What's in a Name?

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet ~ Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Definitions of "brat" on the Web ~ a very troublesome child

I have mentioned the C-Brats several times already. It's a web site, a "home for C-Dory people." It is our repository of technical knowledge, our market place, our photo gallery, and more - but most of all, it is where we communicate daily about our boats, motors, electronics, destinations, aspirations, economics, current events, kids, dogs, and sometimes politics. No rules. Just be nice.

But it is a pretty weird name - "brats"? It might be sausage cooked in beer but it isn't. My friend Roger Johnson suggested that it might mean:

C = C-Dory

B = Boating

R = Recreation

A = And

T = Technical

S = Symposium

Mike Barber, Tyboo, says he REALLY likes that one!

But it isn't that either. What is it? OK here we go.

When I first saw a C-Dory in Active Cove at Patos Island that fateful fall day in 2002 and started my Internet research, I did not come upon C-Brats, because at that time it did not exist. Instead I found a site on MSN called C-DOGs (C-Dory Owners Group). My friend Brock Arnold (Catman) recalls my first post: "I don't know when, I don't know how, but one day I will have one!"

But all was not peace and harmony on C-DOGs. The Grand Poohbah, a guy named Dale, Fishwisher, had lots and lots of rules. Hey, it was his site, he owned it, and he had every right to make rules. I guess it is up to the user community whether they like the rules or not, or like the site enough to follow the rules. As it turned out, they didn't.

Now, a whole lot of us know Greg Davidson - his 1985 Classic C-Dory Redfox is legendary and Greg's exploits in Alaska are legendary too. Greg and Redfox were featured in the 2004 C-Dory brochure. Greg is a pretty independent guy and got in trouble a few times with the Poob, for heinous offenses like posting nature photos instead of boat photos. Greg started referring to himself as a "C-Brat," and it was absolutely in the "troublesome child" sense of the word! The original C-Brat!

Mike Barber started another MSN site called C-Brats mainly as a place for Greg to post his pictures that the Poob did not allow on the C-DOG site. Greg finally committed one last heinous crime - he inserted a photo in a post. This was against the rules and the Poob called Greg out publicly on it. Mike stood up for Greg. Greg, Mike and some others got booted off the C-DOG site. Mike registered the name C-Brats.com. C-Brats, it seems, was born out of stupid rules on C-DOGs.

For a while, I really don't remember how long, there were two MSN sites for C-Dory owners. A few folks participated in both. But little by little, C-Brats surpassed C-DOGSs. Then, computer guru extraordinaire, Bill Geiss, Da Nag, created the current C-Brat site, with the phpBB software, with a lot more bells and whistles and functionality compared to the MSN sites. Now 3,600 plus users strong, and growing daily, the MSN sites could not compete with the forums (fora?), galleries, searches, maps and all the rest of the phpBB C-Brat site. The rest is history. C-DOGs withered and died. MSN ceased to exist. C-Brats flourishes!

So, that is it - the true story of the C-Brats!

I took this picture of Mike at Blakely Island in 2003 - epitomizing the true spirit of the C-Brat