EDITORIAL

It seems to me that, all too often, the behind-the-scenes work of a club Treasurer goes unappreciated by the majority of members whereas the high-profile positions – including that of Editor – receive the accolades. Treasurers are the ones who so often have to say “sorry, no” to proposals for additional expenditure, and when club finances do allow them to approve an increase, the results are seldom visible. So a round of applause, please, for David Caukill and the Committee as a whole for increasing the Flying Fish budget year on year. In this instance I hope the results are visible, with more colour than ever before, more plans than ever before, and an improved level of production throughout. It’s also very possible, though not yet confirmed, that Flying Fish 2006/2 will graduate from the current stapled binding  to a square spine similar to that of the new Members Handbook ... which in turn will allow for an almost unlimited number of pages (at the moment we’re limited by what you can drive a staple through). The world’s our oyster!

Coming back to this issue, amongst all the colour and plans you will also notice an increase in the number of technical articles, notably Kevin Ruscoe’s Free Software for Cruisers on page 33, and George Curtis’s Where do I get the weather? on page 98, plus two Product Reviews, and thoughts on anchoring from both Ian Nicolson and Kevin Ruscoe. I’ve often been asked why Flying Fish carries so few articles of this type (answer: I seldom receive them), so hope this may signal a new trend and one which would be of practical assistance to many members. All I would ask is that, if embarking on a technical piece, you ensure that it is factually correct – because you can bet that I won’t know if it isn’t! I rely heavily on my team of proof-readers to keep Flying Fish on the straight and relatively narrow, but we do not currently number an IT guru on the team (any volunteers?). Beyond that, all I can reasonably do is to check that all web addresses are correctly spelt and open as predicted. Lastly, I hardly need restate that Flying Fish cannot be held responsible if any of the statements or advice it carries turn out to be incorrect or misleading.

Now a couple of reminders. First, I still have a good stock of back numbers available (most issues from 1975 onwards), so do get in touch if you want to fill any gaps in your collection – or, as a new member, if you want to find out what you’ve been missing! Second, I’m spending an increasing and disproportionate amount of time sorting through submitted photographs – the 90 or so which appear in this issue represent only a fraction of what I received – so please take a moment to read the Guidelines for Contributors on page 108 if you want to ensure a sane and happy editor! Thirdly – what else? – the deadline for Flying Fish 2006/2 is Thursday 14 September. If this is really impossible for you it may be possible to grant a short extension ... but not retrospectively!