Newsletter #12 - January 28, 2009

ActiveCaptain Wins Innovation Award!


In This Issue:

- ActiveCaptain Wins SAIL Magazine's Innovation Award
    ActiveCaptain Mobile has been chosen by SAIL Magazine for its
    2009 Freeman K. Pittman Award for Innovation.

- ActiveCaptain Explorer Preview is Live

- A Fellow Captain Accumulates Over 10,000 Points
    Find out which Captain was the first to amass 10,000 points on
    the ActiveCaptain web site and learn about his current cruising
    adventure.



SAIL Magazine's Innovation Award
==========================================
ActiveCaptain Mobile has been recognized in the Electronics category of SAIL Magazine's annual Freeman K. Pittman Award for product innovation. The Freeman Award acknowledges forward thinking products that enhance the safety and enjoyment of sailing. ActiveCaptain Mobile was selected by Electronics Editor, Ben Ellison, who praised ActiveCaptain Mobile and the companion web site, ActiveCaptain.com, because of its ability to "capitalize on the Web's infinite capacity for peer-to-peer information sharing."

We are thrilled to be recognized with this coveted award and will be attending the Miami Boat Show in February where it will be featured in SAIL Magazine's booth. We'd love to meet any Captains who may be there also, so let us know if you're attending.



ActiveCaptain Explorer
==========================================
There's a new tab on the web site. In addition to Home, On The Water, and Going Mobile, there's a strange new "X Preview" tab. This "X" is the future of ActiveCaptain.

ActiveCaptain Explorer, or ACX, or sometimes just "X" for short, extends the user-interface of "On The Water". It is very modular and expandable and allows for many new features. Here are a few that are coming:

- Nautical charts on top of maps and satellite images

- Weather overlays

- Extensive search capabilities for finding places

- Route sharing and transfer to chartplotters

- Photograph markers from panoramio.com


The first part of this is live now. We still want you to use On The Water because Details and Reviews aren't live yet, but there are some new capabilities:

- Modular cartography - choose Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, or
    OpenStreetMap

- Filter marinas and local knowledge ("only show marinas with
    diesel and pump out")

- Add a data line to the list of markers ("show the diesel price
    and date of marinas with fuel")

- Sort the data line ("show diesel price with the lowest price
    at the top")


Give it a try and let us know what you think of the user-interface. We plan on adding many new "cards" over the next few months to greatly expand the information you can receive from ActiveCaptain.



A Fellow Captain With Over 10,000 Points
==========================================
The success of ActiveCaptain depends entirely on our Captains. You are the ones who ensure the data is current and offer those oh so valuable reviews - because while it's good to know a marina has floating docks and a laundry, it's great to know that the staff is friendly and helpful.

You have entered hundreds of thousands of pieces of information. As we oversee the changes to the database, we enjoy seeing Captains who appear again and again. Sometimes we imagine the journey you're taking based on the areas you're updating. Or we're reminded of a favorite spot that we visited once, or one we'd like to see in the future.

As our Captains know, we award points each time you update or add information, write a review, or add a new marker. There are many Captains with hundreds of points and an impressive number with over a thousand points but only one Captain has over ten thousand points! Yes, over 10,000 points. Actually, over 11,000 points!

Cliff Long, or as we fondly know him, Captain Seldom, has blanketed the rivers of the Midwest all the way down to the Florida Keys with great information about marinas, lock schedules, bridge openings and great anchorages. Cliff and his wife Eddy have been cruising on their boat Seldom's Escape since 2007. Cliff began his love of the water with a canoeing adventure in 1978. You can follow the transformation of Seldom's Escape from a tour boat to Cliff and Eddy's retirement home on their web site. You can also learn about their current cruise and even make plans to meet up with them. Check them out:
http://www.kansasriverrat.com

According to Cliff, "Since finding ActiveCaptain it has become a major part of my trip planning. I use whatever sources I can find to fill in the voids in my knowledge of what lies ahead in my journey."

Thank you, Cliff, and all of our Captains for supporting this project. And don't forget to add your marina reviews and favorite anchorages. Let's see who our next "10,000 Captain" will be!


==================================
Karen and Jeffrey Siegel
aCappella
Castine, Maine

www.activecaptain.com
The Interactive Cruising Guidebook

2010-07-21	#35 - My Card, messaging, and more...
2010-06-29	#34 - New ActiveCaptain award...
2010-06-02	#33 - MaxSea Time Zero v1.9 Released
2010-05-18	#32 - ActiveCaptain loves the iPhone/iPad
2010-04-27	#31 - Coastal Explorer Now Available
2010-04-14	#30 - ActiveCaptain Loves Coastal Explorer
2010-03-16	#29 - ActiveCaptain Co-Ops - This is big...
2010-02-23	#28 - ActiveCaptain "X" is now live
2010-02-15	#27 - ActiveCaptain Loves MaxSea/Furuno
2010-01-19	#26 - ActiveCaptain 2010
2009-12-10	#25 - ActiveCaptain X goes beta
2009-11-17	#24 - Quick Lists
2009-10-20	#23 - A fresh look at the iPhone
2009-09-22	#22 - Are we the wave of the future?
2009-08-19	#21 - ActiveCaptain Sets Sail
2009-07-21	#20 - Rescue Tape for 150 Points
2009-07-14	#19 - ActiveCaptain Rocks!
2009-07-01	#18 - ActiveCaptain Gets a Facelift
2009-06-02	#17 - Another ActiveCaptain award!
2009-05-19	#16 - Hats off to you!
2009-05-06	#15 - Twitter, New PodCast, and more
2009-03-17	#14 - Using phones in the Bahamas
2009-03-03	#13 - The best fuel prices
2009-01-28	#12 - SAIL innovation award
2009-01-05	#11 - Power accessories article
2008-12-02	#10 - Bluetooth headsets article
2008-10-28	#9 - The next wave
2008-09-13	#8 - ActiveCaptain Mobile news
2008-06-15	#7 - Mad Mariner
2008-03-12	#6 - ActiveCaptain Mobile
2008-01-21	#5 - Inlets
2007-09-19	#4 - Boat ramps
2007-07-09	#3 - Local knowledge released
2007-04-14	#2 - Global support
2007-02-11	#1 - Anchorages released

Read the award winning nineteen part series on mobile phones on boats.

Learn how to train your canine crew to use the "poop deck" and a unique way to get them into the dinghy.

Find out what's in our ditch bag and see what unusual products we have found invaluable on our cruises.