Cruising Information

This page includes sections on Cruising Organisations, Cruising Magazines, Cruising with Children, Navigation, Maps, Tides, Courtesy Flags, Travel Information, Reports & Links.

Cruising Organisations

Cruising Club Of America
www.cruisingclub.org
Thorough and updated information on range of cruising subjects especially aimed at North American sailors including information on offshore communications and "Cruising European Waters" (buoyage, charts and cruising guides, European datum, nautical almanacs, regional identification, tidal ranges, Beaufort wind scales, part shipments from the US, VAT, Shengen countries, cruising charges, Med mooring, telephones, electricity, propane etc). Regularly updated. Changes have been highlighted in yellow to make them easy to spot. Suggestions and corrections are always welcomed. Walter Paul, Cruising Club of America

Los Correos de la Mar (Sea Couriers)
www.correosdelamar.org, info@correosdelamar.com
Association founded in 2006 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Ca nary Islands, Spain. Volunteers and sailors cooperating to take humanitarian aid by boat to countries around the world.

Mittelmeer-Skipper-Club
www.mittelmeer-skipper-club.de
Members of the officially registered club are mostly owners of yachts cruising in the Med. The club also runs a internet bulletin board with more than 500 Skippers who share their experience about cruising in the Med. Mainly in German but an English section has been added where sailors can ask questions. Click on the Forum button on the home page.

Ocean Cruising Club
www.oceancruisingclub.org
The Ocean Cruising Club exists to promote long-distance cruising in all its forms and although it is an international club, it is administered from the UK. Members are identified by a distinctive blue and yellow burgee with a stylized Flying Fish on the blue part of the flag. Membership is open to anyone either as skipper, or certified as competent by the skipper, who has completed a continuous ocean passage of at least 1000 miles, measured along the rhumb line, in a vessel of under 72 feet. The Ocean Cruising Club maintains a network of over 100 Port Officers world-wide to assist members in their undertakings and publishes the journal "Flying Fish" twice a year and a quarterly newsletter. Much published material is available for non-members to review on the OCC website.

Royal Yachting Association
www.rya.org.uk/Cruising, cruising@rya.org.uk
The International Certificate of Competence can be obtained from them, as it is now required by most countries in Europe.

Seven Seas Cruising Association
www.ssca.org
SSCA, a non-profit, international organization with nearly 10,000 members, has been supporting liveaboard cruisers for over fifty years. The goals of the original founders are still the goals of SSCA today: sharing cruising information, camaraderie, and leaving a clean wake. Monthly Bulletins, a collection of letters from cruisers all over the world, are now available online and on CD, with searchable index by geographical area and topic. Active online Discussion Board is open to everyone. Links page lists special discounts available to members. Eighty cruising stations worldwide. Equipment Survey and other publications available. Regular gatherings with cruising seminars held annually in several locations. See online list of events.

The Cruising Association
CA House, 1 Northey Street,, Limehouse Basin, London E14 BT
Tel:+44 (0)20 7537 2828, Fax:+44 (0)20 7537 2266
www.cruising.org.uk, office@cruising.org.uk
A worldwide cruising organisation with local representatives available to help in many countries.

Cruising Magazines

Cruising Compass
www.cruisingcompass.com
Blue Water Sailing magazine's weekly e-newsletter for sailors and cruisers.

Sail World Cruising
www.sail-world.com/cruising

Cruising with Children

Active Yahoo Group for Families
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sailing_Kids/

Boat Kid Chatter
www.Nordhavn.com
A forum for boat kids up to the age 13, and for those thinking about going cruising who have lots of questions to ask.

Family Voyaging - Alaska to New Zealand
www.familyvoyaging.com
Burns family website devoted to family cruising based on their experiences. The focus of the site is to encourage and assist other families in making such a voyage. Includes a daily blog from the entire voyage, interactive passage planning and preparation, their book, and more.

First College UK
http://www.firstcollege.co.uk
Online high school UK 11-17yrs. Live classes online daily. Small sized, personal approach, class limit 15 students. IGCSE exams or non-exam studies. Very experienced teachers' & home educators' co-operative.

Kids in the Cockpit - Author Happy To Give Advice
http://www.jilldickinschinas.com/books/kids-in-the-cockpit/
Jill Schinas is happy to give advice to anyone with questions about educating your kids on board. Check out her website.

Sail Kids Ed
http://sites.google.com/site/sailkidsed/
Nadine Slavinski, teacher and life-long sailor, took a year-long sabbatical in 2007-08 with her husband and young son, cruising the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Caribbean. Her experiences led her to develop material to help sailing families make the most of all the learning opportunities available whilst cruising. Published "Lesson Plans Ahoy!" - educational materials, resources, and tips for education afloat.

Schinas Family Website
www.yachtmollymawk.com
Includes some great tips for home schooling, links and advice on long-term cruising with children.

Wilderness School
http://www.wilderness-school.us
Source for outdoor learning activities for students of all ages.

Navigation

Free US Pilot charts
http://www.nga.mil/portal/site/maritime/index.jsp?front_door=true
Pilot charts published by the U.S. government available free online. Click on Publications.

Free online navigation software
http://www.navquest.com/

US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
http://pollux.nss.nima.mil/index/index.html
US Notices to Mariners, Sailing Directions, etc available online.

Visit My Harbour Website
www.visitmyharbour.com
A free website for UK sailors containing a wealth of information including useful pilotage notes and aerial photos for many ports around Britain.
New in 2010, for a fee; the complete set of over 400 UK Admiralty charts are now available.

www.marinas.com
www.marinas.com
Featuring low altitude, high-resolution aerial photographs of marinas from all over the world.

Maps

EVS-Islands
http://evs-islands.blogspot.com/
Maps of islands (not designed for navigation, but overviews of islands throughout the world including many Pacific atolls)

Using Google Maps for planning sailing trips
http://googlemapsgonewild.blogspot.com/

Tides

A Worldwide Tidal Calculator
(Marées dans Le Monde),
See details at
http://www.noonsite.com/Members/val/R2010-05-19-1
Available (in English) as a free software download. It covers nearly 10,000 ports.

Tidal information
http://www.mobilegeographics.com/tides/index.html

United Kingdom Hydrographic Office
http://www.ukho.gov.uk/easytide.html
Free Online Tidal Prediction Service, offering tidal predictions for over 6,000 ports worldwide.

Courtesy Flags

Caribbean Courtesy Flags
http://www.waypoints.com/caribbeanflags.html

http://www.flags-hq.com
http://www.flags-hq.com

www.flag-net.com
http://www.flag-net.com/
UK-based online ordering service.

www.worldflags101.com
www.worldflags101.com

Travel Information

French Embassies & Consulates Around The World
http://www.expatries.diplomatie.gouv.fr/annuaires/repdipet.asp

http://www.2theoceania.com/
http://www.2theoceania.com/
Online Oceania travel directory. Links to directories for Africa, Europe, America and Asia.

Reports

Jimmy Cornell Launches New Consultancy

Cruising sailors rescue hungry islanders

Buying a second hand yacht in the USA to export

Caribbean Clearance ESeaClear - Does it really work?

The Fuel Hose Trick

Propane verses Diesel cookers

Kava – Southern Pacific way of life

Amongst Used-to-be Cannibals

Practical boating tips: Mediterranean mooring

Caribbean Cruising, St. Lucia to Antigua

Cookbook of Caribbean Recipies - calling all Cruisers

Tips on Lightning Protection

Incident off Anambas Islands, Malaysia

Calling all Liveaboard Cruisers in Europe

New Look for Attainable Adventure Cruising Website

Links

Asian Yachting
http://asianyachting.com/default.htm
Informative site for Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore etc including marina directory, racing events.

Attainable Adventure Cruising
http://www.morganscloud.com/
A website for offshore cruising sailors who want to get off the beaten path.

Berthsandmoorings.com
http://www.berthsandmoorings.com/index.asp

BlueMoment.Com
http://www.bluemoment.com
Cruising information, articles, sources and resources for UK based cruising yachtsman, with links, information and articles of interest to the wider cruising community.

Calor Gas Website
http://www.calormarineshop.co.uk/
Very useful marine gas advice for UK and US yachtsmen.

Crew Exchange Site - Boathitchhiking.com
http://www.boathitchhiking.com
Free - dedicated both to passengers and skippers

Cruisers Forum
www.cruisersforum.com
Cruisers Forum - Discussion Board and Photo Gallery for the Cruising Sailors and Wannabes

Cruising Life Custom Search Engine
http://cruisinglifecse.com/

Cruising Resources
http://www.cruisingresources.com
On-line directory for cruisers: how-to articles, useful sailing sites, boat specifications and reviews, and other information sources on over 300 cruising sub-topics.

Great Photos - Destinations Off the Beaten Path
http://www.timforderer.com/
Yacht skipper Tim Forderer has been to many countries less-visited by cruisers such as the Andaman Islands, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Greenland etc. For an insight into these places take a look at his great photo journal.

How Sailors Can Help While Cruising
http://www.MaritimeMissions.org
Website for offshore sailors to find out about ways to help while cruising and get more involved with the communities they visit.

Jimmy Cornell's Boats
http://jimmycornell.com/boats
Includes information on Jimmy Cornell's past and present boats, as well as an archive of FAQs on the OVNI 435 and Jimmy's personal biography.

Love Sail
http://lovesail.blue-compass.com/
Internet dating service designed for the worldwide sailing, maritime, and water sports community.

Marina Life
www.marinalife.com
Marina Information and booking services for the U.S., Canada, Bahamas, Caribbean, and Central America.

Marine Fuel.com
www.marinefuel.com
The only online resource to shop & compare local fuel dock prices in the US & Caribbean, while encouraging eco-friendly waterway & ocean use.

Multihull Cruising Web Site
www.multihulls4us.com
Dedicated to multihull cruising this non-commercial site offers forums on every make of catamaran, a multihull links library, free classified adverts, product reviews and more.

Myhomeharbor.com
http://www.myhomeharbor.com

Overheard Sailing
http://www.overheardsailing.com
Funny/interesting snippets of conversations overheard on pontoons/marinas, etc.

Patagonia Cruising
www.lonestarcapehorn.com
Some great advice, cruising notes and tips on this yachts' website.

Sail Search
www.Sail-Search.com
Sailing directory and search engine.

SeaKnots.com
www.SeaKnots.com
The social network for cruisers. Sharing your adventures, pictures, videos and blogs with other cruisers is only a click away.

Share Maxsea Track Files
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/circumnavigation/

UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency
http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga-home
Including British Small Ship Register.

Women and Cruising
www.womenandcruising.com
Advice, Resources and Inspiration for Women Cruisers

www.7knots.com
http://www.7knots.com

www.Berthfinder.com
http://www.berthfinder.com/

www.WorldCruisingGuide.net
http://www.worldcruisingguide.net/

www.animatedknots.com
http://www.animatedknots.com

www.sail-the-net.com
http://www.sail-the-net.com/

www.sea-ex.com
www.sea-ex.com

www.searoom.com
http://www.searoom.com