What are you reading?

[keb]

Curious what you all read on a regular basis to keep up with the boating/cruising life? Magazines like Yachting, Boating, Passage-maker etc? Websites, blogs(other than cruisers blogs), etc? Looking for the best sources for general boating information, builders, but not specialized like Diesel Monthly or such, nor your favorite picture magazine?! I subscribe to a few but wonder what I am missing. Is there a publication like Autoweek for boats?
Thank you.

 

[BandB]

Always reading some cruising book on a Kindle. Do not subscribe to any boating magazines but read all the boating sites and blogs I can find online. Read reviews and tests as well. Plus love to look through Yachtworld and to peruse manufacturer's sites. Pick sites based on destinations too so if today is a day I want to learn more about the Bahamas, I'll just google "Boating in Bahamas."

I also read various cruising guides both online and hard copy and sites that regularly update news on the east coast like Cruisers Net and Waterway Guide. I even choose areas and go and explore them on Active Captain and before visiting areas look at the local travel sites and Travel Advisor.

 

[psneeld]

Curious what you all read on a regular basis to keep up with the boating/cruising life? Magazines like Yachting, Boating, Passage-maker etc? Websites, blogs(other than cruisers blogs), etc? Looking for the best sources for general boating information, builders, but not specialized like Diesel Monthly or such, nor your favorite picture magazine��! I subscribe to a few but wonder what I am missing. Is there a publication like Autoweek for boats?
Thank you.

Really depends....for new cutting edge stuff...I don't know because it takes a long time to become "time tested" and accepted at the typical cruiser's level so I don't bother anymore even looking at that level.

For the "older time tested" boats and equipment...no substitute for getting out and rubbing elbows with cruisers, fishermen, commercial captains/engineers/mechanics, etc....as they have as good if not better info than you'll find in the magazines and books available. Sure ....temper your decisions with a cross of all info...but I get mine from right here from a few I trust and direct communications with manufacturers or labs or reviewers I trust.

 

[Vashon_Trawler]

I honestly obtain more information from this forum and other forums/websites (e.g., Hull Truth and Cruiser's Net) than I do any of the magazines, which I only peruse when I'm passing through a bookstore. Many of the boating magazine editors and contributors seem to forget that not everyone is cruising around in $6 million dollar yachts eating steak and lobster every night.

Anyway, I do visit My Boats Gear http://www.myboatsgear.com/ on occasion--lots of new equipment to check out. But most of the knowledge I acquire is from talking to "salty" folks at the marina, reading my Dad's old boating books, spending time browsing at the local West Marine, reading the forums, and scouring the Internet. The only magazine I receive is from Boat US.

 

[AusCan]

I'm currently reading "Sailing a Serious Ocean" by John Kretshmer. He's an entertaining story teller, mostly about his Atlantic crossings as a delivery skipper. The book is interlaced with some great sidebars such as 10 Essential Systems for Bluewater Passagemaking, and Heavy Weather Myths Debunked.

Better to do the initial learning by book. Much more comfortable than the real thing.

 

[BandB]

Just a few books:

The Captain's Log (Diamond Lil Does the Loop)

The Captain's Log - Diamond Lil Does the Bahamas

Gunkholing in the Salish Sea, Favorite Places (San Juan Suffciency)

VOYAGING TO THE MEDITERRANEAN UNDER POWER: Imprints of Ports, People, Sunsets, and Storms

The Plastic Butterfly (European Canals)

Grand Ambition: An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can't Really Afford It

Crossing An Ocean Under Power, 10th Anniversary Edition

The Insiders' Guide to Becoming a Yacht Stewardess 2nd Edition: Confessions from My Years Afloat with the Rich and Famous

Trawler Micki: My Single-handed Adventure up the Pacific West Coast

South to Alaska: A True Story of Courage and Survival from the Heartland of America to the Heart of a Dream

Leap of Faith: Quit Your Job and Live on a Boat

Life's a Ditch (AICW)

Megayacht True Stories of Adventure, Drama and Tragedy at Sea

Across Islands and Oceans

Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea

Runaway Yacht (This may be our favorite of all)

Island Fever - Cruising the Bahamas, Caribbean Islands

Cruising the Big U: Voyaging through the Americas

Family Aweigh

Great Loop Cruising: Two on a Trawler

The Atlantic Crossing Challenge:On our own Keel from Sunny Caribbean to Wintering aboard in Norway (Seven Seas Adventures)

Key Largo Express

Reflection on America's Great Loop: A Baby Boomer Couple's Year-Long Boating Odyssey

A Florida Cruising Guide -- East Coast Of Florida Ports Of Call (Florida Cruising Guides And Ports Of Call)

Yachting on the Cheap

The Next Port

Skirting the Shore: Reflections on Sailing the Great Loop

Up the River or, Yachting on the Mississippi

2014 FOOTLOOSE ON THE ATLANTIC WATERWAY (Footloose Budget Guidebooks

That's just a few we're read recently.

 

[MYTraveler]

I wish you had asked about non-fiction pleasure reading: Quantum Enigma. Fascinating.