An email conversation with a friend who has known this site since I was asking friends for their initial feedback asked what my plan was when I began this, and my sole objective was to give the visitor a place to learn all about the boat.. not just a list of features but to discuss ownership and mechanical issues, one of which is near and dear to my heart. I met some very nice people on the docks when I was using CW but left that with a powerful impression a lot of people were forum/google-smart about their machines and the cultural practices of selecting/maintaining them, and that it didn’t go very deep. While this site has been a much more an impromptu vs teleological exercise from the beginning, THE one thing I wanted for it was to be more useful than the typical brokerage YW ad. And if I could possibly pull it off, encourage some visitors to value that experienced practitioner’s perspective.. the kind of people I lived my life among from around age 8 up to a few years ago, and importantly, for them to recognize putting the time in to move in that direction themselves will have long term value to them. To not just do things for the halo effect (e.g. Joe likes it... it must be awesome!). For the most part, people don't spend much time in the company of the high-experience end of "mechanical" or "diagnostician" and honestly when I look back to when it seemed like half my entire world were "do'ers".. A&P's... tool/die makers... systems, and otherwise designers... etc, I don't recall many of my generation (ancient) who were interested in learning their magic from them.
As for a person on the path to buying anything of consequence, e.g. a Nordic Tug 42, they weren't born knowing all the places the thing he wants to buy are located or how to evaluate it, or how to learn to evaluate it and frequently burns up life just clicking around past the diluting/planted influencer crap hoping to encounter something actually useful. They may or may not stumble upon the usual owner communities and lists, or ask questions that move the ball ahead for them a bit. As their understanding grows, they may eventually arrive at a new “most important thing” (paramount?) they will need... i.e. locating a good example of the boat they want.
I think one of the most useful things this site attempts to do is emphasize a “systems” perspective in how we all can more usefully look at every designed, complex (or not) thing in our lives. It takes a very long and conscientiousness time to have been around enough people/things/theory/magic to usefully tie it all together and make high-quality decisions, but once you can do even just some of that, it’s like cheating. I wanted to educate the visitor a little bit from at least an experience/training-driven systems perspective [See end-note 1], which can be unique/useful. The hope was to stumble into enough broader rather than deeper topics (life's too short to teach brain surgery to ancient people like me, BUT a good first aid course will be more broadly useful)... a folding together of perspectives, and concepts (which matter)... systems, mission-worthiness, reliability, along with some of Clock Work’s history and mine with endorsements of the standard of care from experienced, technical boat owners provides a more useful and comprehensive description to a potential buyer, and places that in context with other offerings, if they exist. I do agree messaging like this skews toward a more thinking visitor.. aggressive learners.. and honestly I love that (I get to see both sides of the conversation.. sorry:). My all-out favorites are former military ship’s captains, ship’s engineers types, etc. A possibly favorite memory from yachting was a private dinner in Newport attended by a collection of all kinds of people, and seated next to a destroyer captain, discussing how high-consequence decisions are made aboard ship. Awesome night.
While this site delivers a hopefully better-informed perspective and more complete sense of the boat, than the.. in my opinion.. unsophisticated and shallow level of ad work that dominates the status quo (cut/paste ads that all look the same because “all the customer wants to see is page 1" - unsurprisingly supportive of a low-effort approach). DIY sellers like Clock Work lie well beyond the “Platonic fold” of yacht purchasing.. i.e. out beyond “that which everyone knows”. Most potential buyers don’t even think to look out there, or know that “out there” exists, or where it is.
Just wanted to get these thoughts out, not that they’re worth anything. There’s a few guys who seem interested in doing their own DIY sites and I’ve been sharing a bit of my thoughts about what works and what does not. I may write something more complete about the lessons learned.
[End-note 1] Extra for the intellectually curious... look into POSIWID vs intention. This is a distinction of perspectives that alone can be a major step for the rookie/untrained systems thinker that I’ve found useful in discussion with friends about if a designed-thing.. boat/whatever.. is ACTUALLY useful. Sort of... how to ignore the glossy paper and page 1’s wild claims for any lux products brochure. NEVER look at page 1. Or the super models. And remember.. reality doesn’t bend to intent (thank you God... that’s where problem-solving consulting $$ hang out!). Reality kicks ass!
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