FWIW, I think having a "separate" forum makes good sense. But I don't see it at all as something that separates sailors from one another. I'm not out west, but I'm sufficiently obsessed with this stuff that I'll read about anything that's going on on the planet (always enjoy reading BAGEA reports). To me, having separate forums just provides a convenient way to categorize posts so I know the general subject area of a subset of stuff I'm reading. And in this case it would probably also give the folks out west a little sense of local community they wouldn't get from the main forum.

The alternative is that someone goes and starts a separate forum or email list someplace else. I'm already regularly following forums on at least two different web sites and four different yahoo groups, just for cat sailing, and it's really a bit of a hassle. I think having different forums but having them right here on catsailor is a great idea. It lets people with narrow interests see just what they want to see, and lets those with broader interests organize and prioritize how they read stuff, but lets them do it all here on one site.

Mark.