The Death of the Cruising Guide Book

[JasonS]

We use whatever reference sources we can to validate our planning and then try to share with the community.

So I’m a Contributing Editor for Waterway Guide, a beta tester for Aqua Map, and a frequent contributor as of recent for No Foreign Land. Granted, we have only cruised the US and Bahamas, so our strategies may need to shift in the future.

We document above water and below water, including some drone footage, of anchorages and the surrounding areas. We share about stores, restaurants, and marinas (when we stay at one - which is not that often).

We place a link to our Facebook page in many of our reviews, where you can see many photos. We have just shy of 4,000 followers. Cruisers come up to us and thank us often - including one yesterday who transited the Devil’s Backbone the day after us this week, because of our FB post.

And yes, there are those who think that we shouldn’t share. That anchorages should remain a secret for those to explore and find out themselves.

What do we get from this? Well, satisfaction that we are helping others. To date, we haven’t received “one star” (worth a penny from what I’ve gathered). We haven’t sold one photo from our website to a cruiser as of yet!

So, carry on. We’ll keep sharing.

Jason
SV Breathe
www.facebook.com/breathesaildive
www.breathesaildive.com

[reflectionsv37]

I left California for Mexico and beyond in 1999. That was before the days of internet on board. If you wanted internet access, you packed your laptop in a dry bag and went to shore to find an internet cafe.

I used to to cherish my copy of Charlies Charts for Mexico. Hand sketched maps of the anchorages and a few notes about anchoring, water depths, availability of fuel, water and a cold beer. Mine had dogeared pages through, notes I added and a short diary of what I did there. I spent hours in that guide planning which anchorage of was going to visit next. It was usually the one on the next page because it was laid out in order of a typical route through Mexico. Nightly radio nets on SSB where 60-70 boats checked in every night were great for sharing info with the whole fleet and getting questions answered. And there were always VHF radio nets in areas where large numbers of boats were anchored oir in marines, A great source for getting help, buying and selling unneeded equipment. A great way to ask a question to the whole fleet and get an immediate answer.

So much has changed in the past 25 years. We were thrilled when we gained the ability to send/receive text through the ham/SSB radio and pactor modem. Now, no one knows what an SSB is for and they certainly don't know how to use it. They're pulling them out of their boats and giving them away. They can't live without some form of internet connection while on passage in the middle of the ocean. I have to assume the radio nets are all but gone and I haven;t seen or heard of a local VHF net in the last 10 years.

IMO a lot of has been lost with all the current technology. The radio nets built a lot of comradery amongst the fleet and even though you may have never met them, those on the nets seemed like friends and if you saw their boat name in an anchorage you would dinghy by and say hi. Seemed everyone knew everyone else. We used to have regular pot lucks and cocktail hour dinghy raft ups to watch the sun go down. Not uncommon to have 25-30 dinghy's all tied together in the middle of a bay. Not anymore. People only seem to know the close knit group the left their home port with. I've been in anchorages for months and no one ever stops by to say hello. If I stopped by to say hi to someone they look at me like I'm an alien from outer space.

As old salty sailor now, I miss those good ol' days!

[jimellifritt]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

The internet has claimed another victim, the traditional cruising guide.

I know nobody has ever gotten rich writting cruising guides, it is truely just a labor of love, but SOME profit is needed along the line. Since (almost) nobody buys books anymore, the cruising guide market have collapsed. Even if someone wanted to write one, nobody is going to publish it. No major cruising guide I know of has been updated in the last 5 years. (In popular areas there are a few advertising supported guides, that I have never found useful, but they are the best we get these days).

It seems most people want their information to be accurate, current, and FREE, and are unwilling to pay somebody to collect it for them. Somehow the "crowd" is supposed to supply them what they need without any kind of editing or adult supervision.

As for the crowd, I go along with the observation of the great 20th century philosopher George Carlin, "Consider the intelligence of the average person... now remember, half of everybody is dumber than that..."

None of the on-line sources seem able to hold together for long. People are inherently fickle, and stop posting to them after a while. So the information ages out. Things like Facebook are useless for planning a voyage, although they can help with specific question.

It seems that the only solution (and it is not a good one!) is to wade through dozens of blogs to find the few written by people you trust, and who have been to the place you want to go, who present useful information.

We have a Starlink and will use it regularly only as a refinement tool. We are guide users. Even an older guide is better than no guide. I am a paper planner and makes notes in book and on a separate spreadsheet. I still believe in guides, but do agree it is a labor of love.

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

We still pay attention to set and drift, too. Just a few yrs. back a former pilot lost their catamaran on one of the FP islands because he was following a contour line with his autopilot, and didn't take into account the strong waves from the SE. IMO the spiffy electronics lead to a false sense of control/safety, to which newcomers are susceptible

That story sounds odd. With a good chart plotter, you can see your location and path. Some, like me, drive (with the autopilot) to follow a desired path. Others set a route and ask the autopilot to follow it. Either way, things like set/drift/deviation/magnetic anomalies/etc are completely irrelevant. The course is adjusted to maintain desired path.


The old-fashioned alternative was to find a position, plot a course, and follow that course. Some judgement/estimate/guess can be applied to account for anticipated set/drift/etc, but the bottom line is that until the next non-electronic fix, you have no idea that the screwdriver someone just tossed in the drink holder on the binnacle twisted your compass 7 degrees.


I would argue that for even the most skilled sailor, following a depth contour using an autopilot and a chart plotter is FAR safer than following that same contour hand-steering with manual fixes on a paper chart.


Now, if that depth contour was an unsafe approach to being with, that's not the fault of the electronics!

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by CarlF

It would help a lot if more cruisers took a few minutes to post on AC instead of just complaining about something Garmin did almost 10 years ago.

I have found it increasingly hard to "Post on AC." I am mostly local sailing right now and so am not using it as much -- and do I can't rightly recall, but it seems that the only "free" way to post on AC (or even read AC!) is on abrowser. The AC app was something good that Garmin brought, but it seems to have been killed for those without a recent Garmin device. Navionics was actually pretty good until the price exceeded the value.


Where/how do you actually use and update AC?


Note, the browser solution is actually fairly useful on a device in addition to a browser. But an app, especially with offline downloading, would be a huge improvement.

[Kettlewell]

I would argue that for even the most skilled sailor, following a depth contour using an autopilot and a chart plotter is FAR safer than following that same contour hand-steering with manual fixes on a paper chart.

One of the problems I see with chart plotters is that it is very easy to be viewing the wrong scale or not have appropriate depth data showing. Someone using an old cruising guide might read additional important information something like, "Stay outside the 60-foot contour off Wreck Point where currents tend to push you toward the rocks."

[cdcorl]

I’m not sure where this is coming from. We sail the Caribbean in the winter and Northeast in the summer. We get updated Doyle Guides to the islands every 2-3 years updated Waterway guides for the Northeast. All are updated regularly and widely available.

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by jimellifritt

We are guide users. Even an older guide is better than no guide. I am a paper planner and makes notes in book and on a separate spreadsheet. I still believe in guides, but do agree it is a labor of love.

I go where the Admiral tells me. The Admiral can't (well, won't) read anything on a screen. She loves her new (and old) paper cruising guides.


I only get to decide how to safely move the boat from here to there.



It's actually a pretty good arrangement.

[nofacey]

Circumnavigated in 2019, was able to find guides for any where I looked…..had to search/ask around a bit a couple times.
- rocket guides for Vanuatu & New Caledonia were up to date & only available online, but downloaded easily enough, then available anywhere using my iPad.
Figure that’ll become more common - printing & distribution is expensive

Otherwise bought hard copy online (check eBay too) , traded or was gifted guides, passed on to others going where we’d just been. Just need to look ahead of time and not expect 2 day delivery.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

My chart books all have numerous scribbles on the pages, as are my paper charts, where I wanted to jot down some or other thing, ie, good lobster hole, good anchorage spot, things I did, etc.
I can take my chart book/paper charts ashore, sit down with other sailors and discuss routes, places, while sipping a pint or two.

Try do that with your electronic screen.

What prevents you from adding notes in OpenCPN and taking your laptop or tablet to shore and discuss as usual?



PS. Papercharts and books are great for memories though.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

One of the problems I see with chart plotters is that it is very easy to be viewing the wrong scale or not have appropriate depth data showing. Someone using an old cruising guide might read additional important information something like, "Stay outside the 60-foot contour off Wreck Point where currents tend to push you toward the rocks."

Indeed, why you should avoid passage planning and navigation (as opposed to pilotage) using vector charts on small plotter screens.


It CAN be done but it is laborious, requiring you to fly the whole route zoomed in far enough to reveal all the relevant detail, even for areas which appear to be open sea when zoomed out. Then if you find something and have to correct the route, you have to fly it all over again. It's really fundamentally unsuitable.


I use a plotter and vector charts for pilotage, for which it is unsurpassed, using routes produced off the plotter.


I used to do this by hand using paper charts, but that is also laborious -- keeping them updated. Eventually I could not physically store all the paper I needed and turned to updated, commercial raster charts and OpenCPN on a large 4K monitor. This is a fantastic tool for this job. The finished routes are then transferred to the plotters on a thumb drive. Raster charts are just like paper, so as long as you have chosen the right chart with the piano keys, you don't need to fiddle with any zooming to see all the detail you need.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Franziska

What prevents you from adding notes in OpenCPN and taking your laptop or tablet to shore and discuss as usual?

PS. Papercharts and books are great for memories though.

That's what I do. Notes in a paper notebook, however. Paper chart if available; OpenCPN/laptop if not. Just don't spill beer into the laptop.

[kapnkarl]

Not sure what the source of your info is but i'm afraid you are verifiably mistaken. Check the other comments. There are a number of printed guides putting out annual updates to their very worthwhile guides.

[Thomas31709]

Check out the Boat Galley (www.theboatgalley.com) and their cruising guides. They arrange the needed information in a different format that's more accessible. Instead of telling you everything that's in a particular town (like most cruising guides do), they arrange the information by what you're looking for: fuel, water, laundry, an anchorage, bridge info, a grocery, and more

[mvweebles]

We are slowly working out way down the Pacific Coast of Mexico. In a way, because expectations of good information are higher now than ever, a good cruising guide is more invaluable than ever. I cannot imagine anyone transiting this coast without Shawn and Heather Breeding's guide along with digital harbor charts and waypoints.

Bluelatitudepress.com

No affiliation beyond a very satisfied owner of their guide. Hats off to them for their hard work.