Cruising and Modern Conveniences- All is good with Universe

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Haven't used it, but just looking at what NFL provides for southern NE many popular places have very little information, and some have none. For example, Tarpaulin Cove on Naushon Island is one of the most beautiful anchorages around, and it is heavily used in the summer--zip info on NFL. Vineyard Haven Harbor is one of the busiest on Martha's Vineyard, and so many cruisers go through the Lagoon Pond Bridge to anchor in Lagoon Pond, especially when weather from the north is threatening. Zip info on the bridge (on a limited schedule) or anchorages in the Lagoon, the best anchorages in the area. Then look at Newport. The anchorage is sorta marked, but in the real world the area is delineated by buoys you have to stay within. Then the yacht club near where you dinghy ashore is misnamed--it is the famous Ida Lewis Yach Club. On Cuttyhunk there is no mention of the anchorage in Cuttyhunk Pond, and the one anchor on the chart is a possible anchorage, but very little information to go on. There are other better places to anchor. Then look at New Bedford. Yes, some moorings are available from Popes Island Marina, but there are several other places that rent moorings and there are town moorings that can be rented--no info. I could go on and on. Just basic info. not there or very skimpy.

It takes 2-minutes to post an update - maybe you can 'pay-it-forward' and help those who come behind you? As you mentioned up-thread, it's crowdsourced so depends on contributions just as Active Captain did. Your posts are usually fairly positive - I'd imagine you're pretty dependable at being 'part of the solution.' See attached screenshot -

NFL is one of several sources I use. It's been pretty helpful for us where we cruise. On the top of the screenshot, note the circle showing range of protection which is good information when selecting an open-roadstead anchorage.

[Davo666]

Originally Posted by GordMay

The complexity and sophistication, of modern electronic devices, leads to the situation, where it is cheaper, and much easier, to replace, than repair.
To repair today’s devices, it’s no longer enough to know how to analyze circuits, and locate faults. Technicians must become online sleuths, on the hunt for information, and replacement parts.

But, not being able to repair our things “is a completely artificial problem,” said Gay Gordon-Byrne, in her TED Talk*, on the “Right to Repair”, and one that she says can only be fixed by passing legislation, to tip the balance back in favour of consumers.

For decades now, product manufacturers have been systematically strangling the repair ecosystem. They do this, by withholding critical information, and parts, from consumers and independent repair shops, and threatening penalties for copyright infringement.
Increasingly, electronics and appliances are made with proprietary parts, controlled exclusively by manufacturers, through copyright, trademarks, and patents.

The foundational idea, behind the “Right to Repair” Movement, is simple: if you own it, you should be able to fix it, either by yourself, or at a repair shop, of your choice. The movement’s goal is to make repair more accessible and affordable, by forcing manufacturers to provide information, diagnostics, tools, and parts, to everyone.

Cleaning up the electronics manufacturing industry will require systemic change, at the supply chain level, and that won’t happen, without regulatory pressure.
Good luck, with that.


* “You deserve the right to repair your stuff” ~ by Gay Gordon-Byrne |
[TEDMonterey, August 2021]
➥ https://www.ted.com/talks/gay_gordon...ff?language=en

I've found this site useful : https://www.ifixit.com

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

If your perception of 'today' is drawn from YouTuber's, I agree 100%. But from my experience of actually trekking through cruiser destinations, folks are doing what they've always done - showing up and enjoying the places they visit, meeting one another, and fixing their boats.

Q: What do you call a long, curved potato with a monetized video channel?
A: A professional U-tuber.

I did really well, in my ‘Cruising 101' class.
My instructor said: I was right at the top, of the bell curve.

[barcoMeCasa]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Haven't used it, but just looking at what NFL provides for southern NE many popular places have very little information, and some have none. For example, Tarpaulin Cove on Naushon Island is one of the most beautiful anchorages around, and it is heavily used in the summer--zip info on NFL. Vineyard Haven Harbor is one of the busiest on Martha's Vineyard, and so many cruisers go through the Lagoon Pond Bridge to anchor in Lagoon Pond, especially when weather from the north is threatening. Zip info on the bridge (on a limited schedule) or anchorages in the Lagoon, the best anchorages in the area. Then look at Newport. The anchorage is sorta marked, but in the real world the area is delineated by buoys you have to stay within. Then the yacht club near where you dinghy ashore is misnamed--it is the famous Ida Lewis Yach Club. On Cuttyhunk there is no mention of the anchorage in Cuttyhunk Pond, and the one anchor on the chart is a possible anchorage, but very little information to go on. There are other better places to anchor. Then look at New Bedford. Yes, some moorings are available from Popes Island Marina, but there are several other places that rent moorings and there are town moorings that can be rented--no info. I could go on and on. Just basic info. not there or very skimpy.

Just had a look up there & yes, doesn't seem as many reviews as other cruising areas. Maybe long distance cruisers are quicker to share in a tighter knit community.
Though took about a second on an AI to find some blogs about Tarpaulin Cove & this >
https://bsccruisingguide.com/tarpaulin-cove/

But we're straight into the usual game of forum ping pong "mine is better than yours"
Use what you want, your boat. & I'll continue to use anything & everything available. Just doubt I'll ever buy a cruising guide again.

Just glad the days of crawling under a photocopier in a copyshop frequented by cruisers through a stack on ancient charts & guidebooks already copied many times to hopefully find something useful are long gone

Viva sasplanet & online info sites for cruisers!!

[qwert]

Originally Posted by Cheyne

The Pardey's are the equivlent of taking a DC-3 instead of a a 787 Dreamliner to fly around the world. I just shake my head and say why.

Cheyne

Because flying around in a DC3 is a hell of a lot of fun

[Kettlewell]

Use what you want, your boat. & I'll continue to use anything & everything available. Just doubt I'll ever buy a cruising guide again.

To each his own, but I would argue you are truly missing out on a lot of great information by not buying good cruising guides, even used ones. In fact, I carry and own many very old cruising guides to various areas, which are often much better than current guides that depend on selling advertising. At least for those of us that anchor out most of the time. OTOH, the advertising and the facilities listings can be very useful in the modern guides to the area, like the Waterway Guides, when you need fuel, marine repairs, etc. What I have found time and time again is that crowd-sourced stuff can be great and it can be terrible, but the problem is you just don't know what you're getting when you are unfamiliar with an area. With a cruising guide you quickly get to know the author's strength's and weaknesses, and you have a basis on which to judge how good the information is likely to be. But, I guess nobody is reading guides anymore, which I notice when I talk to other cruisers at the dinghy dock or ashore--people are completely unaware of basic information provided in the guides.

[Mike OReilly]

I think crowd-sourced resources are great... where there are crowds. Large volumes of reports can smooth out the extremes in the data, leading to a pretty accurate picture.

In lightly travelled areas there just aren't enough reports to make crowd-sourced info reliable. This is where a credible cruising guide can be way more useful.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I think crowd-sourced resources are great... where there are crowds. Large volumes of reports can smooth out the extremes in the data, leading to a pretty accurate picture.

In lightly travelled areas there just aren't enough reports to make crowd-sourced info reliable. This is where a credible cruising guide can be way more useful.

In some areas it seems that you just have to take bits and pieces from every available source, as many of them don't have enough (or current enough) info on their own.

[mvweebles]

I'll second Kettlewell's endorsement of cruising guides, at least for the areas we have cruised so far. The current bible for Mexico's Pacific Coast and Sea of Cortez are Shawn and Heather Breedings "Blue Latitude Press" books. They also have electronic chartlets (o-charts) available for purchase, plus digital waypoints that easily import into chart plotters. Having vetted waypoints along a questionable charted coastline is invaluable. That said, Mexico has almost 5000 miles of coastline - once south of Banderas Bay (Puerto Vallarta area), the guide book gets a bit thinner in detail. For Panama, there is a book by Eric Bauhaus that's very popular. Finally, one by ex-delivery skipper Pat Rains remains popular, and she has online updates that are more frequent. Her knowledge of regional weather is often cited by other authors.

For highly recent and specific local information, we use various WhatsApp groups as primary, NFL as secondary. We also subscribe to a couple messaging boards that are reliable sources of local information. For example, finding a contact for a mooring in Acapulco yielded the "Vicente" who has three moorings outside what used to be Acapulco Yacht Club (destroyed last year by Cat 5 hurricane Otis). Anchoring in Acapulco Bay is challenging with all the sunken boats so a mooring makes a lot of sense. This type of perishable information is not appropriate for a published cruising guide with 5 years between updates.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

In some areas it seems that you just have to take bits and pieces from every available source, as many of them don't have enough (or current enough) info on their own.

Yes indeed, that's what we do. It's always great when one can find multiple sources reporting similar things about an anchorage or passage.

[barcoMeCasa]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

To each his own, but I would argue you are truly missing out on a lot of great information by not buying good cruising guides, even used ones.

If there actually was somewhere to buy them I might be interested, though after so many years afloat the thought doesn't even occur these days. Youtube can be very informative, been following Sweet Ruca in Patagonia, hardcore down there. Practical info is covered by noonsite for legal stuff & the likes of NFL for day to day practicalities & local details from cruisers spending a while in an area who know it well. AI can be great for finding blogs.
Cruising guides can be very wrong as well, and out of date so quickly. Often you sometimes wonder if the author actually spent more than an hour in an anchorage.
Still got a load on the bookshelf though from when they were the only option, nice to flick through sometimes, my copy of Atlantic Islands still mentions Peseta's 😁

[barcoMeCasa]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

In some areas it seems that you just have to take bits and pieces from every available source, as many of them don't have enough (or current enough) info on their own.

100%! Anything & everything! Google maps 3d view can be so realistic & useful to see what the valleys look like for a guess at any gusts coming down, street view can be useful too, so many sources of useful info, satellite images as charts can be just great to find the sandy bits. So much easier these days

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Yes indeed, that's what we do. It's always great when one can find multiple sources reporting similar things about an anchorage or passage.

Indeed. And I can't imagine why anyone could think it's either/or. Basic passage planning (like navigation) demands use of a wide variety of sources.


I find crowd sourced information to be invaluable, but for me would never replace consulting cruising guides. If they exist. I've cruised in places where there aren't even charts.


Among crowd sourced information, I particularly love the Cruising Association's cruising reports. These are well organized and written by a mass of capable people. I write up most of the anchorages I stop in myself, and harbors too if I have anything new to say.


And then there are almanacs. For the UK and Atlantic coasts of Europe, Reed's is absolutely indispensable. I wish we had something like that for the Baltic Sea.


A fantastic source for the UK coasts is Visit My Harbour.

[BlueH2Obound]

Peter, regarding solo cruisers, the San Blas Islands appear to be an outlier. Of the 5 solo sailors we've met here, three of the 5 were women! All three monohull sailors. Of the two men, one was in a mono-hull, and the other was a cat.

And for navigation here in the San Blas, Bauhaus is the cruising guide bible.

Navionics and Open CPN are sometimes off . . . and no, I don't want to talk about it.

[JPA Cate]

Open CPN is fine, if the charts are. Never had a problem from that, but have, from incompatible datums, or too old charts (surveyed in Cook's time). Some places are not well charted. Do note that if the charts you're using are very old, there will be new, additional aids to navigation where there were none before. The geography doesn't change as fast usually as the man-made stuff does. Exception is places where the bottom depths may change rapidly due to volcanic activity, and flooding, which leads to silting up and loss of depth. The volcanic places go both up and down! Who'd have thought, eh?

Go cruising, it's educational!


Ann