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BCA's Website - A Constant Work in Progress!

Jennifer Handley

July 4th, 2015

The Bluewater Cruising Association website is a constant work in progress, never complete, always in need of updates, and often the topic of discussion as users find “issues” to bring to the attention of the Webmaster and/or Board of Directors or want to see changes/improvements.  Managing our website is a huge, time-consuming undertaking, with its content-rich “front end” and its large membership data base, the “back-end”.  And for the past 2+ years, BCA has been extremely fortunate to have had Jean Baillargeon serve as Webmaster – many members have called upon him for assistance with such things as dealing with their membership profile, figuring out how to pay their annual dues, finding Fleet documents, updating Watch membership lists, uploading information about upcoming events, revising layout; others have had lots of ideas about what he could do to improve the site, while others have offered assistance creating or managing content.  Since he first agreed to take on the role, Jean has kept his cool through thick and thin, and devoted probably close to 2000 hours (all volunteer!) to making the BCA website “work” for all of us.  But his primary focus now is preparing to go offshore and the BCA Board accepted, with regret, his resignation from the position effective May 31.  Many thanks, Jean, for your unwavering support of BCA and the website;  it would not be where it is today without your efforts.

S/V Downstream, Jean and Helen's Discovery 47

S/V Downstream, Jean and Helen’s Discovery 47

Fortunately, Jean gave the Board notice of his intent to step away from the position six months ago, and that allowed us to search for and find a new Webmaster:  Rudy Witt is a relatively new member of BCA, based in Victoria and he too has plans to head offshore in a year or so, but in the meantime, we are thrilled that he offered to get involved in this way.  He has only been in the role for a few weeks,  but if you have any questions or need help navigating the website, Rudy can be contacted at webmaster@bluewatercruising.org.  Please recognize that any new position comes with a steep learning curve;  added to that, it is summer and, as many of us have done or plan to do, Rudy has slipped the lines and gone cruising (local waters) which means a possible delayed response time.

There has been a recent flurry of activity on the website with additions, revisions and updates, many of which were done in response to member requests.  While not all of the following updates require you to log-in, it is recommended that you do so:

BCA Offshore Award

BCA Offshore Award presented to the skipper and crew of S/V Camdeboo in 2007

New BCA Forum - EVENTS

New BCA Forum – EVENTS

  • New EVENTS Forum
    • For all your questions, comments, suggestions for any BCA event, i.e. Peterson Cup, Rendezvous, etc
    • Related to the creation of the new forum, please note the new promotional banner on the home page that draws attention to BCA’s on-the-water activities.
  • Fall Education Courses
  • FAQs
    • These are great examples of Jean’s work to help us use the site efficiently and easily;  if you have not updated your member profile recently, please do so after you read the handy “cheat-sheet”.
    • If you are heading offshore this year or are home for the summer, please review the latest addition to the FAQs, “Before You Go“.

As noted above, the website is always changing and in transition;  if you are interested in helping to ensure that the website remains vibrant, current and a “go-to” place for all things BCA and/or if you have technical expertise that you would like to offer, such as graphics design, content management, etc, please contact Rudy.

Comments


  1. Donna Sassaman says:

    Terrific article, Jennifer — lots of information. Kudos to Jean, and Rudy, for serving as Webmasters, and to the BCAers behind the scenes who help to make the website more user-friendly.

    Thanks!
    Donna Sassaman
    ‘Alia’, Spencer 44 Sloop

    1. Jennifer Handley says:

      Thanks, Donna!! I am so grateful to work with such a committed bunch of people.

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