Looking for interest in a new program for cruising sailors

[Herreshoff]

Hi Jeff, let's try work out what's happening for you. I will say that we haven't had any other users report issues in the couple of weeks, but that's not to say it's necessarily a problem on your side.

Try going through this link and tell me if it works for you.

Https://zuluwaterways.com

[JeffH]

Yeah. That's what worked for me. Site looks great. Thanks for starting this.

[Herreshoff]

Great. I think some devices have trouble if it doesn't have https:// in front of the zuluwaterways.com. That's my best guess anyway.

Glad you like the site. It's going really well. Better then we expected this early on with people adding icons all around the world. It's great to see the map filling up so quickly. Already there have been about 300 icons added in three weeks since the release. Really great to see! The word is spreading.

We started a Facebook group for updates or if users have questions or suggestions.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/257973798014508/

[Herreshoff]

Just a note for anyone accessing the site in the next few days. There are some tabs in the profile section called 'feed' and 'Zulu feed'. These are functions which are under construction and won't work properly at the moment. They will be complete by Tuesday this week.

[Herreshoff]

We have done a new release, Version 2.0. We have improved the map functions and added a cool social media section where sailors can have a profile, share their location to the map, start conversations and post articles.
An iOS and Android app are almost finished and we will release them to the public soon. After that we will work on offline version so you can add and access information while not connected.

For anyone wanting to help the project along, the best thing to do is to start adding information in the places you know best. This can be anchorages, navigation advice, marinas, shops, pump out facilities etc. It’s amazing how quickly the map fills with useful information once a few dedicated people put their knowledge together. Check out Australia. That has been over the last 4 months.

Would love to see people getting more involved, especially from North America as there is not much info there yet. The more input the better this free resource can become.

Enjoy!

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Herreshoff

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Would love to see people getting more involved, especially from North America as there is not much info there yet. The more input the better this free resource can become.

Enjoy!

FYI for the Zulu developers, I lived and sailed in San Francisco for 38 years before I moved to Vancouver Island in 2016.

Active Captain was "most populated" by skippers on the east coast of the USA. If you look at the AC input for Northern California, you will find almost nothing compared to the Atlantic ICW (intracoastal waterway). For some reason, folks in N. California didn't "take to it" as much as the east coast skippers. My thoughts on why the differences between left and right coasts? Left (west) coast: Less anchoring, more day sails, lots of racing on SF Bay, less folks traveling up and down the coast (open ocean vs. "The Ditch"), no snowbirds, fewer marinas overall.

I entered some points around SF Bay that I thought were useful in AC, went back six months and a year later and found little had changed around the SF Bay Area. It's not like people are trying to keep stuff secret, it was just my experience from where I sailed for so long.

Now that AC has been bought by Garmin, there have been "issues" with it. There's a thread on this forum about it and I've seen others on other boating forums.

I wish you well, good idea.

Yes, you can use multiple sites but that's not convenient. With crowd sourcing, there is a major advantage to having things pooled. If you divide the market up, all the products are reduced as most of the crowd won't post information to multiple sites. This is also the biggest hurdle to this project being a success. There may be a small segment of the market that isn't happy with Active Captain but they have a huge lead on their crowd sourced database. I've run across this with a few forums where the was a debate of moving to a new platform...and if you can't transfer the underlying data it's tough to make the transition as a better box doesn't make up for the box being empty.

valhalla, Many of us use multiple boating forums daily. I don't think anyone has ever suggested that there only be ONE boating forum! AC doesn't cover much of the rest of the USA because of less input from users as I just mentioned, to say nothing of the rest of the globe, although I haven't checked out if they "do" Europe, for example. But the "Garmin-glitch" may have already begun to chase some users away.

Forums moving to a new platform? On our C34 website, when we moved from an email list to a forum software there was some resistance (to change, I suppose). Once established, however, we found it superior for searching and archiving and even started a wiki for legacy material. But this was back in 2001, when email before that was the only way to communicate, since forum software was a new thing. Another forum I know of updated their forum software after 10 years of great activity, but blew the rollout by not telling anyone, took almost a month of being offline to do it (!!!), made the dreadful mistake of locking it out to paid association members only for a while and created a firestorm, and the site withered; now two years later they just opened a Facebook page, which only serves to further dilute the content of their very own website. You are also right, valhalla, when you said: "...if you can't transfer the underlying data it's tough to make the transition as a better box doesn't make up for the box being empty..." In that case, they "ditched" the old forum material, all of it!!! A truly stupid move. There was nothing they did correctly, and are still wondering two years later why folks who used it were so upset.

Even if there were a half dozen of Zulu types of sites, I wouldn't find that too burdensome.

Right now, there are only two, and one "does" the East Coast of the US, pretty much, only. If Zulu can capture information on other parts of the globe, good for them.

Complimentary compared to competitive comes to mind.

[SailRedemption]

Just signed on, located in New Orleans, LA USA. I'll do my best to enter in Gulf of Mexico info that I know. Plus my local knowledge in Lake Pontchartrain and surrounding areas.

Ronnie

[Herreshoff]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

FYI for the Zulu developers, I lived and sailed in San Francisco for 38 years before I moved to Vancouver Island in 2016.

Active Captain was "most populated" by skippers on the east coast of the USA. If you look at the AC input for Northern California, you will find almost nothing compared to the Atlantic ICW (intracoastal waterway). For some reason, folks in N. California didn't "take to it" as much as the east coast skippers. My thoughts on why the differences between left and right coasts? Left (west) coast: Less anchoring, more day sails, lots of racing on SF Bay, less folks traveling up and down the coast (open ocean vs. "The Ditch"), no snowbirds, fewer marinas overall.

I entered some points around SF Bay that I thought were useful in AC, went back six months and a year later and found little had changed around the SF Bay Area. It's not like people are trying to keep stuff secret, it was just my experience from where I sailed for so long.

Now that AC has been bought by Garmin, there have been "issues" with it. There's a thread on this forum about it and I've seen others on other boating forums.

I wish you well, good idea.

Thanks for the encouragement Stu. I can see that it makes sense that the area with more racing and less cruising destinations resulted in less sailors adding in those areas. I would have thought San Fran would have a lot of information though. If you feel inclined and want to add some of your knowledge of San Fran to the map that would be great! The East coast of Australia has anchorages and ports every 50nm or so up the coast, hence a map like this took off in that area quickly.
I hope to see some good information added by Americans or people cruising North America, on both the coasts in the coming months. I will seek out some dedicated West coast sailors to see if they are interested in adding to their coastline.

[Herreshoff]

Originally Posted by SailRedemption

Just signed on, located in New Orleans, LA USA. I'll do my best to enter in Gulf of Mexico info that I know. Plus my local knowledge in Lake Pontchartrain and surrounding areas.

Ronnie

Hey Redemption.

Icons so far look great. Excited to see the information you add.

[NigelRL]

Registered and hope to add more places as we sail thru the summer (East Scotland)

[Herreshoff]

People have been adding some great information yesterday and today! Excellent icons. I just wanted to encourage everyone to feel free share their knowledge by placing icons on the map. We all know our little pieces of the water well, and therefor have knowledge to share. The information you add might be very useful to another sailor. And remember, other sailors can then add to your information to build a well rounded icon of wisdom. Enjoy!

[NigelRL]

Have posted the link on Scottish FB sailing group

[Herreshoff]

Originally Posted by NigelRL

Registered and hope to add more places as we sail thru the summer (East Scotland)

Hi Nigel, Great icons added in East Scotland. I just put a post on sailing Scotland facebook group (if they approve it). I hadn't seen yet on this thread that you had done so already. You've put some good info as a base for people adding more in that region. I will put some effort into promoting sharing from that region.

[NigelRL]

Hiya Scotland is literally a country of 2 sides. On the West which is less affected by tide there are numerous locations with and it has to be said some of the most picturesque scenery you could hope to find and all fairly close by sailing wise. The marina set up is very healthy with extensive resources for boater's. You can cut through Scotland via 2 sets of canal systems. One thru central belt from the Clyde (Glasgow) to the Forth (Edinburgh). Ooh there are free moorings in Glasgow centre for upto 3 nights I believe.
The other route being up north and Fort Augustus then thru Loch Lomond aye watch out for Nessie. Then out by Inverness.
On the East we have huge tidal influence with many harbours/moorings drying out at low tide. So we are all looking for bilge (multiple keel) boats. There also are much less marinas with moorings etc. Councils are apparently looking at extending this and believe me there is a need. At Anstruther a grand port there are pontoon moorings yes some are for guests but if you want to Moor annually well its a 9 year waiting list. We do have many places of outstanding beauty and interest just the reduced berthing opportunities for its residents anyway.
Excellent website Sail Scotland has alot of info and a free download ofmost tourist berthing opportunities and its called welcome anchorages. Oh btw in Scotland it's a rare day there is no wind. Oh we playa wee bit of golf too. Obviously St Andrews Carnoustie etc etc but many course are council owned and hence really not expensive in a 15 mile radius from me well over a dozen courses.

[Nicor]

Pump out...
The way this page sounds, the icon actually may be free to use.

https://www.boat-ed.com/washington/h...a_pumpout.html

Didn't pay too much attention to the display selection types, if there was one.
So throwing this out, select what you want displayed.

Don't care too much for the map as 'long' time to load here (not wifi).