Quiet on here?

[TahoeSteam]

So how do we get more interest, more participation, and attendance?

The International Steamboat Association and it's publication are all but defunct, how are the other associations around the world fairing?

I know the SBA has managed to make their publication available online for those prone to spilling coffee on their morning paper. Their publication is arguably the best in the world, though I would sure like to see it weekly, rather than monthly . Are other associations taking the same online route? How about social media presence?

I know for out here there used to be an annual letter leading up to the Delta Meet, then it was letters and email, now it's just email. I have heard from several people they've not received anything in the past few years and were wondering if the meet was still happening. It seems some who are still of sound mind and ambulatory have fallen through the cracks... out here anyway.

There was a quick little piece about the Klamath Lake meet on a local Oregon station earlier this year. It was pretty good clip, save for the blowing-up comment, which could be enough of a deterrent for some to even consider checking it out (especially with their children).

[Youtube]http://youtu.be/mC5UG6e7Lys[/Youtube]

We need to reach out to outlets like that and on social media, lest we rust or rot away and be forgotten.

[Mike Rometer]

That's a great idea Russ. I think I will take your cue and compile a list of websites and associations on a flyer for anyone interested in steamboating. Hand them out at the next meet, as well as just keep them on the boat for curious looky-loos.

Just a thought, from the comment here, in the UK we have a large and mostly navigable canal system. People who hang about the locks etc. just watching, are called 'Gongoozlers', then people who watch trains are called 'Gricers'. Is there a collective noun for those who watch Steam Boats? If not, perhaps we should invent one?

[RNoe]

In my Western half of the USA we refer to people who hang around watching activities as LookiLoos, and I'm sure several other terms.
Folks who watch & chase trains are referred to (especially by the train crews) as Foamites. As in foaming at the mouth crazy, and likely to step in front of the moving train.
I've experience Foamites while engineering steam trains. Many times.

No specific word for those who watch steam launches! Unless "groupies" would also apply to them!
Steam Groupies. Hmmm...
'Got to be better words.
More ideas?
RussN

[Lopez Mike]

I call them nice people and kidnap them off of the beach whenever possible.

I was riding a Colorado steam train two years ago and the conductor was encouraging the passengers to yell, "Foamers!" at the photographers. I confronted her. She was resistant to ceasing her rudeness. After completing my ride I went straight to management and the final result was that her employment was terminated. My sense of humor doesn't extend to being obnoxious to strangers.

These chance passengers are so happy to go for a ride with me. Something that I take so much for granted seems to be the highlight of their day. I feel like a millionaire!

Several years ago I was steaming near a large power boat and noticed three people at the stern smiling and waving. Of course I pulled up and offered them a ride. The couple and their approximately ten year old daughter climbed in. I asked the girl if she knew how to steer with a tiller. She grabbed it and away we went. Without any delay she started singing the drinking song from The African Queen movie. "There was a brave fisherman . . .". It transpired that she had seen the movie several times and had been dreaming of a ride in a steam boat. I felt like signing over the boat to her.

[Mike Rometer]

Such names don't have to be rude or used in a rude way, they can be used affectionately. Nothing wrong with watching. I could watch work for hours!

[TahoeSteam]

Like any innocuous word, name, or tool... In the wrong hands they can be used to insult, injure, or worse.

[cyberbadger]

"There was a brave fisherman . . .".

I love the song, but I believe it is Bold Fisherman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABILPHPnOYg

There was a bold fisherman who sailed out from Pimlico
To slew the wild codfish and the bold mackerel.
When he got to Pimlico the stormy winds begin to blow,
And his little boad went wibble-wobble, overboard went he.

Singing, "Twinka doodle dum, twinka doddle dum,"
'Twas the highly interesting song he sung.
"Twinka doodle dum, twinka doodle dum,"
Sang the bold fisherman.

He wriggled and scriggled in the waters so briny-o.
He yell-owed and bell-owed for help, but in vain.
Downward he did gently glide to the bottom of the silvery tide,
And previously to this he cried, "Fare thee well, Mary Jane."

His ghost walked at midnight by the bedside of his Mary Jane.
When he told her how dead he was, said she, "I'll go mad."
"If my lovey is so dead," said she, "no joy on earth can ever be,
And I never more will happy be." She went raving mad.

There is an old Hungarian song about a steam train going to Nagykanizsa, Hungary it's Locomotive Driver (They didn't have word in Hungarian in the early days of steam, so they borrowed machinst and added an a). gőzös translates to steamer, and megy translates to "is going" -> "The steamer is going"

Megy a gőzös

Megy a gőzös, megy a gőzös, Kanizsára,
Kanizsai, kanizsai állomásra.
Elől áll a masiniszta,
Ki a gőzöst, ki a gőzöst igazítja.

The steam engine, the steam engine goes to Kanizsa*
To Kanizsa, to Kanizsa Station.
The engine driver sits in front,
Who adjusts, who adjusts the steamer.

I of course made my own version....

Megy a gőzös, megy a gőzös Chautauquara!
Point Chautauqua, Point Chautauqua kikötőig!
Hatul ül a masiniszta,
Ki a gőzöst, ki a Nyitrát igazítja!

The steamer is going to Chautauqua!
To Point Chautauqua, Point Chautauqua mooring.
In back sits the engineer,
Who adjust the steamer, who adjusts Nyitra!

-CB

[DetroiTug]

Quote: "We need new blood, and we need it quickly."

I agree interest in the hobby seems to be waning, but be careful what you ask for, the hobby needs more interested young folks, but they need to be brought in with a good understanding of steam and safe practices thereof. Among young folks these days it seems their "hack-a-day" approach to everything is get from point A and point B as quickly and cheaply as possible, it's better that they don't get involved. My buddy and I call them "Home Depot Steamers". An "engine" to them is a converted air compressor with bash valve, and "boiler" is a hank a copper tubing from Home Depot. No relief valve, no hydrotest etc. Then it's realized a reservoir is needed and the eureka solution is an air compressor or propane tank. There are many doing these very things.

As I've written several times before on here, all it is going to take is one prolific publicized instance of a mishap where spectators get injured and our hobby could be over with a chain reaction throughout the states of swift signatures by ignorant politicians ending our hobby.

The odds are against us, for every operating system there is, the possibility of mishap increases. Low numbers are a good thing.

So, even in our small numbers, enjoy the hobby and take comfort in knowing, mob mentality interest does not exist and we will be able to enjoy the freedoms we now enjoy for many years to come.

-Ron

[cyberbadger]

As I've written several times before on here, all it is going to take is one prolific publicized instance of a mishap where spectators get injured and our hobby could be over with a chain reaction throughout the states of swift signatures by ignorant politicians ending our hobby.

The odds are against us, for every operating system there is, the possibility of mishap increases. Low numbers are a good thing.

You cannot completely prevent this, I will say for sure a poorly constructed boiler explosion on a steam launch will happen in the next 100 years.

Personally at this point, I welcome sensible legislation.

In Ohio the system just exempts me from inspection - I have asked the right people - Boiler/steamplant inspection cannot be done by the two relevant state entities (Boiler Inspections, and Watercraft division)

If you clamp down on newbies in regards to steam safety I have seen folks walk away and do there own dangerous thing.

Many steamers of all types are grumpy for different reasons.

That grumpiness needs to be tempered or young people will walk away.

I find that operating a steamboat ends up making me a representative for steamboating.
My policy is to try to make those who interact with me get a whistle toot and they leave with a big grin.

That's all you really can do is be positive and friendly.

-CB

[TahoeSteam]

Unfortunately the number of folks around who are ambulatory and of sound mind that would spend the time to go to bat with law makers over "sensible legislation" is quickly waning.

Absolutely being made fully aware of the dangers of your tool and how to operate and maintain it properly is imperative. Those that do not understanding fully are either woefully ignorant and uncaring or catatonic with fear. The camps either fight for full uninhibited freedom or a full ban, respectively.

Education is imperative. Getting the truth to the "YouTube University Graduates" requires speaking their language or using a teaching resource/method that they are responsive to. Boiling down (pun intended) the lesson to something engaging and digestible is tricky. One must articulate the dangers, bad practices, and best practices in a manner that is cogent whilst using plain, accepted, and common terms that do not overly complicate or confound. It might take some time and require multiple lessons in short snippets to maintain their notoriously fleeting attention.

I looks like I need to get to work...