We warmly welcome all members of the Iroquois Owners’Association to the Heavenly Twins & Cruising Catamaran Association now that we have merged. We would like you to feel welcome and we hope you will participate in as many things as you can.
As many of you will know the IOA committee dwindled and then they succumbed to illness, and without new blood in the committee roles the organisation began to flounder. I’d like to say a big thank you to those who tried so valiantly to save the Association and who gave their hearts and souls to the cause.
It is sad that the Association could not continue in its original form. I have much sympathy for you and understand any reluctance or any apprehension about how the future will unfold, however I hope you will soon feel at home and welcome. At first joining together doesn’t necessarily sound appealing, but I believe that we can become a strong voice in the boating industry (particularly in cruising catamarans) by pulling together in unity. The more unanimous voices the better. We have very similar interests already, by owning and sailing small cruising catamarans, so we know we have a lot in common from the start.
On a practical front we’ll do all we can to preserve your archive data both in hard copy and the website for future generations.
Currently we publish three newsletters a year. We run cruises in company and social meetings on land, the biggest of which is our AGM hotel weekend in January. An AGM at first sounds dull, but it has become a social weekend in an hotel with about an hour devoted to the meeting. Much eating, drinking and boat talk ensues and a good time is had by all, amongst like minded sailors (and a few guests). The people who attend are a lovely group and so welcoming to veteran and new members alike. We hope to meet as many of you as we can at landbased or on the water meetings. We run a website and have a Facebook page too. In the fullness of time I expect that we will merge the websites and maybe the Facebook groups too. Please use all that we offer and feel welcome and included.
Some of the newsletters already contain articles of Iroquois cruises. You would be most welcome to write for the magazines, articles of all kinds, technical, about cruises undertaken, or about modifications made to the boats. Our editor is always on the lookout for new material and prizes for the best submissions are awarded at our AGM weekend. You might be lucky…..
Keep in touch and let us know what you are getting up to. You can ask on the website who is out and about on the water in your area. Impromptu on board meetings are fairly common and we would welcome more of those.
If there is anything you would like to ask, or anything you need, please ask. I can be contacted via the contact us button. I can’t promise to know all the answers, but I’ll go the extra mile to find someone to help you out.
May I finish by wishing you all a great season in 2016. I’m excited, and can’t wait to meet you all, to get to know you, and to spending time together. WELCOME
Chrissie Linter : Membership Secretary
Submitted by Geoff &Chrissie
