Boat Cards

[Jeffrey S]

Well Jeffery now that you have painted us boat card people as Luddites we can now go on cruising in peace. Thanks for that.

I hope everyone cruises with safety and enjoyment. I never called anyone a name. I'm giving my opinions and my findings. If you have a different experience, great! That's what conversation and debate is about.

Although I think I've made a few points, one main one isn't about being a luddite. It's about having a knee-jerk reaction to giving out a "business card" as some type of identity. At times, perhaps people like me challenge those types of things and ask you to consider that the card is just being thrown out. I mean, surely no one thinks the majority of cards given out end up in a book or filing system, right?


And before someone shows their board card collection, sure, I know that a few people keep them. Like I said, we have 1,500 of them. They're useless but give me great visuals at presentations!

 

[menzies]

Let's all work with the fact that I have already made the decision to have cards.

I have used one Avery pack to do these ($6), and when I get back from Ireland I will look to make a couple of suggested changes.

 

[drb1025]

You can have both paper and digital boat cards, photo albums, websites, a newsletter, whatever you want, or nothing at all. It's your choice. It's certainly not a problem whichever way you go.

 

[rwidman]

I don't take my cell phone to the beach. Nor do I talk on it while sitting on the toilet in a public restroom.

 

[Jeffrey S]

I don't take my cell phone to the beach. Nor do I talk on it while sitting on the toilet in a public restroom.

Great! Although posting of forums counts too...

 

[Waywego]

I think your boat cards are a personal expression and should please you, not a forum. I looked at many before composing ours and am very happy with the result.

Ours have a small cameo profile photo of the boat, year/brand/model, marina, followed by first names, cell phone numbers and email address, and dog names. On the back are photos with first names, including the dogs.

I print them 10 at a time and can make changes anytime I want without having to trash a bunch of them. They may not look as fancy as printed ones, but the layout and quality of the photo are very good. The only downside in my mind is that the ink is water soluble, not the best for water activities.

I never keep business cards, just get the info into my phone and trash the card. On the other hand, I keep all the boat cards and enjoy them greatly. If I want to stay in touch with somebody, I put their contact info in my phone, but I still keep the card to enjoy.

 

[BandB]

I never keep business cards, just get the info into my phone and trash the card. On the other hand, I keep all the boat cards and enjoy them greatly. If I want to stay in touch with somebody, I put their contact info in my phone, but I still keep the card to enjoy.

We do as we do with anything that is paper and not a legal, must have original, document. We scan them and then toss them. We do not keep paper on the boat, at home, or in our business.

 

[FlyWright]

There's another option not discussed here. If you have a boat card, you can take a photo of it with your cellphone and text or email it to a new acquaintance at any time. It a combination of old school and new tech that makes the card available even if you're not carrying one with you at the time.

 

[O C Diver]

Then there's the point that now having a thousand boat cards made costs nothing (compared to owning a boat). I don't really care if someone keeps my card or not. The purpose was to give them the information that they can use and store as they please.

Ted

 

[BandB]

Then there's the point that now having a thousand boat cards made costs nothing (compared to owning a boat). I don't really care if someone keeps my card or not. The purpose was to give them the information that they can use and store as they please.

Ted

One other aspect. The social aspect. It can go a couple of different ways.

I believe the way most here do it, then it's a social grace, a statement to the other person that I like you and please stay in touch. It's a nice gesture. It's like sharing phone numbers or emails. It's saying, "I'd like to be friends."

Now, to a very few, and not those here, it is a way to show off and act like a big shot and they indiscriminately pass them around to everyone saying, "look at me and my boat that's better than yours and surely you want my card."

 

[Capecodder]

I enjoy Boat Cards and embrace most technology as it evolves. To me a paper boat card received on the beach or on the dock is preferable, to me looking for my glasses, taking the time enter all the Information on a boat card on someone I might contact someday. When I have time I can enter/sign in on some type or electronic device. (Never mind that I lost a 2,000+ Name business data base to my lack of knowledge in transfer to a new improved database system)

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Thanks Jeff for your input. I use both paper and trying eCards from Active Cap't. Face the facts folks, many cruisers have paper cards with their contact information. Basically that's all it is "information." Do we reconnect with all the folks we get cards from-no we do not. Sometimes I will attach a note to the card especially if they have done some kind of maintenance or addition.

 

[Heron]

I believe the way most here do it, then it's a social grace, a statement to the other person that I like you and please stay in touch. It's a nice gesture. It's like sharing phone numbers or emails. It's saying, "I'd like to be friends."

That's how I typically approach the issue, and how I've accepted and presented cards ....

As a funny aside, I got a card a month or so ago from a couple who included their AARP Membership numbers on the card. Too much information!

 

[dhays]

One other aspect. The social aspect. It can go a couple of different ways.



I believe the way most here do it, then it's a social grace, a statement to the other person that I like you and please stay in touch. It's a nice gesture. It's like sharing phone numbers or emails. It's saying, "I'd like to be friends."

I think this is how we have experienced it a lot. Chat with someone at a dock and they might later bring a card by your boat. In essence a way of saying "I enjoyed talking with you, feel free to contact me if you see me again." Another time I took my dinghy out to say hello to a NP43 that I saw drop anchor in Gig Harbor. I chatted with the wife a few minutes. Later that day she and her husband came by in their dinghy to "bring me a boat card". It can be used as a social prop, and to my mind a very useful one.

 

[Nightsky]

Maybe if you belong to a yacht club add that too? Or is that too pretentious? I had no idea that "boat cards" was even a thing, as we are new to recreational boating and cruising (still getting our feet wet in that regard). I think we will also get some cards made and see if it is a thing in my neck of the woods (BC inside waters). I thought including your MMSI # was a good idea.

 

[HenryD]

There are several good solutions to make paper boat cards - electronic. People in business have been using electronic business card filers for many of the reasons Jeff mentions. I used Office Lens and OneNote on my android phone and on the ipad. When someone gives me their card, I take a photo of his with my phone, OCR it into OneNote and then add when/where I met them.

What I like about this is that as I walk the dock and see a boat I half recognize, I can look on my phone and see their card and names. With OneNote, the card info is also on my laptop and iPad.

 

[Jeffrey S]

I used Office Lens and OneNote on my android phone and on the ipad. When someone gives me their card, I take a photo of his with my phone, OCR it into OneNote and then add when/where I met them.

That's the beginning of a solution, sure. There are some advantages to it. But it doesn't truly use the electronic medium to its fullest. It's sort of like having a pdf file of a Rand McNally street map book. Sure, it's now in electronic form and perhaps you can search for text items and view it on your phone. But it's not exactly Google Maps for showing live, dynamic information.

I further think this it is one of the most important needs that technology can solve for boating - giving identity to your boat and the members in it. It ends up unlocking many additional capabilities. For example, I don't think any organization (except NOAA and the IHO) are doing crowd-sourced depth information correctly yet. What's missing is identity and association of the data within the database in order to provide meaningful information to viewers. If you believe that the future of nautical charts is crowd-sourcing the recreational areas (count me as a believer) then the connection and ownership of the data is critical to producing the piloting information outcome.

...and that's just one more thing that an electronic boat card will provide. There is no question that it's coming.

 

[tpbrady]

I go both ways on boat cards versus electronic. I kind of like the boat cards, then I can enter things electronically. I remember when PDA's came out, and you could beam someone your contact information. What ever happened to that?

As far as pictures are concerned, more people remember our dog than us. I remember tying up at a remote Forest Service dock, and first thing I heard from a nearby sail boat, was "Is that Winston?"

Tom

 

[dhmeissner]

You can have both paper and digital boat cards, photo albums, websites, a newsletter, whatever you want, or nothing at all. It's your choice. It's certainly not a problem whichever way you go.

 

[FlyWright]

Why not just start a folder on your phone called Boat Cards? Go digital using text and email. Save your favorites in the Boat Card folder. Cull as necessary, available online and in the boat card box. You DO have a boat card box.....right?

Maybe you guys have a lot more boat card friends than I do. (hangs head low)

 

[menzies]

Why not just start a folder on your phone called Boat Cards? Go digital using text and email. Save your favorites in the Boat Card folder. Cull as necessary, available online and in the boat card box. You DO have a boat card box.....right?

Maybe you guys have a lot more boat card friends than I do. (hangs head low)

I'll snail mail you one of mine!

 

[CaptTom]

Not to interrupt, but do people actually enter acquaintances' MMSI numbers into their radios in order to hail them?

Frankly, I haven't found a use for them yet. I once Programmed my number into a buddy's boat, and his into mine. Then I called him on the VHF. Watched him walk all around his boat trying to figure out what that noise was.

If space is an issue, this is one data point I'd leave off the card.

 

[MVDarlin]

I use photo paper and cut on a paper cutter.

 

[Jeffrey S]

...Then I called him on the VHF. Watched him walk all around his boat trying to figure out what that noise was.

aCappella had a wonderful Garmin setup where a VHF DSC call could be initiated by tapping on an AIS target and selecting it to make a call. I used it all the time when an approaching sportfish was obviously not going to slow down. In 3 seconds, I could make the DSC call go off in their helm causing their DSC alarm to go off. Since they never knew what it was, they'd slow down to figure it out.

It worked 100% of the time, but they have to have AIS which not all do.

 

[kthoennes]

...As far as pictures are concerned, more people remember our dog than us. I remember tying up at a remote Forest Service dock, and first thing I heard from a nearby sail boat, was "Is that Winston?"

Tom

Funny, ours too. We arrive at the marina on a Friday afternoon and everybody calls out, "Hello Pearl!"

 

[dhays]

Not to interrupt, but do people actually enter acquaintances' MMSI numbers into their radios in order to hail them?

Frankly, I haven't found a use for them yet. I once Programmed my number into a buddy's boat, and his into mine. Then I called him on the VHF. Watched him walk all around his boat trying to figure out what that noise was.

If space is an issue, this is one data point I'd leave off the card.

Great question. I have entered a friends MMSI number into my radio. It was in hopes of running into him while going North last summer, but our paths never crossed. My radios are horrible to enter an MMSI into, but I think it could be worth it for folks that you might call frequently, if you were buddy boating for example.

I know I would be the guy running around trying to figure out what that funny noise was. I have been confused when a boater has used the emergency button on their radio which broadcast a general MMSI message to all stations. I couldn't figure out what that beeping was.

Over time, I think that the MMSI could become more useful.

 

[dhays]

aCappella had a wonderful Garmin setup where a VHF DSC call could be initiated by tapping on an AIS target and selecting it to make a call.

I would really love that feature. It makes so much sense. Being able to radio directly that AIS target you see in the fog etc...

Maybe in another lifetime when I upgrade my electronics.

 

[rwidman]

Not to interrupt, but do people actually enter acquaintances' MMSI numbers into their radios in order to hail them?

Frankly, I haven't found a use for them yet. I once Programmed my number into a buddy's boat, and his into mine. Then I called him on the VHF. Watched him walk all around his boat trying to figure out what that noise was.

If space is an issue, this is one data point I'd leave off the card.

I wondered about that as well. It seems pointless to me.

 

[Donna]

Personally I'd remove your faces. The card is kind of busy.

I like to know who I'm talking to! Great card!

 

[ranger58sb]

I take your points, Jeff, but FWIW...

To me, your tone comes across like "Listen up, all you cretins, Luddites, and dumbasses..."

I don't mean you said that; it's just the way I interpreted your writing style. "Quaint reminders" and so forth. (= Luddites.)

I suspect if you had merely offered OP a brief suggestion that he might like to check out AC's e-boat cards TOO (i.e., ALSO), perhaps with a much shorter version of your several individual (and valid, for some) points, I wouldn't have reacted the same way.

Anyway, and as I think I've mentioned before... "the problem with [paper] boat cards" isn't a problem at all, for some. For some, neither paper nor electronic boat cards have much value at all.

That shouldn't at all imply I personally dislike electronic things (when they actually work, and don't pi$$ me off). For instance, I use and like AC. We use smartphones and tablets so forth. That shouldn't suggest, though, that I need e-everything. For example, since I don't much care about boat cards in general, an e- version isn't any more useful than a paper version.

It'd probably be easy enough for someone to write a "The problem with e-boat cards..." post that parallels your note.

-Chris

The problem with boat cards is the exact problem with all paper products...

- They are static - once printed, they can't change without throwing them out and reprinting them.

- If the data changes, everyone who was previously given the card doesn't get the new information.

- Searching them is impossible once you've been cruising for a while. We have 1,500 boat cards today. Good luck finding anyone in those stacks.

- Once you give someone the card, you can't take it back.

- There is no dynamic information on a paper boat card - like current position, plans for the season, etc.

- The small, fixed size leaves little room for detailed information about the boat, equipment, engines, etc.

- There's no way to tie a paper boat card to the set of reviews that have been written. Or the things that couple are interested in. Those types of things build community.

- Paper boat cards don't record the tracks and routes of the places you've been.

- The only way you can write your own notes about the boat/couple/person is to physically write something on the card. Good luck trying to find that when you need it.


This is just the beginning of the list of issues. If you think about it, the change from paper guidebooks to electronic website/app data sharing is really no different from the move from paper boat cards to electronic boat cards. In another few years, these paper boat cards will be quaint reminders of the way cruising used to be done. They'll start to disappear in 2020 - when the vision of what's possible will become crystal clear.