Lots of links on topics that interest women.
 
By:        
Kathy Parsons   Pam Wall   Gwen Hamlin
Kathy Parsons   Pam Wall   Gwen Hamlin

For several years now, we - Kathy Parsons, Pam Wall and Gwen Hamlin - have been doing Women and Cruising Seminars at boat shows around the country (USA). 

We developed the Women and Cruising seminar to give women (particularly novice sailors) an opportunity to voice the hundreds of questions they often have on their minds as they contemplate setting off with their partners or on their own.

We are adding this web page to support and expand upon the material that we hand out in the seminars. 

About Us

Women and Cruising Seminars

   

Join us at the Annapolis Boat Show! Sunday, October 12

Pam Wall and Kathy Parsons will be giving the Women and Cruising Seminar again at the 2008 Annapolis Boat Show. More...


Article

What I like most about cruising?... 15 women speak
WHY do we go cruising? We asked some of our friends to share what they most like about sailing off into the sunset. More...


Download

"Top Tips and Resources" PDF (266 K) This is a handout that we give attendees at our Women and Cruising Seminars. It covers some of the most common topics that women have been raising in the seminars.

 


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Communications
Today's cruisers have many options for keeping in touch with each other and with folks back home via voice and email.
Communications

Admiral's Angle: Staying in Touch
Gwen's article on communications aboard discusses the various ways we keep in touch with family and friends back home.

Capt. Marti Brown's Marine SSB for Idiyachts & HF Radio for Idiyachts
Marti Brown's website with information on her two useful books about HF radio use

The Skinny on SSB
Marti Brown's article on single-sideband radios in Power and Motoryacht Magazine

Ham Radio -ARRL
Many cruisers (including Gwen, Pam and Kathy) find a ham radio license useful aboard

Sailmail
Email service using your marine single-band radio

Winlink
Email service using your ham radio (or a combo ham/ssb radio)

Satellite Phones
Globalstar or Iridium for voice & email on board

Pocketmail
Send and receive e-mails using a telephone ashore and a hand-held device

SailBlogs
Cruisers are using blogs to share their adventures with friends and family

Skype
Make very cheap calls world-wide via the Internet, using a computer and a headset. Hugely popular with cruisers.

Efax
Free fax service that gets you a fax number and allows you to receive faxes as emails


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Finances
Electronic banking has made managing finances easy for today's cruisers.

Finances

 

PayPal
A PayPal account can come in handy.

Oanda - Currency Converter for Travelers
This site allows you to print a handy currency conversion table that you can carry with you. Useful for converting any currency (euros, pesos, bolívares, quetzales, lempiras... ) to dollars or pounds.

How Much Does It Cost to Cruise?
Bernadette Bernon wrote an article in 2003 for Cruising World on the costs of cruising with a table of actual budgets obtained from cruisers. You can read this article on her website.


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Fitness
When health clubs and gyms are left behind, cruisers have to put together their own fitness regimes.
Fitness

Yoga On Board
Kim Hess is a full-time yoga instructor in Miami Beach and passionate not only about yoga but the sailing lifestyle. Her book, DVD and seminars show you how to adapt yoga to the spaces aboard your boat.

Admiral's Angle: Fitness
Gwen’s column of Fitness appeared in the May 2008 issue of Latitudes and Attitudes magazine and is posted on her web site.

Scuba Diving
Scuba diving and snorkeling:  Most all cruisers snorkel and many scuba dive.  If you don’t know how, consider getting training before your depart or at resorts along the way.

LonelyPlanet Diving and Snorkeling Guides
Lonely Planet publishes diving and snorkeling guides for a number of diving areas

Hiking
Cruising and travel guides often include hikes accessible to anchorages.  Also Lonely Planet has area-specific hiking guides.


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Health
The cruising life is a healthy one, but it’s no time to get lax in caring for your health, plus traveling overseas brings some special concerns.
Health

Admiral's Angle: Seasickness
Gwen's column on seasickness discusses the various ways cruising women cope with seasickness

Divers Alert Network
A must for scuba divers, DAN provides medial evacuation insurance for non-divers as well

Healthy Cruisers Handbook: Book by Janette Loomis and James Bryan

CDC - Travelers' Health
The US Center for Disease Control & prevention’s page on Travelers’ health

WHO
The World Health Organization’s page on International Travel & Health

IAMAT
The International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers is a non-profit organization that advises travellers about health risks, geographical distribution of diseases world-wide and immunization requirements for all countries. It also helps travellers find western-trained doctors who speak English in addition to their native tongue.

Red Cross
Get certified in First Aid and CPR

The Ship's Captain Medical Guide
UK's maritime and Coastguard Agency. Free, downloadable medical guide. This link is not working at present, but we will leave it here a bit in the hope that it comes back up.

A Comprehensive Guide to Marine Medicine
Written by Dr. Eric A Weiss and Dr. Michael Jacobs, it covers hazardous marine life, submersion injury and dive medicine, rescue and evacuation of sick and injured, wound cleaning and closing, and much more.

Dr. Dickie L. Hill
An attendee at our seminar recommended the "Medicine at Sea" course offered by Dr. Hill. The seminars have already prepared many sailboats for possible medical problems at sea.

Offshore Emergency Medicine
Another attendee at our seminar recommended the Offshore Emergency Medicine Seminar offered by the Ocean Navigator School of Seamanship. Search the ON site for the seminar as the exact link may change with each offering.

IHI - International Health Insurance
IHI- an insurance policy that covers long term travelers out of the country like cruisers (no limit to time in the States) Company based in Denmark

IMG - International Medical Group
IHI- an insurance policy that covers long term travelers out of the country like cruisers (6 month limit to time in the States) Company based in Indiana, USA

SSCA - Sevens Seas Cruising Association
The SSCA links page has a good list of health insurance companies

Where There is No Doctor
The very useful book "Where There is No Doctor" by David Werner, Carol Thurman and Jane Maxwell can be downloaded for free in pdf form from the Hesperian website.

Crusing Medical Kit
Dr. Mark R. Anderson's article on putting together a medical kit be of use to cruising sailors and to anyone else that may need to function independantly of traditional medical resources.


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Kids aboard

Cruising with kids adds some challenges for parents, but most kids seem to thrive. Cruising children are great! They continually impress us with their maturity, social skills, confidence and competencies.

Kids aboard

BoatSafeKids
A neat site for kids themselves with answers to their questions about cruising and lots of information they ought to know!

Calvert School
The Calvert School provides a home schooling curriculum that many cruising families have used (including Pam's)

KidsAboard
An e-magazine for kids about boating, fishing and water sports.

Kids in the Cockpit
Jill Dickin Schinas' book "Kids inthe Cockpit" deals with every conceivable aspect of sailing and cruising with children from babyhood through to the teenage years..

Noonsite's Cruising Families
Noonsite has a page called Cruising Families where cruisers can connect up with other families with children and share news.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln offers an Independent Study High School that Pam's children used.

Yacht Mollymawk
Website of the Schinas family aboard Mollymawk. Log entries and articles by children and family will be of interest to other cruising families.


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Language
Cruising internationally is safer and more fun if you communicate with the local people. You probably won't become fluent, but some language helps you make friends, find supplies and repairs, and may even save you and your boat in an emergency.

Language

 

Kathy Parson's Language Guides for Boaters who Travel: Spanish for Cruisers and French for Cruisers

Nautical Lingo
Admirals’ Angle:  Gwen’s thoughts on learning Boatspeak appeared in her column on Nautical Lingo in the March 2008 issue of Latitude’s & Attitudes Magazine and is posted on her web site.

Lonely Planet Language Guides
Phrase books for over 50 languages for the countries you visit.


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Learning to Sail
The greatest thing a woman can do for herself is to understand and know how to sail her boat. Without this knowledge, sailing can be frightening and uncomfortable. Take a course because very few women can successfully learn from their mates! Check your local area for sailing schools as well as the schools listed here.
Learning to Sail

Women on the Water Week
At Women on the Water Week at the beautiful Bitter End Yacht Club, women instructors teach women the fundamentals and peculiarities of the proper way to sail a boat, from small Lasers, to bigger keel boats. Pam is one of the teachers and says "The greatest feeling of empowerment and ability to know what is happening and why, is what every women learns during this fun week of sailing in lovely Virgin Gorda."

American Sailing Association
The American Sailing Association is dedicated to training, teaching and certifying schools, sailing instructors and sailing enthusiasts. find a course or an affiliated school through the site.

Blue Water Sailing School
Offers Basic, Bareboat, Advanced and Offshore courses in Fort Lauderdale, FL, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, Newport, RI, and the Bahamas

Fair Wind
Fair Wind Sailing School provides sailing instruction and ASA lessons in the US Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands, in the Great Lakes, and on the Chesapeake. They offer Basic Sailing, Bare boat Chartering, Advanced Sailing, Catamarans Sailing, Coastal and Celestial Navigation.

Jack Klang
Jack Klang's seminars, demonstrations at boat shows and DVDs are excellent ways to improve your docking and boat-handling skills.

Mahina Expeditions
John and Amanda Neale have been teaching and sharing knowledge with sailors. An instructional passage aboard Mahina Tiare gives participants the skills to sail anywhere on their own.

National Women's Sailing Association
The mission of the National Women's Sailing Association is "to enrich the life of women and girls through education and access to the sport of sailing". They offer programs such as Take the Helm, all-women sail flotillas, and small workshops which include introduction to navigation, celestial navigation and hands-on diesel engine.

OCSC Sailing School
OCSC Sailing is a San Francisco Bay sailing school and sailing club offering sailing lessons, sailboat instruction, US Sailing Certification, sailboat charters, club membership, corporate teambuilding events, and bareboat vacations. Courses range from beginner sailboat lessons, to offshore training, to spinnaker sailing, to world cruising preparation.

Orange Coast College
The School of Sailing and Seamanship at Orange Coast College offers specialized classes for women including Women's Keelboat, Women's Cruising, and Catalina Island and Channel Islands Cruises for Women. The Alaska Eagle offers opportunities to gain offshore sailing experience while crossing oceans or exploring the world's most spectacular coasts and islands.

Safety at Sea Seminar
This day-long seminar prepares you to head offshore with a knowledge of safe seamanship, heavy-weather tactics, and boat preparation. See safety equipment demos and crew-overboard-recovery techniques.

Sea Sense
Sea Sense, the Women's Sailing and Power boating School, is owned and operated by professional women boaters. They teach in Florida, New England, Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, San Francisco Bay, the Pacific Northwest and along the Intracoastal Waterways, plus international classes.

Steve and Doris Colgate's Offshore Sailing School
Offshore provides sailing courses certified by US Sailing, from day sailing and coastal cruising to ocean sailing to live aboard blue water sailing and offshore passage making training.

Tethys Offshore Sailing for Women
Earn International Sail and Power Association (ISPA) certification while cruising in Pacific Northwest waters. Founder Nancy Early led two all-women circumnavigations aboard Tethys. Nineteen women joined her on the first circumnavigation and 34 on the second.

Womanship
Womanship is a sailing school designed by women, for women. Courses offered in 18 locations. Nobody yells ... Everybody learns.

Admiral's Angle: Dinghy Driving
And if you need a little coaching on driving the dinghy, see Gwen's quickie overview!

Admiral's Angle: Engine Room
Gwen looks at what women need to know in the engine room. This column appeared in the June 2008 issue of Latitude’s & Attitudes Magazine


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Mail
Inevitably there are things we can't deal with electronically and must get by "snail mail".
Mail

SSCA List of Mail Forwarding Services
SSCA maintains a list of mail forwarding services on their Resource Links page

St. Brendan's Isle
St. Brendan's Isle Mail forwarding service for cruisers, RV ers and travelers. They now offer Mail Scan Pro which allow you to scan and read your mail online. Based in Green Cove Springs, FL.

Wanderer's Mail Service
Established in 1909 to help the men of the sea and prospectors wandering the gold fields, have a safe and confidential place to receive their mail. Today, Wanderers' offers a complete range of services for travelers worldwide. Based in Seattle, WA.

Voyagers Mail Forwarding Service
Voyagers Mail Forwarding SErvice serves as a snail mail forwarding service for cruising boaters, merchant marines, RV ers, and others on the move. Based in Islamorada, FL.

FedEx
Set up a FedEx account to make it easier to have items shipped to you where you are cruising.


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NEW!
Maintenance
Our boats are our homes, and one of our "jobs" as cruisers is keeping the equipment working and the boat seaworthy and "happy". Nothing sours cruising faster than a boat that breaks down all the time! Here are some resources to help you figure out what you need to know.

Boat Maintenance

 

Boat owner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual: When things break down aboard the boat, this is the book you read for help. By Nigel Calder.

Admiral's Angle: Engine Room
Gwen looks at what women need to know in the engine room. This column appeared in the June 2008 issue of Latitude’s & Attitudes Magazine


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Cruising news and  information
Here are some great web sites and magazines that can help you prepare for cruising. It is good to inform yourself in advance as much as possible about destinations and the lifestyle, but then get out and GO!
Cruising news and  information

Noonsite
Excellent, comprehensive site with updated information on worldwide cruising destinations. The site is the work of Jimmy Cornell, author of the best-selling books "World Cruising Handbook" and "World Cruising Routes"

Admiral's Angle
Gwen's monthly column, which started in September 2006 in Latitudes & Attitudes Magazine, grew directly out of our Women & Cruising Seminars and focuses on subject of particular concern to cruising women

BoatUS: Women in Boating
News related to women's boating, sailing and fishing

Caribbean Compass
Monthly magazine available throughout the Caribbean and by subscription - excellent source of island and cruising info

Cruising Compass
Free weekly e-newsletter from Blue Water Sailing magazine with news, notes and tips for cruisers and sailors. Readers are from all points on the globe and are invited to e-mail or send photos from every ocean and continent. A new edition of Cruising Compass comes out each Thursday, and now has a new editor, Nancy Birnbaum.

Cruising World Magazine
US-based monthly covers cruising destinations and equipment. The Cruising Life section features articles of particular interest to women and families. Cruising World hosted our Women and Cruising seminar at the Annapolis Boat Show.

Furled Sails Podcast
Weekly sailing podcast focusing on cruising and recreational sailing. Noel and Christy Davis interview famous sailors, marine authors, and people out doing fun stuff aboard boats. (They even interviewed Kathy.)

Latitude 38
California-based monthly covers world cruising

Latitudes and Attitudes
Cruising magazine with an attitude. Gwen's Admiral's Angle column appears in Lats and Atts each month, as does Tania Abei's column about cruising with her kids. You can now read the current issue online or download it as a PDF.

Yotreps
A good page for Pacific passage makers


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Cruising Associations and Events
Cruising organizations offer a great opportunity to talk to people who are doing exactly what you are planning. Their newsletters are often terrific sources of inormation and their get-togethers are fun. Short of going cruising, there's simply no way to meet so many cruisers in one place. We give the Women and Cruising seminar at boat shows around the US. Join us at a boat show and attend other useful seminars as well.
Organizations and Events

Seven Seas Cruising Association
International organization of boaters with over 10,000 members. The monthly bulletin and web site are excellent sources of cruising information. A wonderful community of boaters with many services and get-togethers throughout the world. We three are all members and have given the Women and Cruising Seminar at the annual "Gam" or get-together in Melbourne, Florida.

Blue Water Cruising Association
Bluewater Cruising Association, based in Vancouver, BC fosters seamanship and friendship for people with an active interest in offshore cruising with forums, regular meetings, social events and especially, the Association's widely acclaimed publication "Currents".

Women Aboard Organization
Women Aboard is an organization dedicated to empowering women boaters through information, education, camaraderie and support.

Strictly Sail Boat Shows
Strictly Sail Boat Shows offer exhibitors from around the world, plus seminars and special events. Shows are held annually in St. Petersburg, Miami, Oakland, Philadelphia and Chicago. We speak at several of these shows each year.

Ocean Cruising Club
The Ocean Cruising Club is an international club of cruising yachtsmen all of whom have completed voyages of at least 1000 miles between ports. Details of club events, a directory of Cruising Guides and the archive of Flying Fish, the club journal giving first hand information of cruises in all the navigable waters of the world, are just some of the items that can now be viewed by club members on this site.

 


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NEW!
Outfitting
One of the most stressful parts of preparing for cruising is figuring out how to outfit the boat, what equipment to install, and what to leave behind.

Outfitting

Outfitting Checklist (Download)
Pam Wall has a useful Outfitting Checklist that you can download here. Useful in preparing for bluewater cruising, it lists essential spares and boat equipment for anchoring, docking, dinghy, electrical, electronics, engines, galley, navigation, etc. The file is 1.8 MB so it may take a minute to open.

SSCA - Marine Equipment Survey
SSCA's on-line Equipment Survey was introduced early in 2008. Categories include virtually everything from stem to stern that you might want to research ... from the boat itself, to anchors, electronics and communications. It is open-ended and will remain available to members (and new members) for the indefinite future. The database of ratings and comments will be allowed to grow indefinitely over time, and all participants are able to return to their own surveys as they add gear to their boats and/or their experience as existing gear matures.

What to Wear in the Newport - Bermuda Race
Even if you're not going in the race, you might find Gill's article on foul weather gear helpful. Pam Wall says she loves her Gill foul weather gear.


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Pets Aboard
Some cruisers bring along a dog, a cat (or two) or even a bird as crew. Although they can add an extra wrinkle to clearing in and out of some countries, and complicate trips back home, they can be great company aboard.
Pets Aboard

Diana Jessie
Diana Jessie, author of the The Cruising Woman's Advisor also has a book for pets aboard: Cruising with your four-footed friends. It covers everything that you need to know to bring your pet along with you when sailing or boating. How to potty train, what and how to feed your pet, animal care and upkeep, pet etiquette, kennel training, pet fashions, first aid and safety and foreign travel. Plus, opinions, stories and answers from dog and cat owners who can't leave their pets at home.

Dr. Dave LaVigne
Captain Dr. Dave LaVigne has written "Wilderness Veterinary Medicine for Cruisers and Other Outbackers". Dave and his wife cruise aboard s/v Fidelis. The site has lots of information of interest to those who cruise with pets.

Rudy the Sailing Weiner Dog
Suzanne and Ty Giesemann have lots of information on their cruising canine on their site including "Cruising Dog FAQs" and a review of clearing customs with their pup in each country they've visited. There's also lots of photos: Rudy does Italy! ?



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Provisioning and Cooking
Don’t travel all that way and expect to eat just like home!  Part of the adventure of cruising is learning to shop for and cook with local foodstuffs.

Spanish and French for Cruisers
Kathy has extensive sections in her books to help you shop for foods in French and Spanish ports. Plus you can download bilingual shopping lists, a glossary of French cooking instructions and conversion tables in the cheat sheet section of FrenchforCruisers.com and SpanishforCruisers.com.

TheTwoCaptains
One section of Gwen's extensive web site of their travels is on food.

Cruising Cuisine
Cruising Cuisine by Kay Pastorius has really useful recipes by a West Coast cruiser

Beth Leonard's articles
Beth Leonard and Evans Starzinger have a number of useful items on the Articles page of their website including: their Provisioning List, Medical Supplies, and an article on Pressure Cooker Canning

The Cruising Kiss Cookbook II
Corinne Kanter's handy book features simple short-cuts for stowage and handling of foods; long term cruising helpful hints; descriptions of pots and pans, kitchen tools, galley gear and gadgets. Cooking methods that conserve fuel and produce less unwanted galley heat and fumes are outlined, plus hundreds of recipes.


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Rallies
A rally offers cruisers the opportunity to travel together with support and camraderie. Rallies are popular for certain longer passages and in parts of the world where it's helpful to have rally organizers pave the way and make arrangements, and to have support.
Rallies

World Cruising Club
The World Cruising Club sponsors the annual transatlantic rallies known as the ARC and ARC Europe (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers). Since its inception in 1986, the ARC has become synonymous with ocean sailing, taking upwards of 200 yachts across the Atlantic each year. To date, some 4,100 yachts and 19,000 crew have participated on the 2,700 nautical mile course from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to St.Lucia in the Caribbean.

Baja Ha-Ha
The Baja Ha-Ha is the 750-mile annual Cruisers' Rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, with R&R stops at Turtle Bay and spectacular Bahia Santa Maria. The goals of the Ha-Ha are for everyone to reach Cabo San Lucas safely, and have a lot of fun along the way. If history is any indication, chances are good that you'll meet scores of great people who will not just become friends for the event, but for the season - if not a lifetime.

Caribbean 1500
The West Marine Caribbean 1500 is an annual rally and a cruise in company from the US to landfall in the British Virgin Islands

Pacific Puddle Jump
Website of boats making the passage from Mexico to French Polynesia

Club Transcaraibes
This club sponsors rallies around the Caribbean. Travel with an international group of boaters. Rallies begin in Martinique and Guadeloupe and head to Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Trinidad with stops throughout the Caribbean.

Sail Indonesia
Sail Indonesia coordinates the rally from Darwin to Kupang, and a 3 month series of events for participants throughout Indonesia in Alor, Lembata, Riung, Labuan Bajo, Makassar, Bali, Kumai and Karimun Java, as well as later events in Singapore and Malaysia.

Noonsite's Rallies page
Noonsite has a page listing rallies by region throughout the world, plus news.


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Security
Cruisers keep safe by keeping informed about the places they visit.
Security

Noonsite
Jimmy Cornell's excellent web site of cruising information has information on security problems throughout the world.

Caribbean Safety and Security Net
Reports security problems in Caribbean, runs daily SSB security net

Government travel web sites:
US: www.travel.state.gov
Canada: www.voyage.gc.ca

Admiral's Angle: How about those Pirates
Gwen's column takes a practical look at cruising's security concerns.


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Useful Books
Experience will be your best teacher, but a bookshelf of good references gives you a head start and can keep you out of trouble after you leave shore!

Useful Books

 

World Cruising Routes
Jimmy Cornell's World Cruising Routes and World Cruising Handbook are excellent resources for world cruisers.

Boat owner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual: When things break down aboard the boat, this is the book you read for help. By Nigel Calder.

Chapman Piloting and Seamanship: With millions of copies sold, Chapman Piloting has been a reference for both power and sail boaters for nearly 100 years.

Voyager's Handbook
This comprehensive manual leads you step by step through every aspect of choosing, planning, and following the voyager’s life.

Tackless II's Reference Shelf
What's on Gwen's Bookshelf aboard Tackless II


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NEW!
Volunteering
Typical travelers are in and out of a country in a week. As cruisers, we can become more involved with the countries we visit by volunteering. Cruisers participate in fundraisers and volunteer with local organizations. Some cruisers have even started organizations, fundraising events, and scholarship funds.

Volunteering
Credit: Ellen Sanpere

 

Ak' Tenamit
Ak' Tenamit is an indigenous community development organization based in the rainforests of eastern Guatemala (Río Dulce, Izabal) that promotes long-term solutions to poverty through programs in health, education and family incomes- run by and for the Q'eqchi Maya.

Bequia Sunshine School for Children with Special Needs
The Sunshine School for Children with Special Needs makes a positive difference in the lives of children on Bequia. The Annual Sailors and Landlubbers Auction to benefit the school is held in February on the shore of Admiralty Bay. The auction began in 1990 when Norwegian sailors Mariann and Peter decided to give back to their favorite island and held a Marine Gear Auction on their good ship FREDAG.

Fundamigos
Each year cruisers in Puerto La Cruz volunteer to help Fundamigos Children's Surgical Mission in Venezuela. Contact Marc Manyon, manyon@cantv.net, +58(0)414 808.6606 Venezuela

Fundación La Tortuga
Non-profit organization dedicated to environmental protection and clean-up for Venezuela's beautiful Isla Torguga. Contact Chelo Nogueria at chelo_n@cantv.net.

Haiti Community Support
A Virgin Island not-for-profit organization. Their mission is to assist the community of Au Centre/Beaumont in Haiti and its surrounding region immediately through programs that improve education, health and quality of life of its people.

OceansWatch
In close cooperation with the world's yachting and diving communities, OceansWatch undertakes marine conservation projects and offers humanitarian aid to coastal communities in developing countries.

Sail Indonesia Kupang University Scholarships
Thanks to the efforts of Rob and Dee Dubin on Ventana in 2006 and their friends Bob and Kathy Pauly on BRIANA in 2007 together with the generosity of the rally participants in the Sail Indonesia 2006 and 2007 rallies the Sail Indonesia Kupang University Scholarships are now in place and the first recipients are now enrolled at the University of Kupang for their chosen course of study.

Thanks, Ellen! Ellen Sanpere helped us start the Volunteering Category here by providing the first links. She even gave us the photo - of cruisers preparing bandages for the Fundamigos Children's Surgical Mission in Venezuela. Send in your links and resources and we'll add them to this page.

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Weather
Crucial to successful cruising is having a voice in when to go (and when NOT to go).  We must consider weather important - look how many links we included!
Weather

Lee Chesneau's Marine Weather Courses
Lee's marine weather courses are an excellent way to learn about weather.

Ocean Prediction Center (OPC)
Located in Camp Springs, MD,  the OPC should be a mariners first choice for marine weather resources! OPC provides a complete graphics, text, and voice broadcasts suite of marine weather products for the entire North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans north of 30N. From the OPC web site, one can link to other National Weather Service (NWS) marine weather forecasts sites, including international resources as well.

Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch (TAFB)
North Atlantic marine weather south of 30N cover the Tropical North Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. Also, includes the North Pacific south 30N and east of 140W and including portions of the southern hemisphere to 25S.

WFO, Honolulu, HI
North Pacific surface weather south 30N to 30S between 130E and 110W.

National Hurricane Center (NHC)
Tropical Cyclone forecasts for the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans which includes the eastern Pacific east of 140W.

Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC)
Tropical Cyclone Forecast Pacific Ocean west of 140W to the International Dateline is located in Honolulu, Hi.

Marine Weather Map Briefing Pages (Ocean Prediction Center)
North Atlantic Briefing and North Pacific Briefing

Metvuw.com
Weather and Climate forecasts for the Pacific and Europe

MetService
New Zealand's National Meteorological Service provides weather forecasts for New Zealand

Fiji Meteorological Service
Weather forecasts for the central south Pacific

BuoyWeather.com
Buoyweather provides detailed, customized marine weather to thousands of mariners. Their text forecasts can be set up for scheduled email delivery by subscription.

Caribbean Weather Center
The Caribbean Weather Center provides weather forecasts for Caribbean cruisers via daily SSB nets, daily email forecasts, offshore single passage weather routing and phone-in weather routing and consultation

Waterway Radio and Cruising Club
The Waterway Net, which is sponsored by the Waterway Radio and Cruising Club, meets on the air every morning of the year for about an hour starting at 0745 ET on a frequency of 7.268 MHz LSB.

Pacific Seafarer's Net
The Pacific Seafarer's Net is an Amateur Radio net, setup to provide support and assistance to boats at sea. All licensed Amateurs are welcome to take part. 

Don Andersen's Pacific Weather