Not sure if this is allowed but I'd really like your input.

[vpbarkley]

A circumference of .7 nautical miles results in a radius of 677 ft., about 0.11 nautical mile.

[bkrizmanic]

I think Aqua Maps had that function, I can see other users and message them. NEBO which is used by a lot of Great Loopers also shows other boats and you can message each other.

[Brendan]

OP, I'm on NoForeignLand (https://www.noforeignland.com/boat/5689517384138752) but they don't offer an app, which makes it hard to use unless I go down below and boot up a computer. I like your idea, I'd probably use an app like that.

[Kd9truck]

This post could fall under the category of “crowd sourcing” and not offended.

I would say that it would be good if it were to be connected to another widely used app that prompts an invite depending on your location.

I am very comfortably solitary and I shun alerts, alarms, any apps that prompt engagement in participation. I liken all the prompting by “shtuff” on my technology to a panhandler at my door asking for things and it should be noted there’s no doorbell or knocker on my front doors. Soooo I would most likely be out of the loop.

[HeywoodJ]

I can only offer that many of the places I like to anchor (and there are oftentimes many other boats there) have no cell service. So, for such an app to be useful it would have to allow the development of some sort of ad hoc mesh network that all user devices could recognize and join.

[edventuredad]

Sounds like a great idea. Of course, the difficulty is getting people onto it and, until there's widespread usage, it doesn't have much value so it's hard to get people to keep it on. And, it'll need to be a paid/freemium kind of app to support your time and the infrastructure required (unless you're an independently wealthy donor), so it'll have to have real value out of the gate to make it fly.

Perhaps a valuable concept would be to tie in with the ActiveCaptain type data for anchorages so they can be seen on a map and selected ahead of time to see if there are people using the app already there to contact prior to arrival. A planning tool as well as social connection upon arrival.

[Amapola]

I think it's a good idea. One addition would be to allow crowd sourcing such as: "There's a sunk sailboat at (coordinates) or "there's a log at (coordinates).

[Subtandard]

It sounds like in interesting idea. My first thought is "what is the business model?" That can make a huge difference in the long term. Most social media is based on surveillance capitalism which I avoid. For me, I would prefer a web based interface as smart phones are just too small for my comfort.

[ncohen226]

Most people go to anchorages to have some solitude.

A great deal of the places I go do not have cell service.

I’m so turned of social media and how rude people are that I prefer to not engage to avoid all the jerks.

I don’t want to have jerks anchor close to me and have a battle with them on some chat feature.

I’m not going to share my anchorages or where I am with anyone.

I’m not anti-social or an introvert. I just hate how rude social media has become.

[skipperguy]

Great idea! How to spread this word among the cruising community would be my only puzzlement

[RedFeather]

This sounds like a great idea. I manage teams that build web and mobile apps soup to nuts, including socializing the product and communications. With useful functionality, good design and UX, and researched plan for socialization among target audience, this could be great.

[Cynara]

Technology is good. More people are sailing than ever before because with gps, chart plotters, almost instant communication in an emergency, you can call home every day, some can still work while sailing where they want.

I disagree that you need an app to connect others in an Anchorage.

Wouldn't it be better to grab a few beers and row, not motor, over to the other boats and say Hi.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Hi, hillbillybhudda,

Just take the dinghy through the anchorage till you find whose it is. Just keep asking, "do you know whose dinghy this is?" Make a new friend. It usually does not take very long to rescue an errant dinghy, and it's kind of rewarding. I wouldn't just leave it somewhere like the dinghy dock, because they'll have to swim for it, and it would be vulnerable to being stolen. Way better to find out to whom it belongs. ....Actually, now I remember it, this very thing happened in Mexico, when we were there, and it was a local fisherman who came in through the anchorage with someone's dinghy, asking till he found them.

Ann

See, all done without an app!!!

I have no idea why people "go to" some electronic media for something as simple as saying "Hello."

Like folks who have "phones" but never TALK to each other. The idiots texting each other across a dining room table...

I am not a luddite, I know how to run a computer (since DOS days) and my wife calls me "her IT specialist."

I have a phone, but it doesn't have a phone SIM card because where I sail there is no freakin' phone signal, so why should I spend anything per month for something I don't and can't use?

Besides phones, like Ann says, people have forgotten how to use books, like guide books. I moved from SF to BC in 2016, and sailed up the coast. You betcha I used guide books for every one of the previously unknown to me anchorages and harbors and entrance bars. And use guides for all the new places I am discovering here in the Gulf Islands.


apps? I don't need no steenkin' apps! :smile :

[Cynara]

Points well taken

[Rumrace]

I like you a bunch OP.

Raft Date App.

To get in the back of Bone Island or Regatta Bay in Georgian Bay is easy or you’ll hit your keel. Either spot in salvation from storms but few power boats don’t hit a prop or sailboat ground if you enter wrong.
I met 2 boats from Quebec. I asked them how I found the back of bone. Apparently they had a local in a small boat guide them in. Go close to the island it’s 12’. In the Middle is 2’ and two huge boulders.
I’d love to share that in an app.

Frying pan Bay is amazing but fills up and it’s a long way around from Cedar Springs. It would be great to know if frying pan is full.