Cruising blogs?

[gonesailin2]

Any idea on the best place to host a cruising blog? I applied to the beta test at yachtpals.com but I'm not sure if I'll be accepted in time for our trip south.

Do people here have a preference for one of the generic hosts (like blogger, or wordpress?).

Thanks,
MP

[Michael Lovett]

Hi-

Have you checked out CW's Logbook section? Since you're a forum member, you've already been set up with a blank Logbook, and you can use it to post log entries (i.e., blogs), photos, videos, recipes, etc.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you have about Logbook, or CW in general.

Best,

Michael Lovett
CW Web Editor

[gerry]

I use Blogger, its free, fast and easy to use.

www.gerryantics.blogspot.com

[BoatingStories]

Check out Boatingstories.com! Its a new site featuring your great stories, a captians blog for daily updates to your fellow boaters, family and friends. You can submit and read boating stories for free! The Traverse City, Michigan - BoatingStories trawler "Whimsy" is currently in Vero Beach, FL - awaiting a new windlass - looking to depart 2/8/08 en route to MARATHON Key for another winter exploring the Florida Keys!

BoatingStories.com - Every Boater has a Story, Share Yours....

[Sailingirl]

I use blogger and its awsome
have fun
Sailingirl

[MFLO]

I have a CW Logbook here (http://forums.cruisingworld.com/videos/members/viewProfile.php?user=MFLO) and it works great, plus it has cruising-specific features like Port Experiences and About My Boat. And it's associated with Cruising World, so it's a great way to connect with other cruisers.

Blogger works well too, but it's easy to get lost in the mix with all the landlubbers

[Guapa]

We use Sailblogs.
Basic free version to an all singing, all dancing paying one (and several versions in between).

www.sailblogs.com

[chuckb]

We have been extremely happy with blogspot.com. And we really like the ability to be able to post to the blog by sending an email even from the boat over Winlink.

[svmoose]

We use www.getjealous.com, look at ours, www.getjealous.com/svmoose/
It's also for landlubbers, but it gives a lot of opportunities, for about $35 a year. You can post pictures, movies, log entries, you can show your route and people can leave a message.
The only disadvantage I would say is that the people cannot directly leave comments to log entries (at the bottom of the log entry, CW's website does not give you that option either, maybe they can look at that????)
It's easy to navigate and it has RSS so readers can take a feed and be notified every time you contribute to it....
Irene

[svmoose]

Hi Michael, we really like CW's blogsite, it certainly has potential.
What we miss at the moment is:
- There is no possibility of commenting directly on posted log entries (see comments in a threaded from, just like the forums), that would be a great feature
- Photos and movies do not come up with log entries, (they could be tagged with dates for example so they show when somebody is reading the log entry) look at www.getjealous.com/svmoose/ , our site, when you look at a log entry, the photos and movies come up with it too).
- It should have the possiblity to show a map of the world with the cruiser's progress showen as a track
- It is still not functioning 100%. Sometimes when we submit something we get logged-out al of a sudden.
- The owner of a blog does not have a lot of freedom to landscape his site
- There are no bread crumbs or other "go back" buttons to navigate within the site, so it's a bit hard to navigate still

Having said all this, we are very happy with the site and will continue posting log entries, movies and photos and checking out other cruiser's blogs.

A job well done!

Duncan & Irene, sv Moose

[dmswans]

Google Blogger is a great choice and its free

dmswans
http://crewedcharteryachts.com

[Ferroever]

I really like blogger.com. Easy to use and with unlimited space.

[svandronikos]

I use a combination, personally.
I haven't used it this year, but I use mine here.
I use my myspace, all my friends can see that one whenever.
For non-sailing stuff I've got my wordpress
And i'm thinking of creating a blogspot when I move on to offshoring

[Croatia Online]

I started out on blogger and haven't looked back since though I've come across plenty of other types. It's improving all the time and very user friendly.

www.croatiacruisingcompanion.blogspot.com
www.croatiaonline.blogspot.com

[svbillabong]

Sharing your travel adventures can be a time consuming experience. Writing updates, journals, editing/organizing and selecting photos/videos, adding captions, mapping locations, tracking your travels and then formatting them all for a website, blog or email can sometimes become overwhelming. We've been Sailing for 5 years and have over 25,000 photos, 30,000 miles of GPS tracks, blogs, websites and videos, so we understand the need/importance of easy to use methods for sharing your travel adventures. BlurbBits is a FREE set of utilities (http://blurbbits.blogspot.com/2009/01/getting-started.html) designed to help ease the entire process, while providing easy to share viewing/mapping options even while you are disconnected from the internet (95% of our Blog posts (http://svbillabong.blogspot.com/) were emailed). We are trying to revolutionize self published Sailing/Travel/Photo blogs by using existing best in class functionality (Blogger, Google Maps, Picasa, Flickr, YouTube etc).

To see BlurbBits in action visit svbillabong.blogspot.com (http://svbillabong.blogspot.com) and view our interactive map (http://www.creative-cruising.com/blurbbits/blurbsviewr.html?file=viewrfiles/blogswmap.txt&qlsel=true). To learn more check out our getting started overview (http://blurbbits.blogspot.com/2009/01/getting-started.html) or continue with our introduction to BlurbBits (http://blurbbits.blogspot.com/2009/01/travel-blogs-sailing-blogs-photo-blogs.html).

We can also combine blogs and other sites into the same map (http://www.creative-cruising.com/blurbbits/blurbsviewr.html?file=viewrfiles/sailbillabong.txt) so we can map your Cruising World Logs/Photos similar to Alvah Simon's Cruising World Blogs (http://www.creative-cruising.com/blurbbits/blurbsviewr.html?file=viewrfiles/alvahsimon-cw.txt&tt=travel&mi=out). We also Track Zac Sunderland (http://www.creative-cruising.com/TrackZac/zac-sunderland-map-intrepid.html) in his bid to become the youngest circumnavigator.

With BlurbBits, if you can send an email.. you can blog and map!!

We'd be interested in feedback (http://www.creative-cruising.com/Forms/feedback_bb.html) from fellow sailing bloggers.

[CapnMikel]

I just started one for my upcoming trip to the keys- from Norfolk, VA:

www.capnmikesjourneys.blogspot.com