have on that particular boat. Right now we have just over 100 Dolphins in the database with varying degrees of info.

I don’t have a search function on the site but this would be nice. I also would like a linked alphabetical index which might work just as well. I will work on it.

I have not yet been able to get to the Blunt Library at Mystic Seaport which, I am told, has interesting 1950s/60s material from magazines about MORC. They also have race participation and results of Dolphins in the early to mid 1960s, including the Off Soundings Club race results and their measurement data. I am particularly interested in the ratings differences assigned to our “one design” Dolphins based on their measurements. This will be a Fall project.

Regarding builders, we have not yet been able to get any info on Pacific Dolphin – a major hole we need to fill. Gradually, we are getting more info on Yankee and the Marscot Plastics/O’Day/Lunn production numbers but it’s slow. We are getting info on Tripp & Sons (Westport, MA) built Dolphins, but nothing yet on J.J. Taylor & Sons (Toronto) Dolphins. We have an interesting section building on the New Zealand built fin keel S&S 24. And we need to find some Shaw 24's and Mermaid 24's.

Back in early June I printed the website and had several copies made and bound – then about 70 pages double sided – now we have maybe 3 times that. I sent some of these to people who helped me get the info I needed about the 1950s and 60s and who do not have or use computers. The formatting into an 8 ½ x 11 page leaves something to be desired but the book gave them a pretty good idea of what we were doing. Below are a couple of pictures of the book.

This 'webbook' idea is interesting and I have been searching for software that lets you download a website and easily edit and convert it to an 8 ½ x 11 format - but I have been told this does not exist yet. It is very time consuming to download each page. There will be a lot of new material over the next few months and maybe all of this can turn into a real book.

We need to locate more Dolphin owners, get more stories and restoration reports, start getting info on cruising grounds, more pictures, etc. And we need to use the forum more to share info and commentary.

 I have had a lot of favorable comments and I appreciate them. Please do not hesitate to pass on to me any corrections and suggestions you may have.

Ron Breault

Webmaster