Looking back on 2009, the thing that struck was the way the nautical and sailing blogging community has blossomed. For me, the highlight was back in February when a bunch of us in the NY area got together for dinner mostly at the Peconic Puffin and Frogma’s coaxing. Another one is in the works for January or February. You can read more about the blogs and their bloggers here.
There were many community projects most instigated by the Tillerman. My favorite was Love and Sailing that was deservedly won by Captain Puffypants for his candid and funny account of a novice sail with his bride.
My favorite story about blogging was a recent one, getting to know (virtually) Peter Gustaffson and his Blur blog. It’s truly inspiring how one guy, one boat and a bunch of mates have become the premiere destination for sailing online in Sweden.
My favorite blog post of the year was Bowsprite’s nautical bestiary. It speaks for itself!
My favorite Blog-like thing is actually a Youtube thing, Dylan Winter’s Keep Turning Left. This is a labor of love and I have spent many happy hours sitting back and soaking in his unique narrative as he creeps along the UK coast.
In other news Big Oceans’ Blogger, Nick Jaffe completed his novice single-handed sail from Europe to Australia. I have been following Nick since I started my blog over three years ago. He started at about the same time, blogging about his mission to buy a boat and sail it back from Holland to Australia.
I was lucky enough to have a number of guest authors who helped make this a better blog. Thanks guys! There were two accounts of a very rough Around Long Island Race by Ethan Garr and Jeff Campbell; my old mate from London, Andrew Holmes recounted a great Round the Isle Of Wight Race; and my club-mate Tim Fletcher told about a worthy cause Sail Habilitation that thanks to his and others’ efforts was saved from bankruptcy.
The new thing of the year was Twitter and there are a bunch of twits worth following. I am still not sure about Twitter, although it’s good at getting the word out quickly.
Last but not least a big shout-out to Scuttlebutt. Sailing friends who have never heard about any of us bloggers talk about Scuttlebutt as the source of sailing news!
I feel the same way about Twitter.
I love your recap of the sailing blogging scene. It will be fun to check out those 2009 highlights, especially Scuttlebutt – good tip. Your blog is a wealth of information. I have been exploring sailing again after many years away from it.
Do you have a list of sailing supplies? Or where can I find a great list of discount supplies such as new sunfish sails? This place is local to me, http://www.kevanesails.com , so I’m checking that out but would like to comparison shop.
Thank you!
Not sure Val. You might want to check these two blogs as my2Fish is Sunfish sailor and Proper Course is a big source of all hings dinghy:
http://www.propercourse.blogspot.com/
http://my2fish.wordpress.com/
I feel honored you included the humble Capt. Puffy in your Moments of Sailing Blogging 2009. Thanks Adam.
Ah, Adam! crazy to think it will soon be a year ago! Time to reboot, refresh, repeat!!! all the best for more adventures, tales and safety to bring us all back in the bar to tell them in 2010!