2004 Seattle Boat Show and C-Brat Convention

Don't fret too much for Dave. Last I heard he was on a three month boat break! We do, however, have to keep bugging him to make sure he shows up for whatever gets arranged for the SBSCBC. Last year, the poor guy was running around doing the dishes and stuff instead of enjoying himself. This year, I want to get his damn beer for him!
 
Thank you for the kind thoughts and words, it is true that I am no longer running the Larkspur/Hilton and that my sanity has returned to a somewhat normal level! After reading about the problems people were having making reservations I called and straightened out the $49.00 C-Brat rate, it is still in effect at the Larkspur. If you have any problems making a reservation, ask for the Front Office Manager - Danielle. She really knows her stuff and should take care of it for you. The Hilton portion last year was a freebie, they will want to charge the group this time if you are interested in meeting there again, but I don't think they would be too unreasonable. Let me know if you want me to call the Hilton and find out.
Chivita Dave
 
Hey Dave,
Thanks for going to the mat for us on that with the Larkspur. Heck forget the Crowne plaza Folks ,if we can make the Larkspur work, that sounds like the place. I will ask the Factory again today about helping us with a group thing at the Hilton.
Jim
 
Ok I went to the Factory today and confirmed with Jill, the office manager, that indeed Scott says it is a go on doing the get-together Saturday night the 17th at the Hilton. She asked me to call, and I put a call in on both ,the rate for rooms and the info on the lounge area of the Hilton. Danielle told me that Bonnie could help us out ,but as of yet she hadn't put our room rate in the computer. Hopefully my call will urge some movement on that .
Chivita Dave if you have a better connection at the Hilton, by all means go ahead .If you can get the info, just forward it to Jill at C-Dory? Thanks for all your help!!
Jim
 
I too wish to thank Chivita Dave for all his hard work to make the gathering such a success last year. You really went all out for us!

Jim, for a moment there, I thought that we'd have to check on the C-Brat VYC reciprocity status at the Seattle Yacht Club for a place for our gathering. But I see that you seem to be putting it together. Thanks.
 
And a great big thanks from me, Jim. I really ain't much good at this organizing stuff, and your help in this and all the things you have done for the group are very much noticed and appreciated. Yeah, you're cool.

Thanks also, once again, to Chivita Dave. Just as an example for all who didn't make it last year, let me tell you about the first time I met Dave. Kay and I had just pulled into the parking lot at the Larkspur late Friday evening for last year's event, and here comes this guy running across the parking lot flagging me down. He asks, "TyBoo?", and I say yes. He puts out his hand and says "I'm Dave. You're just in time to join the others for a trip into town for dinner." Then he runs off, we park, and by the time we got to the font door of the hotel, here he comes driving a big old shuttle bus to take the bunch of us to a local pub. He had to get back to work, but said to just call the hotel when we were ready to go back, and the van would be right there. Sure enough, it worked.

This year, he's not working, but I sure hope he brings his family to the SBSCBC.

See ya there, Dave and Jim!
 
Yessir, ditto on the "thank yous." So, it is Friday the 16th at Brock's house and Saturday the 17th at the Hilton?

I had another thought, maybe a way for us to say thank you to the C-Dory factory folks - we could put together a big 4' x 5' collage of some of our "front page" and other shots showing exactly how much fun the C-Dory crowd is having...let them display it in their area, while doing a little recruiting for new Brats ourselves...
TyBoo":3bot5emp said:
And a great big thanks from me, Jim.
 
Pat Anderson":3fnilrww said:
I had another thought, maybe a way for us to say thank you to the C-Dory factory folks - we could put together a big 4' x 5' collage of some of our "front page" and other shots showing exactly how much fun the C-Dory crowd is having...let them display it in their area, while doing a little recruiting for new Brats ourselves...

Great idea, Pat - sounds like a good indoor winter project for RF... :lol:

I have access to large format, high resolution plotters, and could priint out the "winning" design(s). Can go 3' in one dimension, any length in the other.
 
Greg is definitely the guy - he seems pretty adroit with making those photo collages (Photoshop? Something else?). Redfox - can you take this on, get the collage file to Bill to print out on the plotter? I know you have great taste in photos - I'll be happy as long as "C-Dorys Running in the San Juans" is in there somewhere...Other nominations for photos to include? An Alaska shot or two would NOT offend anybody! I think a lot of smiling faces (Olympia, Blakely, Lopez, Sequim, wherever) would not be out of order either, C-Dorys are about good times with good folk!

Da Nag":1tta5w5d said:
Great idea, Pat - sounds like a good indoor winter project for RF... :lol:

I have access to large format, high resolution plotters, and could priint out the "winning" design(s). Can go 3' in one dimension, any length in the other.
 
Greg,
If you decide to take on this mission, you must include an Iceberg/C-Dory shot and one of your C-Dory pushing through the ice!
 
Your mission, RF, should you decide to accept, is to make us proud. As always, if you or any of your team are killed or captured, the Nerd will disavow any knowledge of your existence. This post will self-destruct in 5 seconds.
 
And all that is left of my mission, since I have so effectively eschewed the hard part of arranging the logistics and procuring funding, is to write that letter to C-Dory. Since there was no begging involved, the rest was easy.

The letter went out in the mail this morning. I said thanks and invited them to our site, but used a lot more words. Because I spoke in part on behalf of all of us, the text of the letter is shared below. I sent it straight to the top, and I hope I spelled his name right.




December 1, 2003

Michael S. Barber
415 Alternate Highway 101
Warrenton, OR 97146

Mr. Scott Reynolds
C-Dory, Inc.
25028 Pacific Highway So.
Kent, WA. 98032

Dear Mr. Reynolds:

My name is Mike, and we met briefly at the Seattle Boat Show last January. A gentleman in Alaska, Greg Davidson, and I were responsible for initiating the C-Brat group of C-Dory owners. The C-Brats have evolved from their fanciful beginnings to the largest organized group of C-Dory owners in the world and the best bunch of people to be found upon the waters anywhere. There are for certain three C-Dory 22’ Cruiser orders being processed at your factory right now that are going to members of our forum, and their purchase is unquestionably a result of the buyers’ association with the group. It would not surprise me if other boats you are building today will also end up with current or future members. Our specialty is people, you see, and we have found that the people who are attracted to your product are for the most part all of the same ilk and enjoy the same pace of life. They have similar enough personalities and demeanor that one knows when meeting someone who owns a C-Dory that the person will be a likeable sort.

This letter is addressed to you, but it is meant for your entire organization, and my purpose in writing is twofold.

First, it is my understanding that one of our friends has spoken with you about contributing to what we call the Seattle Boat Show C-Brat Convention. I further believe that the response he received was tremendously positive. On behalf of all our group’s members, I express our gratitude for the upcoming consideration as well as the previous gestures on your company’s part. At the first convention, as we jokingly call it, we were treated quite well by Ricardo and others at your company. It was held at the Hilton just down the road a ways from you, and it looks like we will be able to use that facility again this time. We also have noticed and appreciated the other gestures, both friendly and significant, over the past year or so. It was a great experience meeting the members of your team in the cold and fog of Sequim Bay a short while back. The hats, mugs and key rings are used and displayed prominently on all the boats that were there. We also were very moved by the attempts of one of your associates to find us at Blakely Island this past July! The association between our group and your company has purposely been, and will always be, one of mutual respect with no obligation nor commitment, commercial or otherwise. You build the boats, and we get the friends.

The second reason for writing is to introduce you to our new C-Brats Online Forum. We have given up on the constrained and heavily commercial forum site provided by MSN, and created a wholly independent site to serve as our home on the web. Bill Giese (red 22’ Cruiser just out of the mold, going to EQ) has used his remarkable computer talents to install, refine and maintain the software on leased server space. We have also registered several Internet domain names that point to the site (c-brat.com, c-brat.net, c-brat.org, c-brats.com). The link on the C-Dory, Inc. web site is pointed to one of those domains, and therefore takes your customers to our forum when they choose the first of the two listed Owner’s Group links you provide. Several of us have C-Brat logo decals on our boats, and all of us encourage people who express interest in our boats to visit us online. Dave Safford (red 22’ Cruiser in the mold or close to it, going to EQ) had a huge banner made up to display at our frequent gatherings on the water. We’re famous, I tell you! We are also a great group of people with common interests, vastly varying lives but similar lifestyles, and a comfortable sense of community when visiting either in person or through a keyboard thousands of miles apart. There are no dues or registration fees for our members, and the administrators on the site cover the cost of providing the forum, which is insignificant when measured against the personal value we receive. We have no intention of soliciting funds through any means, including paid advertisements.

We did, briefly, consider changing the name of the group, but the name C-Brats has some historical significance to our roots. Most of the time, it rather fits, as well. Some people are taken aback for a moment when they first read or hear the name, but if they give us enough time, we make them proud to be one of us. A yacht club we are not; and neither do we aspire to be.

You and your entire staff are greatly encouraged to visit our site, and anyone at your plant is also invited to join the group as a member and contributor of information. The forum is divided into two main sections, which we call the Pub and the Library. As you might surmise, the Library is where we discuss boat related topics in a more serious tone, and the Pub is where we have fun for the most part, but also do the serious work of organizing gatherings, cruises and the like. We do, on occasion, have questions and comments come up that could best be addressed by someone in your organization. Such issues are invariably resolved, and to my knowledge, thus far always efficiently, by C-Dory, Inc. The resolution of the concern is then, in most cases, reported on the forum. It is the rare occasion when an issue is raised by a member who came by specifically for help with the question, and then does not return to fill us in, that problems can surface. People, especially those who just visit, are left wondering what happened. It would seem to me that a group of people, who are best described as down-to-earth, all using a product manufactured by a company that the description also fits so well, should be easily able to enjoy an open relationship with the manufacturer that lends itself to promoting both the product and the joy of owning it. For your product, there is no better medium through which to effect that than our forum. It is not a matter of trust or product confidence, because we all have that; it is simply a means of portraying our trust and confidence in the light it warrants.

Besides that, you just might find yourself enjoying it! And what better place than the World Wide Web to tell me a little history of the 1996 CD25 Cruise Ship that I recently found and bought. All I know for sure is it is hull #6 and the last of the initial run.

We thank you for all you have done for the C-Brat group of C-Dory owners, and we look forward to seeing you again at the upcoming boat show.


Yours truly,
 
Laconic in person, loquacious online, Taboo exhibits a rare propensity to spin compelling yarns vis-a'-vis his inanimate love: A small vessel made by the C-Dory Company in Kent, WA.
A good read, one which will entertain and amuse all who open its cover, landlubbers included.

Atlantic Monthly
 
Man, you edukated types are just too much for me.

I ain't proud - for the benefit of the rest of the dopes out there:

la·con·ic (l
schwa.gif
-k
obreve.gif
n
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ibreve.gif
k)
adj.
Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.

So...just to make sure I got this right - Beavis and Butthead are laconic, correct?
 
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