Boat Card Etiquette

[saltyDaryl]

My husband and I are quite new to the cruising life, having sort of walked backwards into it unwittingly. The part we've enjoyed the most so far other than pretending we know anything about marine engines is meeting new people, and in our short time so far we've come across these boat cards that people have handed us along the way if they've enjoyed our company or our beer.

We're reasonably young so of course I looked for a digital version and found they existed. It seems smart to me because then you can't lose them or have them slip into the bilge, but when I showed the other cruisers we're anchored with at the moment they were either highly impressed or very disinterested.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cruiser-digital-boat-cards/id1436413312?ls=1&mt=8

So I'm wondering if there's some sort of hidden etiquette that we don't about yet with these things? My husband likes to think he's some sort of old-school salty sea dog (hence the username) so he tells me its 'not traditional' and people like collecting physical cards.

Apart from how they're delivered, I also wondered how meaningful they are? If someone gives me one, should I really keep in touch with them? Or in your experience is it just a gesture and people quickly forget who they've met along the way? Do you keep in touch with people that have given you their card?

I'm kind of hoping to keep this cruising thing going for a good couple of decades and I think the key to enjoying it for that long is sharing it with friends.

[JPA Cate]

Etiquette? Not that I'm aware of, really. Some people collect the boat cards and put them in card booklets. Some keep visitors' logs. We have a plastic box in which the cards are in two categories: businesses and friends. The friends one, I keep alphabetized. The businesses are by categories. We also keep a "Boats Met Log" on Jim's computer.

It's a lot like the changes with photographs. Twenty-five yrs. ago, we took photo albums, with explaining text, back to the States when we went to visit. Now, we show them on the computer, in our case, not so much cell phone, but it's on its way, because it is convenient, and that outweighs the loss of clarity in the pictures.

So, I think your e-cards may work fine in today's world.

The boat cards have changed a lot, too. Making your own, with a photo you like of your boat is common, now, whereas the old ones were not nearly so complex. Ours now has the photo Jim took of our boat under spinnaker on the Derwent, that he uses for his avatar picture.

Your choices will depend, also, on how visible you want to be.

Ann

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Daryl.

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

So, I think your e-cards may work fine in today's world.

For folks who use iThings...

-Chris

[sailorboy1]

I'm not aganist an e-card, but I would prefer (greatly) a hard card. And I don't like the cards where the boaters used both sides of the cards as I like to dd notes on the back off them.

The more interesting thing about boat cards is how many cruisers don't have them.

[denverd0n]

Some people are going to prefer a physical card. There are more than just a few people out there who go cruising specifically to get away from the "connected" world that we live in. They aren't going to be too interested in an e-card, and some couldn't accept one if they wanted to.



Personally, I would keep a few physical cards on hand for those kinds folks, and the e-cards for the rest. Start by offering the e-card and if they don't have any way to accept it, give them a physical card. That's what I do with my business cards (and you might be surprised, in this day and age, how many people -- even many of those working in high-tech businesses -- don't have a way to accept an e-card).

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Some people are going to prefer a physical card. There are more than just a few people out there who go cruising specifically to get away from the "connected" world that we live in. They aren't going to be too interested in an e-card, and some couldn't accept one if they wanted to.



Personally, I would keep a few physical cards on hand for those kinds folks, and the e-cards for the rest. Start by offering the e-card and if they don't have any way to accept it, give them a physical card. That's what I do with my business cards (and you might be surprised, in this day and age, how many people -- even many of those working in high-tech businesses -- don't have a way to accept an e-card).

E card might be OK coastal. In our cruising the eastern Caribbean connectivity is poor, paper works. I prefer to transfer data to my contacts

[Suijin]

They get used. You see a boat you recognize and can’t remember the owners name you flip through your cards. There’s no real etiquette involved. It’s a convenience thing.

[LoudMusic]

What are helpful things to have on the card? Obviously boat name, owner name(s), phone number, email ...

I like sailorboy's comment about leaving the back empty for notes. My wife has started keeping a log of people we've met (with or without cards) and writing down where we met them to help us remember them in the future.

Is picture of the boat, or logo, or owners, or something I'm forgetting, important to include?

What about material? There are water proof plastic cards available. And every kind of paper.

[CaptTom]

The problem with e-cards is a chicken and egg thing. Until one platform or protocol dominates, it's unlikely the people you meet will use the same one as you.

Jeff tried "e-boat cards" as an Active Captain extension, and had all kinds of ideas about how it was going to be your go-to, one-stop way to get all kinds of boat-related social networking going.

It pretty much fell flat, and was discontinued. Turns out people either find it too much of a bother, or feel that it's a privacy risk. There's a growing backlash against companies like Google and FaceBook gobbling up so much personal information, and lots of folks are skeptical of any new apps asking for it.

Meanwhile, just about everyone has a cell phone, and it's pretty easy to text someone, then you can both add each other to your contacts. I've even done it when I had a nice picture of someone's boat underway. I just shouted over my phone number and said "text me," and then I texted them back the photo. They appreciated it.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

Is picture of the boat, or logo, or owners, or something I'm forgetting, important to include?

What about material? There are water proof plastic cards available. And every kind of paper.

They do make inexpensive, water-resistant (not really water proof) cards. VistaPrint calls it their "glossy" finish. I like it because it doesn't warp when damp, and it'll resist some light splashing.

I really like having a photo or line drawing of the boat on the card. A photo of the people is probably nice too, but seems a little salesman-ish to me.

[Sojourner]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

What are helpful things to have on the card? Obviously boat name, owner name(s), phone number, email ...

I like sailorboy's comment about leaving the back empty for notes. My wife has started keeping a log of people we've met (with or without cards) and writing down where we met them to help us remember them in the future.

Is picture of the boat, or logo, or owners, or something I'm forgetting, important to include?

What about material? There are water proof plastic cards available. And every kind of paper.

Some people put callsign and mmsi on it, but we decided not to. Since we're trying to drive viewers and visitors to our various pages, we put a nice pic of the boat on the front with all our social media info (Sailing SY Wake), and on the back here's what we printed up to introduce the crew

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

What are helpful things to have on the card? Obviously boat name, owner name(s), phone number, email ...

Ours has boat name, my wife and my cell number, the boat email address, and a picture of us. I feel people remember the boat name but don't remember what the people look like (plus no one forgets the name of my boat or had a problem remembering it among the other rubber ducky out there)

[Tayana42]

Ours are a on the front a painting I did of us and on the back our vessel name and type and our email. A picture of you or your boat can add the “Oh Yeah, I remember them,” factor.
[ATTACH]

[zeehag]

insects love paper.
paper and water make mush
got no where to put the over 200 i received.
no i give none out.
humidity makes paper rot and mold fast.
anyone wanting to remember me can just stay friends hahahahaha