Tank Talk - 2.0

After volunteering to take over as Tank Talk editor at the 2010 AGM in Chicago, I have put a lot of thought into the revival of the American Section's periodical and have read and re-read past issues.

The published magazine was an impressive work and a testament to the hard work and dedication of past editors. However, the publication of a magazine is costly, time consuming and is obviously limited to print and pictures. I believe that by reincarnating Tank Talk as a blog, the most essential quality of the magazine, its content, can be maintained while reducing the editorial workload, minimizing costs and incorporating multimedia.

I imagine some aspects of the editorial roll to remain unchanged: Tank Talk will still need American Section members to submit content. As editor, I have already worked with some authors on new articles that will soon appear in this space. Happily, I can easily edit and publish these articles to the blog, replacing the laborious task of producing a print edition. More importantly, by maintaining Tank Talk on a blog, pictures and video can be easily integrated with articles. The inclusion of multimedia will greatly enhance the content of Tank Talk. Automatic archiving of articles, labeling of posts and a search function will help improve the accessibility of content.

Finally, I hope that Tank Talk 2.0 will help stimulate and maintain interest in 505 sailing in the same way that the e-mail lists did at the beginning of the last decade. A viable and visible web presence is essential to any type of modern organization and I believe that Tank Talk will help to fill out the 505's on-line profile.

I encourage everyone and anyone to submit articles, pictures, and video. I hope that readers will take advantage of the comments option on the blog and that we can have an open dialogue about sailing 505s.

I am looking forward to a great 2011 season of 505 sailing and I hope everyone else is equally stoked.

JB