Captain's Blog
WHILE BLUEWATER RACERS LIKE Ellen MacAnhur and Paul Cayard have been using the Web to keep in touch with friends, family, and Tans for some time, cruisers too are taking advantage of the opportunity 10 share photos and stories in real time through sailing blags.
If you're new lo blogs. begin with a Google query for sailing blogs; you'll get, among other things, a list of blogs with link', 10 other blogs. With a click of ihe mouse, you'll find a plethora of stories, cruise de-lails, thoughts about sailing, and free advice.
"In many ways blogging is a natural extension of the sailing experience," says W Bruce McConnel, creator of Zephyr (www.zephyrsail.com), a sailing-culture blog. "Sailors are trained 10 keep journals, ship's logs, captain's logs, and so on. So blogging can be seen as an Internet form of a tool used for chronicling a voyage, a race, or a daysail."
Although most cruisers' blogs were originally created for friends and family, they can be a great way for you to satisfy your wanderlust. Sites like The Voyage of Wind-bird (www.handleysail.com) offer exciting narrative and photography, in this case of Mark and Judy Handlys circumnavigation. Olher cruisers' sites provide good trip resources and a place to pick up ideas on where and where nol to sail. The Steumer family's account of their four-year circumnavigation (www.nonhemmagic.com), for example, was written after the fact and reads like a travelogue. On setsail.com you'll find a collection of ongoing sailors' logs and some fine writing from well-known cruisers. A stroll through onpassage.corn's cruisers' sites will give you a feel for the immense variety of blogs out there.
Cruisers aren't ihc only sailing bloggers; news and culture blogs abound. McConnel has dedicated Zephyr to "exploring the icons and siories thai make up the fabric of our distinct and identifiable culture," There are a host of general-interest sailing blogs, many linked so they react to each other and generate interesting commentary on the sport. The Laser sailor who created Propercourse (propercourse.blogspot.com), posts his list of the top 10 sailing blogs.
McConnel thinks these sites offer an alternative to traditional media. "Weblogs provide an honest, direct, and interactive form of communication with key audiences," he explains. "People become intrigued by a particular voice and the way the content is rich with links to other sources."
One pan of the blogging culture is conspicuously missing from most sailing blogs. Interaction is the key element that distinguishes blogs from odier forms of mass communication. Perhaps sailing blogs are still too new lo elicit extensive reader comment. Regardless of your level of involvement, however, there are many ways to quench your thirst for sailing content by joining in.
R.W.
www.SailMagazine.com
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