A welcome to all C355 skippers!

[Michael Shaner]

Greetings All...the annual Officer's Meeting was held in mid February and as you can see there are some new names on the Masthead. One of the more interesting topics of discussion was Catalina's new C355. At first glance, she looks an awful light like a C34.

Take a look at the specifications:
      C34      C355
LOA      35'8"      35'5"
Hull length   34'6"      34'6"
LWL      29'10"      30'2"
Beam      11'9"      12'0"
Displacement   12,550      14,800

Every C34 owner who has paid attention during a haul knows she is closer to 15-17k than 12.5. We are told the sailing qualities / sea kindliness are appreciable and due to the circumstances, we're ok with that as it is tough to find a C355 for a sea trial on the Chesapeake in February! Needless to say, the similarities are notable.  If you get down to electrical and mechanical...sure, the systems are comprised of different components, but the systems overall are fundamentally the same.
 
Eventually, the conversation evolved into the possibility of receiving new C355 owners into the C34IA fold. These folks would probably appreciate a place to find tech/maintenance support and generally chat up all there is to owning, enjoying  and maintaining their new C355. The C36IA has embarked on a similar path with the C375 and I understand it has been quite a success. To all of you C355 owners, on behalf of the C34IA, please consider this a formal invitation to join us. Association Officers' contact info is listed above...pick one and drop us a line...just don't ask us which end is the front of your Yanmar...

When you create your profile for the forum, please identify yourself as a C355 owner and include your hull number. Again, welcome aboard...we look forward to hearing from you!

   

[Stu Jackson]

I sent this letter to all of the C355 owners in late October after obtaining the owner list from Lu Ann at Nanosec and Mainsheet editor Jim Holder..

**********************************************

Congratulations on your new Catalina 355!

The Catalina 34 International Association Officers have agreed to incorporate the Catalina 355 boat owners into our organization.  What this means for you is the C34 IA will be administering the distribution of the quarterly Mainsheet magazine, maintaining the C355 membership database, and that over 25 years of important boating information will be available to you on the C34 IA website.  Plus you'll have a place to go to ask questions!

We are pleased to be able to share our knowledge with you.  The comparisons between the C34 and the C355 are notable.  While the C355 has a tad more beam, the interior layout is surprisingly similar with the aft head, salon layout and general cabin arrangement.  The C355 has a Yanmar engine in lieu of our Universal diesels, but the electrical and mechanical systems are very similar.

We invite you to join us at www.C34IA.org, and at our Main Message Board at http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/board,11.0.html. Attached are instructions for helping you to make the most of your visits to the website. 

For NEW C355 boat purchasers, Catalina Yachts has paid for your first year subscription to Mainsheet, and your first year of membership.  We will be mailing you a renewal notice after you have received your first 4 quarterly issues so that you can continue your membership with us.  The rates are $25 for one year, or $45 for two years. 

We are pleased to have you on board and know you'll enjoy your new boats as much as we have enjoyed ours.  We all look forward to getting to know you.

[Stu Jackson]

Dear Diane and Ed, C34 Officers and Fleet Captains, and Sandy (C355 owner),

I have taken the liberty of copying this to the C34IA Officers and all of our Fleet Captains, to bring them up to date on our joint efforts to assist the new C355 owners.  Our C34 folks may not all know of the new C355 efforts that Diane and Ed have made to "share the wealth of knowledge" with their fellow C355 owners after Commodore Shaner had welcomed them in the May 2011 Mainsheet magazine.  The Walters initiated their outreach with this: http://www.catalina355.net/  as well as their associated Google group.

I had joined and written to the Google group, letting them know through that venue we had assumed the responsibility of maintaining their membership database and "distributing" the Mainsheets for them by keeping their addresses and contact information.  I had also written a snail mail to all of the C355 owners, and have posted that letter on our Main Message Board under our C355 Welcome sticky topic.  I did that because it involves membership and the continuity of Mainsheet magazine deliveries.

Yesterday I wrote to Diane and Ed, via their website contact format, asking them if there was anything more we could do help, advising that we had already developed their membership contact information, noting that their parallel attempts to gather that information could be eased with the data we already had, hence, Diane's response, copied below.

It is truly heartwarming that many of the C355 owners are former Catalina boat owners, so they should know of the many one design Associations that have been active in helping them with their earlier boating issues.

To that end, we continue to encourage the C355 skippers to utilize our resources, and, perhaps, save them some, if not a lot, of effort in organizing their own separate group, or they may choose to stay with us and grow.  

Either way, we are here for them to provide the bridge they need to decide for themselves.

Just coincidentally, I received the following email today from a C355 skipper:

From: sandynavrady
To: Mraquaq
Sent: 11/1/2011 10:30:34 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time
Subj: Catalina 355 Hull 22 -IONA

Stu,

Thanks for your kind letter and invitation to participate as a member in the Catalina 34 International Association.
I welcome the opportunity to talk to other 355 owners. I have had Iona for 6 months now and sailed for 45 days.
She is very well behaved and comfortable and likes heavier weather conditions, which we experience on the west coast.
Iona is berthed in Comx with Desolation Sound Yacht Charters- a husband and wife team with 23 years charter experience and round the worls sailors. Contrary to most charter pools, they are quite fastidious.
My biggest challenges is that 355's are a relatively new line of sailing boat and Catalina as well as the new owners are going through teething challenges. My challenge is how to get the warranties honoured, when the suppliers are in a different country.It's a work in progress and its hard after one has paid good money to get anyone's attention.

Regads
Sandy Navrady

I've copied Sandy on this email, too, because I believe the answer to his question is:  Why not utilize the resources of hundreds of C34 skippers who have essentially had many of the same issues?  I'm sure many of our C34 registrants on our Message Board would be more than glad to share their experiences with Sandy in terms of what they know about "How to Deal with Dealers When You Buy a New Boat."  Sound familiar? Many of the C355 skippers may well have probably done this with their earlier boats.

These issues, and many that you new C355 owners will face, are not "boat specific."  As former Catalina owners, I'm sure many of you already know that a phone call to Frank or Gerry will actually get answered.  Not surprising.  But easy to forget when you have issues with dealers.

But what we've learned is that it is the daily ongoing dialog that is important, not only back to the factory, but between boat owners.  The C355 Google group is a good start but could be limited to those C355 skippers who take the time to look for it.  C355 owners may choose to avail themselves of the experiences we've had on the C34 message board, too.

I think we also must recognize that any boat owners group seeks its own identity.  To that end, we also stand willing and able to assist you in whatever course you choose.  For example, instead of reinventing the wheel, the C34IA Constitution is right on our website:  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,2542.0.html

I have had a good deal of experience with other Catalina Constitutions, and, I have to admit, ours is one of the shortest and has worked very well for us for decades.  Other Association's constitutions are longer and much more "burdensome" to administer.  I'm also sure the C36 Association would be more than glad to help you out if you ask, since they have had experience in "incorporating" the C375 skippers into their group.

One other thing that is, historically, a part of our C34 experience:  Many folks love email, thus the popularity of Google and Yahoo groups.  In the past and up to about ten years ago, our C34 information exchange was performed by a similar "List Server" that sent emails.  What we learned was that messages tended to get VERY long, because the process itself copied everything on that topic.  It works for some, and the C36 Association has both a message board and a mailing list.  It didn't for us.  We moved our dialog to a simple Main Message Board, where everything comes up, all in one place, with subsets for individual Fleets on the General Activities portion of the software.  We don't have, for instance, multiple and separate "Cruising", "Sailing", "Technical," "Electrical," "Engine" tabs, it's all in one place, with a very hefty search engine.  I have found those multiple "categories" quite burdensome and time consuming for daily message board visits, having to click through different categories, like on Sailnet.  Are alternators engine or electrical?  The list goes on.  

If a question comes up, it doesn't have to be categorized, it's a valid question.  All it takes is a quick check on your browser.  Many of our Message Board "regulars" have commented that by doing it this way they become aware of things they haven't ever considered as things they need to, or can do.  I've made the C34 Main Message Board my homepage on my computers' browsers.  What could be easier? OTOH, we have also cross referenced lots of information and developed our "C34 Tech wiki" with much of the older email list Q&As "captured" for future and current use.

Our systems, our boat layouts down below and our experiences as Catalina owners can prove invaluable to the C355 skippers, if they choose to use it.  We hope they do and look forward, as Sandy said, to seeing them actively participate on our Main Message Board: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/board,11.0.html

I have attached the current 21 boat C355 membership list in a spreadsheet for Diane and Ed.


Best regards,

Stu Jackson
Catalina 34 International Association Secretary
557 Crestmont Drive
Oakland, Ca 94619-2319
510-698-4250
Email: mraquaq@aol.com
Aquavite #224 (1986)

In a message dated 11/1/2011 5:05:22 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, dgwalters writes:

Hi Stu,

Thank you so much for your warm welcome and for offering to share your spreadsheet.  We'd love to receive the information as we are trying to get the infrastructure in place so that when our numbers are large enough we can consider becoming independent, should the collective group be interested in going that route.  (We don't know what the future holds, and certainly aren't trying to run things ourselves, but are willing to serve with others who have similar interests and energies.)

As for C355 owners wandering to the C34 board, I really don't know the answer to your question.  From our fairly extensive conversations with many of the new C355 owners, most are long-time Catalina owners and are very familiar with Catalina in general.  The interest in talking within the group of owners of our specific model is to compare experiences, ideas for improvement, and solutions to the inevitable small issues that arise as a new model is released.

With warm regards,
Diane and Ed Walters

[Stu Jackson]

Yesterday's correspondence:

John, 

I sent this to Stu a little while ago, and should have done a "reply all."  We certainly appreciate ALL that your group has done to help the new C-355 get situated on this new boat-owner journey.

My 2:01 pm message to Stu:
-----
Stu,

THANK YOU so much for your support and willingness to support regardless of the direction that the collective C-355 group ultimately takes.  You have certainly provided food for thought and conversation.  Your wealth of wisdom and depth of knowledge is highly valued!

Regards,
Diane
-----

With gratitude for all of you!
Diane Walters

On Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 2:31 PM, JOHN NIXON <> wrote:

    Good job, Stu!

    Welcome to all C355ers!  What we as a group in the C34IA lack in specific knowledge about the finer specific points of your boats we can make up for with a wealth of experience in a broad area of topics applicable to your new boats.

    Regards,

    John Nixon
    Technical Editor, C34IA

[Stu Jackson]

Sorry I missed this one, August 17, 2011.  Thanks, Solstice:  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,6515.msg42699.html#msg42699

[Stu Jackson]

I have been remiss in not noting that the C355 skippers had elected to start their own Google group, which is quite active.

You can find them here:  https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/catalina355