Remember Galaxy Girl ???

You guys remember Galaxy Girl.

She was that single mom with five kids that asked allot of questions.

Well, someone mentioned her in a different thread so I decided to look her up and find out what happened to her.

She actually is buying a boat! After all the discussion, and learning, and ridicule, both here and on other boating forums, she was serious after all.

She actually sold her house, and has a boat under contract, awaiting survey, etc...

Here's a link to her web site

5 Kids and a Boat

Some things are best forgotten..

HOLLYWOOD

.>too bad we have so many uneducated consumers in this world.<

I think she will do well. Anyone who has a dream, really works towards it, and follows through, earns my respect. If it's a single mum with 5 kids, they score triple points in my book.

She may not have gone about it the way you or I would, but so what. She's doing it for herself and her family, not anyone else.

Still the survey to go for her so she's not over the last hurdle yet; but I'll be drinking a toast to her when she eventually pulls its off.

Best of luck to her

Guess I do not understand why being a "single mum with 5 kids" is viewed as a badge of honor or accomplishment????

Hot off the press (link)....

" I really need to be sure that I get really good inspectors, because I don't want any surprises down the road. Hoping to go to survey next week. This is so real now!!! So exciting, and so much left to do. "

Greetings,
I skimmed through her blog and might have missed what boat she has put an offer on. Anybody pick up on the make and size?

All the best to you girl and family.

Chrisjs said:

Guess I do not understand why being a "single mum with 5 kids" is viewed as a badge of honor or accomplishment????

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In my view it is...having been surrounded by big families growing up I have a different viewpoint i guess.

Sigh!

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
I skimmed through her blog and might have missed what boat she has put an offer on. Anybody pick up on the make and size?

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I wonder if this is good advice here....

President Reagan’s favorite Russian saying regarding arms-control agreements — doveryai, no proveryai, “trust, but verify.”

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/...QR2dGlkA1FJMDQ4XzE-?qid=20061230230553AAjxN4c

She was on the Hatteras Owner's Forum a week ago looking for surveyors, hull and mechanical in the Tampa Bay area. Even I was nice to her and gave her the name of an excellent Detroit Diesel (among other brands) mechanic/surveyor.

Good Mechanical Inspector needed

She is active on Cruisers Forum. I doubt she would post anything here. Looks like she has found: "61' Hatteras in Florida. Can't announce the exact boat, yet, but promise to soon"

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
I skimmed through her blog and might have missed what boat she has put an offer on. Anybody pick up on the make and size?

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Link: OFFER ACCEPTED

Chrisjs said:

Guess I do not understand why being a "single mum with 5 kids" is viewed as a badge of honor or accomplishment????

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"Being" a single mother with 5 kids is not a badge of honor or accomplishment.

Being successful and reaching your dreams under such conditions is an incredible feat.

My mother has done the same, often working 2 low paid jobs, while raising 4 boys, without any external support.

Maybe a person wouldn't understand unless you've been there.

AusCan said:

"Being" a single mother with 5 kids is not a badge of honor or accomplishment.

Being successful and reaching your dreams under such conditions is an incredible feat.

My mother has done the same, often working 2 low paid jobs, while raising 4 boys, without any external support.

Maybe a person wouldn't understand unless you've been there.

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I agree....

I think most people when you narrow the parameters will agree...blanket statements on the internet are always subject to debate.

:lol:
yeah right. After all this time she doesn't know how to find a surveyor or know who the best one's are for GM diesels? Then picks a boat that will be frought with reasons why not to close? She knows what she's doing, but it's not as obvious to her prey.

Wifey B:

I don't know that being female had anything to do with her being picked on. Was more that she didn't act enough like she knew what she was talking about so people had a hard time taking her serious and believing she was real. I think had a dude posted the same he would have been beaten up a bit too. Then of course she went silent and then back either silent here or on CF, just all confusing and long saga.

So what I might suggest is even if someone seems so off target and crazy with their questions or scenarios, might make sense to respond just as if they are real. If they're fake and tricking the board, still can be useful info for others. Her boat target has been moving too and whether she'll end up with one or what she'll end up with who knows. But ultimately it doesn't matter. Answering with good information is good even if not used by the one you answered. And if the thread bothers you then you go start one that's interesting.

Give people the benefit of the doubt. But personally I don't think her poor reception had anything to do with being female. She had me doing backflips too as she was making no sense. I think it was more being a novice, how she expressed herself, and just that she didn't even seem ready for boating 101, more like Pre-K.

Personally, I saw GG as someone that was trying to learn. Some of her questions might have sounded uninformed, but they were just that uninformed questions.

She started in the same way I see some others here start. No boating experience, but a dream. She started asking questions. Where she seemed to get in trouble was when someone gave advice, she would ask why? She would ask for the basis behind the advice as opposed to just accepting it.

Like many others her "dream boat" kept changing as her budget realities, versus her accommodation needs for her kids started coming into play. She had to learn the lessons on her own though, like many of us here.

How she was treated... Well... Some treated her well, and others not so well. Did female bias come into play, maybe. Probably more that the odds of her actually accomplishing her dream were slim once folks learned about her family situation.

I applaud her for going forth, overcoming, and living her dream. I hope she makes a happy boater and that her kids grow up to be just as persevering as their mother.

I think she was treated differently because of her gender. However, I have the opposite take on it. There were many, many times I thought that if this was a man, he would have been shredded much more than she was.

Remember, this is, unfortunately, not always a friendly place.

Nsail said:

Remember, this is, unfortunately, not always a friendly place.

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Then it behooves us to do all within our power to remedy that aspect. Each of us individually. Or doubly as in the case of us posting.

Sometimes forums become "Good Old Boy Clubs" and that has nothing to do with male or female and old or young. It has to do with how newcomers are welcomed. Now we never felt anything but welcomed here. But then we also had much more experience than true newcomers, not just to the forum, but to trawler type cruising and boats.

Most here have trawlers. But we do get those who dream of them or want to have one in the future or just acquired their first boat. With them sometimes we need to issue stern warnings so they don't make serious mistakes. But also educate and encourage. Very difficult balance to achieve. Sometimes if there's a newcomer post that I just can't digest and might not respond to well, then I simply leave them to others to try to assist and keep quiet myself.

I think it's sad what happened here (and elsewhere) to GG. Someone new with a different background interested in coming into our community? They should be welcomed warmly with the assumption that they'll ask questions that don't make sense and start to go down roads that those with more experience know to not venture down. Of course that will happen.

None of us knows exactly how she's a mother of 5 and single. I can come up with a dozen ways that would stop each of us in our tracks and cause us to admire her. She surely has some business and planning expertise. But mostly, she has desire. We all should be doing everything possible to help her and understand if she doesn't follow our advice but decides to take her own path.

I wrote to her personally very early in her process. I told her to ignore the negative comments that would surely come. I suggested staying off the forums (which she ignored). But I'm happy to see her continue in her quest and I honestly hope that I find myself in an anchorage with her and those kids someday. I follow her blog and I know that if this boat doesn't work out, another probably will.

In my experience...everyone starts off with pretty much an equal reception in forums...but for some...it only takes a reply or two before they are headed in a direction that will ultimately give them grief...whether it's from one person..or the masses.

heck...in real life a lot of people think personalities from certain parts of the country are automatically this or that because of the way they may respond to a question...which can't be farther from the truth.

the same here...sometimes blunt is taken the wrong way...and some people don't have the inclination to sugar coat it.

GG got what she got...a few that blubbered over her and a few that slammed her. The vast majority ran the spectrum of belief to disbelief...but few were outright nasty or mean. Some may have thought so...but all in all the vast majority just fell within the guidelines of what these forums normally are.

Some of the people who get picked on (in some people's eyes) are the same ones that get picked on elsewhere....I wonder why???? and often enough....they throw out some juicy stuff themselves.

She is an air head.

Simple as that.

Capthead said:

She is an air head.

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So was I when I first ventured onto T&T (I was the 63rd member back in 1997 or so). Had I been met with such aggression, I might have ended up in a very nice motorhome by now. Thankfully, most of us back then didn't know what we were doing...

I have seen women buy boats in our harbor and I always encourage them. Some have their feet on the ground and think logical, but they are rare. I have a slip neighbor who asks me constantly how to do things and I used to give her advice.

Then she would ask someone else who would give her the cheap fix and she would go that way. Now her boat looks like crap. She is an air head too.

Some of the issues with her was she didn't know squat...then wanted to argue when vastly more experienced boaters gave a opinion she didn't agree with. I dont think any forum on anything where there is a risk to life and limb is going to be easy on a newcommer that wants to skip the logical steps to be smart and safe in the endeavor.

I know I dont want a newbie getting anywhere me in a 60' boat...much less with a bunch of young kids aboard..in the confines of a marina... or even in open water. There is so much more than the ability to write a check and the desire to live the dream to being out there. They dont teach new pilots to learn to fly in a 747 for a reason...especially with it full of passengers.
Personally I could give a crap weather it was galaxy girl or guy for that matter..gender doesnt have to do with anything.
Safely doing what we do with boats takes time and concentration to do it right..without harm to others or property.
Hollywood

hollywood8118 said:

Some of the issues with her was she didn't know squat...then wanted to argue when vastly more experienced boaters gave a opinion she didn't agree with. I dont think any forum on anything where there is a risk to life and limb is going to be easy on a newcommer that wants to skip the logical steps to be smart and safe in the endeavor.

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That's when perhaps use of private messages can be helpful. Offer assistance by suggesting an approach to her than will be more successful in posting. I've done that in private and politely with newcomers on more than one occasion. Explained they could get great advice here but if they ask a question expect to get some answers they don't like. Just listen to it all and then sort through it all yourself. And not to rush. Just take time and absorb. Be like a sponge. A cliche but it's a good one.

Sometimes newbies need to be told they're part of the reason for the conflict and that if the posts bother them, then figure out a better way to handle it.

This is still not to justify rudeness to a poster. Just suggesting if a newcomer is struggling to find their way, privately advising can be good. Now something tells me too that she did have private discussions and they didn't lead to a better approach as might have been hoped.

She's by far not the only newcomer to make no sense at first, seem lost, and argue on things they knew nothing about. Our job perhaps isn't to attack them, but assist them in becoming a better forum participant.

BandB said:

That's when perhaps use of private messages can be helpful. Offer assistance by suggesting an approach to her than will be more successful in posting. I've done that in private and politely with newcomers on more than one occasion. Explained they could get great advice here but if they ask a question expect to get some answers they don't like. Just listen to it all and then sort through it all yourself. And not to rush. Just take time and absorb. Be like a sponge. A cliche but it's a good one.

Sometimes newbies need to be told they're part of the reason for the conflict and that if the posts bother them, then figure out a better way to handle it.

This is still not to justify rudeness to a poster. Just suggesting if a newcomer is struggling to find their way, privately advising can be good. Now something tells me too that she did have private discussions and they didn't lead to a better approach as might have been hoped.

She's by far not the only newcomer to make no sense at first, seem lost, and argue on things they knew nothing about. Our job perhaps isn't to attack them, but assist them in becoming a better forum participant.

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If one is that sensitive they should not ask opinions on a forum..

More than one long time member here went quiet because of how ridiculous it got.

Even I ignored the topic as It was a waste of time.
Hollywood

AusCan said:

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Still the survey to go for her so she's not over the last hurdle yet; but I'll be drinking a toast to her when she eventually pulls its off.

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and too think; i thought Aussies liked to drink