We have been working for over a year to create what you are seeing today.  We all loved the old ILCA site (we owe Mark Gardner a huge THANK YOU for creating the old site as a volunteer!) and were familiar with where things were, but the software it was built on is no longer supported by Microsoft, so we took this opportunity to develop a new site incorporating some of the newest web capabilities.  We hope you will take some time to browse around and check out the new features.

In navigating around the site please note that a click in top of the page “masthead” will always take you home.

To display the District and Fleet membership information click on the District name, or fleet number, in the map at the top of the page.  Throughout the site you will see more integration of the Class Office database with the displays.  If you see inaccurate information, please let us know!

The Calendar has always been the most visited area of our web site.  We have incorporated lots of new features that enable regatta planners to entice you to show up at their events, building participation at Lightning regattas is one of our primary missions!  The scrolling effect on the front page is a marketing effort to showcase the number of Lightning events available (for folks that are doing research and trying to decide what kind of boat to purchase).  If you rest your cursor over the calendar it will stop scrolling…you’ll get the hang of it with practice.  For a complete listing of our events click Calendar at a Glance above the scrolling display.  Or for detailed information on a particular event click on the name of the event in the scrolling box.  We can now post NORs right in the calendar listing, you will find “See who’s coming” lists, (do sign up on these if you are planning on attending an event, it does help regatta organizers make their plans).  We will add links to area maps as often as time allows making it easier for you to navigate your way to regattas.

Our photo galleries are much improved!  Please send us links to your Flicker pages or other photo web sites, we’ll down load and set them up. Take pictures of people having fun, it’s all about selling our sport and your event, and building participation next year!  Not to mention that everyone loves to see themselves online!

The Classified Ads are the second most visited area of our site.  You will find them under the Marketplace in the navigation.  Not much change to it…

The Lightning Store will tempt you with our great DVD’s and logo’s items.  We keep the shipping costs down and the prices reasonable for our Lightning gear.  I am working on getting some better photos! 
Our video Pod casts are showcased in the left column; check them out if you have not watched them previously.  We hope to incorporate more video into this new web site soon.

We welcome your feedback, suggestions, and pointing out any errors you find in the site! 

Jan & Sherryl