Thank you very much, Fred, for your thoughtful comments. I much appreciate having you as a friend and supporter all these years. —Georgs > Georgs . . . .\ > Back in 1971, boaters were also a lot different. Cruising wasn't merely to verify what had already been shown and described in today's Google fashion, but was a matter of exploring leading to  discovery -- an activity filled with wonder, excitement, and contentment that can only come from having accomplished, sometimes against strong odds.\ > Not only did I and others play to that with open on the helm cruising guides, you came along with Trawlerfests, events so memorable and clearly wonderful, that they became permanent etchings throughout the remainder of every participant's lifetime. They were then followed by your internet offerings. No, they weren't nearly as dramatic, but they were infinitely helpful, a near perfect match to wants and needs.\ > For all boaters, it was a simpler time that accommodated the zany as well as the waterline serious, a time when boating played out against a wide and wonderful scene of natural beauty and happenings. Or said another way, that was before boating had become plasticized, cookie cuttered, and pursued in boats in the innards of which the participants neither sweat from heat nor shiver from cold.\ > All of us have sacrificed much of what we once were so as to accommodate an onslaught of technology often billed as not only making anything possible, but also making everything quick and easy. In the process, if even we can call it that, the accomplishment toward which we feel such a close kinship is soon one-upped, cheapened, or simply discounted.\ > Yes, there came a time for me to give up the CruiseGuides, not only a personal challenge more than met, but also a source of genuine contentment arising from sheer accomplishment. It was as if that was one of the purposes of my life, not discovered and executed by only me, but also with God as my helper. I can say the same about Claiborne Young and Skipper Bob whose mental innards I came to know quite well.\ > Now, I can also say that about you. What a gift you've been to boating, boaters, and those of us who have visibly or invisibly served in some capacity to make all of it part of the tapestry of not merely an activity, but of life itself. As is the case with history, what you have contributed can never be modified or taken away. It's all there --  cleanly cut and forever carved in stone.\ > Be proud, my friend. Also, be happy that this is drawing to a close at the logical time as dictated by forces beyond the control of any mortal. What's truly important isn't that this is the end of it, but rather that it existed, flourished, and was highly successful in its effort to serve and satisfy.\ > Georgs, I salute you. Whatever happens from here on out, I wish you all the best.\ > Fred Myers