Why aren't there cruising report threads?

[Wakey]

Originally Posted by Canibul

My father in law says I am a Curmudgeon.

Feels good to be defined.


What's a blog?

There's this one.. 2 gringos, it has awesome pics, they must have a really nice camera.

The guy loves rust and they have this little dog that has trained them well. Oh, and the guy wears crocs.

You wouldn't like it, you seem reeeealy curmudgeonly.


Posted from my buggy iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum app

[Jim Krause]

Originally Posted by Gadagirl

I agree. Perhaps it's the weather? He's being a real "Debbie Downer"
[No offense Debbie]

It's a great idea Perhaps the concept is not coming across precisely. Suppose we call/label it in the title "Trip Report" example: Trip Report - My Chesapeake Cruise.

It probably should be posted under the "Destinations" sub-forum. Easy to search, just search "Trip Report". Or make it a sub-sub-thread in the "Destinations" sub-forum. This is already a common sub-Thread in travel forums. Such as Traveltalkonline: Viewing list of forums

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, the CF "Destinations" category makes sense to me. I wouldn't tie it geographically to a place (as suggested by a few), since an "epic cruise" might start in Alaska and end in Patagonia, etc.

Cheers!

[Mirage35]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

And don't forget the SSCA... that's what they have been doing for a number of decades, going back to mimeographed newsletters and snail mailings. They are very good at this, to t his day, and I see no need to add another site to dilute the info into difficult to find bits.

And for those that just want to talk about their travels, you are already free to do so here on CF, and will get an appreciative audience.

And don't we have the Cruising Wiki here on CF for the collection of specific port/region related info? Have a look there, and contribute if y ou feel so inclined.

Jim

And ... trying to get back on topic - this was the most interesting comment since mine, which was of course very insightful.

I have only glanced at the cruising wiki and, based on a quick scan, concluded that it was an interesting idea with very little content. The solution to that, of course, is for people to provide content. I'm prepared to make an effort to add what I learn in my local, limited cruising areas if the rest of you will do the same.

[Sailor_Hutch]

It seems that hundreds of people have sailblogs - but when I've gone there I've noticed that probably 99% of those blogs have only one or two posts. They make a post, nobody comes to look at it or post a comment to it, and they never post again.

There's exceptions, and some sailing related blogs have big followings and big comment sections. But, for the most part, I think there's a few very dedicated bloggers (sometimes they're already famous for some reason or another) - who post regularly. For others the thrill is gone quickly.

[skipgundlach]

I'm a member of SSCA and post here and in their Facebook site, as well as in their forum.

I have hundreds (literally, and not bragging about it because there are those with thousands) of folks on my mailing list (the log in the sig line) who may never see one of these forums.

I also get new subscribers from time to time (yahoo has that as their sole redeeming feature of their lists remaining after their re-do) as notified by Yahoo, and, typically, about every other log, an unsubscriber, who can't deal with a reply, as sometimes happens, as that's too much traffic

But I'm forever meeting up with what a happy-hour fellow SSCA cruiser, during a sundowner on a mutual friend's boat, called blog stalkers - folks I have no clue about, but who have been reading my log postings, whether on the mailing list, or this or one of the other forums I put them out on.

In my case, I do so because it serves, somewhat, as my own log, so I can review long-ago stuff and relive it. But those who have seen and read my stuff for what is now approaching 9 years know that it's brutally honest and that I let it all hang out. If we've screwed up, I own up, and show what we did to get out of it. If something works wonderfully, I rejoice. If you want to know how to get from, say, Ragged Island to Ft. Pierce in one jump, you can see how we did it, and so on.

But, back to lurkers and SSCA. I'm always flattered when one comes up to me, whether on the water, at a potluck, or ashore at some cruising-related meeting, and tells me how I've impacted their lives. Usually, they're silent and in the background - I didn't even know they existed until then. So, that's part of what keeps me going.

As to the SSCA, however, the bulletins have limited space; likewise, as a cost-effective measure, most members now receive their notifications (only) by email, and if they care to, pull the issues down from the website. A search engine is provided, should you elect to get the bulletins in an annual CD, so you can search many years of bulletins to see if a topic which interests you is covered. My writing isn't to their style, but the admiral, who also has a log (more along the lines of sunsets and animals), has been published twice, by virtue of the editor being on HER log (mailing) list, seeing one of her logs in her mailbox, liking it, and asking if she could use it.


So, there are cruising report threads, perhaps even here. There isn't a dedicated place to put them, as there is on the SSCA forum site, and other cruising-related forums, but if you search for my name, you'll see that the "general sailing forum" is where I send mine here, for lack of any better point. It gets a fair amount of views, but rarely a comment. My posting is made simpler because I use onetab to organize my multi-place stuff, and where I post my log on FB forums and other forums like this all collapse back into one place on my Chrome browser; a single click opens all the tabs, and a single click collapses them back into a list again.

However, every so often, I'm assailed for putting it out in so many places, as sometimes a reader will also be subscribed to multiple places that I use. I'm also harrassed because (can you tell, from this? ?) that my posts tend to be long, sometimes (the harrassment; the posts are nearly always so) but in both cases the complainer is shouted down

So, expand your horizons. Join the SSCA (tell them that Flying Pig sent you; I'll get a month added to my membership, at no cost to you). Investigate other forums. Post your own in the general sailing forum.

FWIW, we've consciously chosen CR or log vs 'blog' posting, as our viewers seem to appreciate our detail; if they want pictures, there are thousands, on many different areas of what we've done, in the gallery link. The typical blog is one or two sentences about a half dozen or so photos or photo groups, each; there's not much meat in those, and if you're on a marginal bandwidth, you might never get to see it, anyway. Our text-only logs might run to 15K on a big one; most blogs work their way into megabytes due to the pictures.

One final pitch for the SSCA. At their gams (Gathering And Meetings), you get a name button, and a ribbon, maybe, depending on your status. One of the ribbons is 'First Timer" - which is an immediate trigger for those of us who have been around the block once or twice to chat you up and see what's interesting to you, and where you're planning, and the like. If you're too shy to admit to that (the ribbons are stacked; you take whichever one[s] which apply to you to stick on the button), look for the red ribbons (with "commodore" on them): commodores have done some minimal requirements fulfillment to achieve that, have to be recommended by two other commodores, and be reviewed for 4 months in the bulletin before acceptance, and chat THEM up. You'll love it. If we're available, we never miss a GAM, not only for the seminars and other learning opportunities along with vendor interaction, but for the learning which happens standing around talking...

If you've read this far, you get a sense of how my trip reports read