Nowadays, many of us get much our information about our favorite sport from the internet. Although we all have our favorite sites, I thought I would share some of mine with you – a product of far too much time spent web-surfing, I’m sure. Some of these are obvious, and some not so much. I hope other Ensign sailors will send their favorites in as well in future issues. None of these links imply any particular endorsement, and are not paid for in any way.
Important organizations
Ensign Class Association – www.ensignclass.com
US Sailing – www.ussailing.org – the organizational body for sailing in the USA, and our best (only?) political voice; good source for regatta info, rules and regatta management issues, and many others
International Sailing Federation - www.sailing.org – international body for the sport
Weather
National Weather Service - weather.noaa.gov – good marine links
National Data Buoy Center - www.ndbc.noaa.gov – up-to-date information from weather buoys; an easy-to-use site for this is here: www.pdfamily.com/weather/buoy.php
Weather Channel - www.weather.com
Historical weather data - http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov/qclcd/QCLCD - data is sold, but users from “edu” sites seem to get it free; good for regatta preparation; get your local student or prof to download what you need.
Intellicast - www.intellicast.com – nice radar links
Accuweather – www.accuweather.com – hourly forecast is interesting, radar links are good, too.
Sailflow – www.sailflow.com – good site with sailors’ interest in mind.
Windfinder – www.windfinder.com – good site with pleasing graphics.
Webcams – lots of places have webcams, so you can look at local conditions yourself – the one I look at is here in Cleveland – data and photo’s in real-time are very interesting: www.greenenergyohio.org/page.cfm?pageID=700
Wunderground – lots of folks love the marine part of this site: www.wunderground.com/MAR/
Guide to tides and currents - tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/
Worried about lightning? – check out www.weatherusa.net/lightningnet/ for real-time updates
Forums and newsletters
Scuttlebutt – www.sailingscuttlebutt.com – news from the world of sailing, register and they’ll send you almost daily updates by e-mail.
Sailing Anarchy – www.sailinganarchy.com – if you like your sailing news with a touch of irreverence, this is the place for you; forums are very lively, almost 20,000 members, 28,000 topics and 630,000 posts to date
Daily Sail - www.madforsailing.com - if you like your sailing news with a British twist
If you like looking at “blogs”, check out:
www.propercourse.blogspot.com/2007/01/top-ten-sailing-blogs-of-2006.html
Rules
Online rules quiz - www.game.finckh.net/indexe.htm - test your knowledge at easy, medium and hard levels!
UK Sailmakers famous Rules Quiz - www.ukhalsey.com/RulesQuiz/index.asp - how well do you know the rules? The answer will probably surprise you!
Magazines – the online versions of the familiar paper magazines, only updated more frequently –
Sailing World - www.sailingworld.com/ - tons of news and info here!
Sail - www.sailmagazine.com/
Sailing - www.sailingmagazine.net/
Speed and Smarts - www.speedandsmarts.com/ - let Dave Dellenbaugh help you get to the front of the fleet!
Sailmakers
Sailmakers web sites are great sources of information – regatta updates, tuning guides, “tips and tricks”, interviews with top sailors; many sailmakers will also send newletters by e-mail. Here are a few of my favorites:
North Sails One-Design - www.northsailsod.com/ & www.northorder.com/articles/
Haarstick Sailmakers – www.haarsticksailmakers.com
Haarstick Ensign Page - http://www.haarsticksailmakers.com/sail_class_single.asp?id=ensign
Quantum Sails - www.destinationonedesign.com/index.aspx - excellent newsletter!
Hardware and fittings
Ensign Spars – www.ensignspars.com – everything you’ll ever need for your Ensign, give Zeke a visit! He’ll be glad to supply you with a beautiful new or restored boat, too!
Harken – www.harken.com – lots of ideas here
Schaefer - www.schaeferhardware.com/
Holt-Allen - www.holtperformance.com/ - specializing in rigging for smaller boats
Ronstan - www.ronstan.com/marine/default.asp
Forespar - www.forespar.com/
Rigrite - www.rigrite.com/
Hall Spars – www.hallspars.com
West Marine – www.westmarine.com
Mauri Pro Sailing - www.mauriprosailing.com/
Annapolis Performance Sailing - www.apsltd.com/
Layline – www.layline.com
Defender – www.defender.com
Spinlock - www.spinlock.co.uk/
Wichard - www.wichard-usa.com/index2005.html
Race Tracking – wouldn’t it be great to track your races, and compare your speed and tactics with the champs? (I think the ECA should try this at a major regatta). Here are a few products that might be of interest:
www.fistracking.com/index.html
www.traxu.com/?s=home
www.kattack.com/ - a free demo is available; download it and figure out why the winners win!
Sailing video online
sail.tv/player or www.thesailingchannel.tv/sailtv/index.html - watch a little “sailing TV” online – it’s cool!
www.t2p.tv/ - Tucker Thompson narrates first-class regatta coverage – fun!
Link directories
www.sailinglinks.com/
www.top100boat.com/ - a list of the top 100 boating sites by popularity
www.sail-search.com/directory.html - search for “everything sailing” here!
Articles on sailing theory
www.sailboat-technology.com/links/online_articles.php
Here’s a fun page that allows you to compare classes of boats: www.image-ination.com/sailcalc.html
A cool sailing game with an available free demo:
www.virtualskipper-game.com/en/news/index.php
Great sailing computer games are available here: http://www.poseysail.com/
Scoring software - www.stpetescorer.com/
Having trouble teaching folks how to tie knots? Try - www.animatedknots.com
