Guest Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 They are everywhere these days, who do you read? I'll start with this link to one I enjoy and this latest post http://boatbits.blogspot.com/ Way back when, in Las Palmas a few days before the ARC was due to depart, a guy was humping a Simson Lawrence 555 manual windlass up the dock and as we passed each other I asked if he was getting it repaired... "Nope, I'm going to go put it in the dumpster" At the time it seemed like the man had taken some leave of his senses but I was already late to a paying job on another ARC boat so I did not have time to chat about the reason someone was hauling a perfectly good, newish, and if not pristine, expensive bit of gear to the dumpster... A couple of hours later with a job done and cash money in my pocket I decided a visit to the dumpsters was in order. What I found at the dumpsters was, for me at least, a thing of awesome splendor... a cornucopia of perfectly good batteries, VHF radios, sat navs, solar panels, Lorans, at least three manual windlasses, and one complete Aries wind vane, all being pawed over by a handful of cruisers of my ilk (translated roughly as non-ARC folk) who were busy making piles of stuff to take back to their own boats... So, what could make these ARC cruisers behave like Lemmings and start ripping perfectly good stuff off their boats a few days before their Atlantic crossing? A mania for lightening up their boats, maybe an urge to shed expensive gear and return to the simple cruising lifestyle, or was it something more sinister? It would seem that at the various ARC workshops of that year, mostly taught by various marine business concerns, a lot of the advice on offer was of the "you'd be a fool to cross the Atlantic without new batteries/windvane/electric windlass/new GPS/etc and as it happens I have just the thing right here and can install it before the fleet leaves" sort... The phrase "shooting fish in a barrel" does come to mind and the only thing I feel needs to be said is that you should always question advice from a man who has a vested interest in selling you something. So, for a few days in Las Palmas folks were either selling gear at silly cheap prices or simply throwing it away and to this day those dumpsters in Las Palmas have a special place in my heart and I'm looking forward to going back right about ARC time... Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Cool post but personally I don't do blogs. Our cruising is about us and the burden of maintaining a blog is too onerous. We keep friends updated via phone or personal email and occasional group email. About the only reason I read another blog would be to confirm that, yes, that boat we know did trash itself on a reef because they didn't know how to navigate, were relying on their buddy boat (and were probably updating their blog and not looking where they were going) Link to post Share on other sites
Bimini Babe 0 Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Cool post but personally I don't do blogs. Our cruising is about us and the burden of maintaining a blog is too onerous. We keep friends updated via phone or personal email and occasional group email. About the only reason I read another blog would be to confirm that, yes, that boat we know did trash itself on a reef because they didn't know how to navigate, were relying on their buddy boat (and were probably updating their blog and not looking where they were going) Nice one. I have often felt the 'need' to keep a blog of my cruising experiences (which so far amount to 3 years of boat restoration, preparation and frustration), but have never really been able to find the time or motivation, despite being a professional writer. I think part of the problem with blogs is that there are so agonisingly few good ones. The internet is bursting at the seams with average writers, writing average stories about their average lives, which only their friends and family will ever read. Really, why not just send an email? Link to post Share on other sites
chic014 0 Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Here's one from some family friends of mine who are currently in the Canaries. http://musketelle.blogspot.com/ Link to post Share on other sites
idlerboat 116 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 .......well we did send emails of our average trip to our average friends and average family... Using the boat email adress (just an average one) we sent out group updates when and where we felt like it...on average about once a week or if something a bit above average happened... ...a bit like spamming our friends... Link to post Share on other sites
Grinna 2 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 I quite like the idea of a blog. That way if people are interested, they can go look at the blog and see what you're up to. Better than being spammed by emails that they may or may not be that interested in. Blogs that are a mindless narrative of the minutiae of everyday life are perhaps a bit less interesting (understatement of the century?). But there are some cruising blogs that are entertaining, some that are informative and some that just frustrate the heck outa me because clearly some people are just poorly prepared or survive only because they're incredibly lucky - but at least those blogs teach what not to do. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 About the only reason I read another blog would be to confirm that, yes, that boat we know did trash itself on a reef because they didn't know how to navigate, were relying on their buddy boat (and were probably updating their blog and not looking where they were going) Careful.....when cruising the Pacific Islands (and I haven't...YET!), apparently there is a saying that "there are only two types of boats....those that have been reefed...and those that are going to be" Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 About the only reason I read another blog would be to confirm that, yes, that boat we know did trash itself on a reef because they didn't know how to navigate, were relying on their buddy boat (and were probably updating their blog and not looking where they were going) Careful.....when cruising the Pacific Islands (and I haven't...YET!), apparently there is a saying that "there are only two types of boats....those that have been reefed...and those that are going to be" Ha, good point. I've got a fair few miles under my belt and the first time I hit a reef was here in Vanuatu last year. The difference being that I knew things were a bit dodgy so was doing less than 2 knots. That said, I scared the hell out of myself a year before in Fiji at 7 knots where there wasn't supposed to be anything. In other words I've been very lucky. Link to post Share on other sites
desmontracy 0 Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I like this cruiser blog http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/ because its very simple yet all the things that makes everything clearly stated are there. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Welcome aboard, and I like the title as I cruised with a wife and two daughters for 10 years, will take time to look deeper tonight. Thanks Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I have a look in on these folks occasionally. I met them in Whangarei. http://www.doitcruise.info/SoFar.htm Link to post Share on other sites
Jean 5 Posted February 4, 2012 Share Posted February 4, 2012 good blog for cruising info www.yachtbalvenie.blogspot.com Feel free to read my blog...or not www.sailblogs.com/member/tuatara I write as much for my self as others. Find writing a journal boring and I keep forgetting to write in it. A blog helps me to remember what we have done also a good place to store photos. Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 I think part of the problem with blogs is that there are so agonisingly few good ones. The internet is bursting at the seams with average writers, writing average stories about their average lives, which only their friends and family will ever read. Really, why not just send an email? I agree. I don't follow any blogs for this reason with one exception - but mainly cos the writer is a colourful character with amazing adventures outside of her sailing and she is also a talented and sharp-witted writer. For this reason, for a brief time that I was doing something interesting in life, I decided not to do a blog but to send a monthly email to family and friends with a pdf attachment - which people could easily print and read at leisure 'old fashioned' style. I got good feedback for that. Link to post Share on other sites
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