Seven Seas Sailing Association

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Bat

I was about to get a membership but I'm not fond of having religion shoved down my throat, or feeling unwelcome because I am not of the religious mindset at local meetings.

Sailing information would be so cool if the prayer and crap didn't go with it.

I'm going to have to request more info. When someone goes to all the trouble to track down a thread that hasn't had a post to it in 4 years, just to post the above I have to go

[btrayfors]

sailorboy1,

Yeah, weird. What the hell is 'having religion shoved down my throat" all about? That's not the SSCA I know. Long-term member and supporter.

Suggest you start with the SSCA's website: www.ssca.org

Bill

[Bat]

There was an announcement for an SSSA meeting over the cruisers net recently. They even announced that they were giving away Cruisers Guides to Columbia which are available from th SSSA for free. Now, the meeting was in preparation for a cruise to to Cubs, but they stressed the point that it was ia faith based meeting as well. That made sadness from me.

[bletso]

Originally Posted by AnchorageGuy

The process for becoming a "Commodore" probably needs some examination and the Commodores you approve need some scrutiny. We have been in anchorages where the red burgee was flying on a boat and we were flying our blue one, this is also a bit outdated and seems class aligned, and we could never even get a wave let alone a hello or any kind of acknowledgment. We felt as if we might not be good enough for a "Commodore" to interact with a mere member and this happen to us on several occasions. Encounters with others that fly the SSCA burgee were also not what it used to be when we first joined many years ago. Perhaps in the mad dash to build the membership, inclusion and camaraderie became less of a requirement. line in many places for free. Chuck

I wouldn't blame the lack of camaraderie on the SSCA, but more a symptom of the times. I have found the same problem in SCUBA groups, the USPS , etc. People just seem to be less forthcoming than 20-30 years ago. (I guess that may date me somewhat. I also note that just walking the docks is not as friendly an environment as it used to be. My wife hated me going out for anything as she knew it would take a while.

BTW, it has always been difficult if not nigh impossible to become a commodore.

[Bat]

Most of the people here are very friendly, but when the announcer stressed that there were religious connections to their meeting, it made it very unwelcome for those of us who do not subcribe to such beliefs. One would ask; is this a sailing association or Sunday service?

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Bat

Most of the people here are very friendly, but when the announcer stressed that there were religious connections to their meeting, it made it very unwelcome for those of us who do not subcribe to such beliefs. One would ask; is this a sailing association or Sunday service?

As a very long term member, i find this totally unbelievable. Are you sure that this attitude came from the SSCA, or could it have been from whoever was actually conducting the meeting? Merely being announced in a SSCA medium does not mean that they presented it or condoned this religious content.

Please post the specific time, place, subject and venue, for I'd like to understand better what went on.

Jim

[btrayfors]

I agree with you, Jim. This sounds totally phony.

SSCA is not a religious organization nor does it promote "faith-based" activities.

Bat....you'll have to provide some specific evidence or you're just not going to be believed.

Bill
SSCA Commodore

[chuckr]

We were members for a while and were full time cruisers but associates or whatever they are called as we did not do the required long offshore passage to become commodore. We met a lot of commodores who only passage was crew on a boat once and had not responsibility and in our opinion knew a lot less than we did and we did not know a lot. their claim to fame - one long off shore passage as crew.

our second complaint was we paid money for a membership and had no voting rights. taxation without representation -- I made a couple of suggestions and was told I was not a commodore but someone would take my suggestion under consideration and never heard back.

we gave it up - worthless organization

OH yes we have done the miles as we did a 2 handed atlantic crossing but would never join again even if it was free

[colemj]

Just taking a wild stab in the dark here, but perhaps that "faith-based group" thing was a cover to allow US citizens to travel to Cuba.

"Faith-based group" is one of the few categories which US citizens can use for this purpose. Otherwise, they cannot legally travel there.

Mark

[FollowingCs]

Originally Posted by colemj

Just taking a wild stab in the dark here, but perhaps that "faith-based group" thing was a cover to allow US citizens to travel to Cuba.

"Faith-based group" is one of the few categories which US citizens can use for this purpose. Otherwise, they cannot legally travel there.

Mark

My thought exactly, but Bat's original post misspelled Cuba so I wasn't sure. To get "faith-based", perhaps a prayer to Zeus or Poseidon would have sufficed for a government audit?

~ Following Cs ~

[colemj]

Oh, I see that now. Perhaps it IS a cruise to go see the Cubs? You would need a lot of faith to sail to Chicago this time of year.

Mark

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by colemj

Oh, I see that now. Perhaps it IS a cruise to go see the Cubs? You would need a lot of faith to sail to Chicago this time of year.

Mark

you need a lot of faith to be a cubs fan any time

[Tom and Maje]

Originally Posted by Bat

I was about to get a membership but I'm not fond of having religion shoved down my throat, or feeling unwelcome because I am not of the religious mindset at local meetings.

Sailing information would be so cool if the prayer and crap didn't go with it.

We've been members of SSCA for years and have never heard religion even mentioned! Tell me who is doing this and I'll contact the board.

Maje

[exMaggieDrum]

Originally Posted by Bat

I was about to get a membership but I'm not fond of having religion shoved down my throat, or feeling unwelcome because I am not of the religious mindset at local meetings.

Sailing information would be so cool if the prayer and crap didn't go with it.

I just renewed for another year and I debated whether to do it or not. For all the good reasons noted by some above - info available elsewhere, etc. But it is not expensive and the equipment survey is very valuable info (I do think it may be getting a bit outdated as it depends on the new people joining to do the survey or the old timers going back to put in changes to their equipment)

However, I have never, ever, experienced the religion thing, nor the caste system. But I have never been to a Gam so can't comment on that. Any group like this should always be welcoming to the newbies as well as the old salts. If not it will die out like the peerage system in some countries. Or you will only have a very small number of members.

I have found the admin people at the HQ to be very helpful, even going out of their way to help with sundry items. Whether it is worth the annual dues for what you get is one thing but I have never experienced the bad things that some have related above.

[gordwedman]

I have been a member for a number of years and initially visited the site quite often and learned a lot from posts and the webinair presentations. I appreciate the fact that SSCA supported the development of RMS Express which I use for emails and weather. As I got better informed my visits were less frequent. I also found the layout of the Cruisers Forum easier for a quick view at new posts. The revised SSCA webpage is better but still not quite as good. I was thinking of dropping my membership but then I thought that would be a bit foolish to do before you start a 5 year cruise that includes crossing the Pacific so I will stay a member and probably make more use of available resources over the next years. The more info you have, the better are your decisions.