now that the 'Sliding Seat' is being sent out in electronic format, I would hate all Peter's excellent efforts as Editor to get lost for ever after we clear our e-mail inboxes at some date in the future. It may be planned, but should there not be an archival section added to the web site where all editions of the Sliding Seat can be read in years to come? Future generations will want to read how I shaved George Gyngell's bottom when enjoying their coffee!May be someone will tell me this already exists if I click on something! We cannot all be computer savy and I must admit to missing the paper version of the newsletter as it is easier to read with my coffee after dinner than going upstairs to the PC; still I guess that is why I have a printer and a file for e-mail attachments.
Somewhere in here is a serious point, with electronic record keeping, the history of a class is more easily lost. I am even more concerned this is hapening to the Moths, up to 2002 the class produced a printed yearbook which ensured records were laid down once a year. This has now lapsed. I still enjoy going back to early editions seing the exploits recorded of a youthful Simon Allen, Colin Brown or a certain Robin Wood in his boats 'Cock Robin' and 'Robin's Nest', all from a date when I had only just started sailing. However, try to find out who was Moth Travellers Series Champion in 2004 and it is not that easy finding the record on the web as it may not have been recorded and the results table for that year has been deleted from the site. (I will leave you guesing who it was--not that difficult!) We do not want anything similar happening to our IC historical records which the 'Sliding Seat' will become in the years ahead.
Oral history is great, ex-Moth sailors in the IC fleet may have known Major Tony Hibbert (he was the man who guided the split when the British Moth, the Europe and the International Moth class was formed). Now aged about 94, he was present at two recent Moth events, including presenting the prizes at the Worlds. He was still full of tails of historic sail measurement controversies as if they were yesterday, whilst taking a lively interest in hydrofoils. However, such things need systematic recording. Let's protect our records one way or another.
