Blogs

Current cruisers, arm chair adventurers, weekend sailors, boat owners, prospective sailors and returned or “retired” (world) cruisers all benefit from or enjoy reading publications that focus on the sailing and cruising life. Whether it is to gain information, knowledge or ideas, read tips and recognizable problems or sit back in a comfy chair, relax and marvel about people’s adventures, plenty of resources are to be found on the internet or in print.

                                                                                                                                     © Liesbet Collaert

Weather Information

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Who would have guessed 15 years ago that the internet would become so important in people’s lives? When I first started traveling extensively as a twenty-something year old (not THAT long ago!), my parents had to be happy with a once-a-month (collect) phone call or a random outdated letter to find out where I was and what I had been up to. Now, they are surfing the web and checking email every day. We are in touch as much as we want to be, based on internet availability and the desire to connect. Communication has become so much easier, especially when you are in a different country or continent.

People on boats used to pick an anchoring spot based on protection from wind and waves, decent holding and the distance to shore. Now, receiving WiFi (wireless internet) on board has become one of the main factors while choosing where to anchor. We have even seen sailboats circle around a whole bay, captain behind the steering wheel, crew with laptop in hand, indicating whether the internet signal is absent (“keep moving”), do-able (“hang around for a bit”) or good (“that’s it, let’s drop the anchor!”). Amongst cruisers, we not only mention great places to drop the hook and talk about amazing sights ashore, we now have a whole list of bays where you can pick up (free) WiFi on the boat.

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Just go?

The advance of the Internet has had a profound effect on surfing. Back in the day, deciding where to surf was a combination of strict weather report scrutiny beginning days earlier, calling up your local surf shop for a wave report and hoping they don’t lie to you, and driving up and down the coast well before dawn trying to work out which local break is peaking.

These days knowing when and where to surf is as simple as a few clicks on your iphone, with the added comfort of being able to search for the best break before dawn from the comfort of your own bed.

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