As part of our “Boat of the Month” series , this month we feature Diomedea on our front page.

Many yachts head North during the Australian winter cruising season, but few venture East across the Tasman to New Zealand. That is of course only a jumping-off point for warmer climes in the Pacific – Samoa, Fiji, New Caledonia and those further East.

Word is that perhaps we’ll see Diomedea venture further afield over the next 6 to 24 months. Follow them here on Skipr.net and on their Sailblog.

Fair winds, David and Andrea…

We have just introduced a more convenient position reporting page. It takes advantage of the built-in GPS in many of todays tablets such as the iPad and provides instant feedback about the position you enter, even when reporting manually.

It’s use is mostly self-explanatory, but to get the most out of its features, below are a some of its highlights:

The Update button appears when an automatic position is available, tap it to transfer that position to the Lat-Lon form.

The Green Marker represents the position in the Lat-Lon form. The marker may be moved manually to refine the Lat-Lon form values.

The Geo (Arrow) button appears when an automatic position is available. Tap it to zoom and centre on that position (marked by a blue dot)./skp/

The Marker button appears when there is a Lat-Lon value in the form. Tap it to zoom and centre the marker.

[...]

We were totally blown away by the response to my suggestion for ‘Skiprs’ attending the Wooden Boat Festival to get together for breakfast. Over 60 people responding to the invite. We had to change the venue to cope with the numbers, causing a bit of last minute confusion despite our best efforts to contact people.

It was a thrill for me to see the enthusiasm for Skipr.net and it looked like everyone was enjoying meeting together. Thanks everyone – we’ll do it again.

The Wooden Boat Festival (pictures) has established itself as THE venue for anyone who enjoys boats and anything made of wood (or antique outboards!). It has grown into an event that every cruising sailor needs to attend (and indeed, plenty were there. Joy and I spent three days walking around and still didn’t see everything.

The enthusiasm by the volunteers who largely run the Fest is inspiring and infectious. Well done, Hobart.

Marius

Hobart Skipr Meetup 

New Reporting page

Alternative ways to report your position

Off the beaten track

Support Skipr.net

With so many cruising boats  in Hobart for the Festival and the Circumnavigation, there is a unique opportunity to catch up with other “Skiprs”. Catch up with boats you follow on Skipr.net or have a chat with Marius about what you’d like see next on Skipr.net.

We’re having a casual breakfast get together – nothing formal, just an opportunity to catch up with people you might have only read about on Skipr.net. Join us for Sunday breakfast on 10th February at Cafe  T42 on Elizabeth Street Pier from 0830hrs to around 1030 (this is a change in venue due to the confirmed numbers sofar !). If you’re planning to be there, drop us an email (skipper@skipr.net), so we can give the Cafe some idea about numbers – it is bound to be a busy day around the Dock that day!

Joy and Marius

It’s that time of the year – the best time to cruise to Tasmania! It is promising to be a super year to be in Hobart in early February.

• The Wooden Boat Festival.
• The last stop for the Island Cruising Association’s Western Pacific Rally
• The destination of the CYCA  Hobart 2013 cruise
• The start of the Van Diemensland Circumnavigation

We will be there and look forward to meeting up with many of the “Skiprs”.

In this newsletter:

The 2013 version of Skipr.net – apply to become a tester
The Passage Companion – save $$$ on key cruising guides
In the Flesh – meeting up with Skipr’d crews
Join Skipr Plus – helping Skipr expand and evolve
Cruising in Company – Island Cruising Association seminars [...]

Yes, it’s that time of the year… No, I wasn’t going talk about Christmas (although best wishes of the Season to you, of course), but it seems many of our favourite cruising guides have published updates.

Lucas has “Late 2012″ updates for both the Coral Coast and NSW Coast guides.
Rob has published updates to his Passage Planner and Marilyn  (Coastal Cruising Companion has just sent out her 2nd newsletter with updates for those expecting to sail to Tasmania this summer (which should be many, as the circumnavigation is ‘on’ this year).

Oh.. and if you _are_ looking for a Christmas present, why not become a Skipr Plus membership  and save a bundle! [...]

On tuesday this week, I participated in the meeting at the CYCA about their Tasmania cruise early next year. We’ve set up a cruise page on Skipr for them and look forward to ‘following along’. My presentation (on using Skipr and Internet at sea) is below.

There was a lot of interest in the inReach Satellite Communicator, check out this page on my other site TracknSend.com. And of course for any other questions, drop me an email – skipper@skipr.net

In Frank’s weather talk, he mentioned Frank’s Weather site (no, it’s another Frank). A very useful site indeed.

The slides of my presentation are below. [...]

Click to download PDF

Marilyn Graham started a newsletter to alert buyers of her Coastal Cruising Companion (CCC) to changes and additions.

The CCC is a terrific guide to anchorages and ports between the Queensland border and Hobart. She provides the updated pages by post or email, great service! By the way, when you purchase a copy of her Companion on our site, it is shipped by Marilyn herself and no doubt you’ll get on her mailing list for the newsletter.

Updates:

Companion Newsletter Issue 2 (Dec ’12)

Companion Newsletter Issue 3 (Feb ’13)

Companion Newsletter Issue 4 (April ’13)

Order a copy of the Companion.