The Death of the Cruising Guide Book

[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.