OceanLines » Website news

OceanLines Now Syndicated to Millions of Readers

Editor — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:40:56 +0000

BoaterMouth -- 12 Journalists, 1 Website

As our readers know, the publishing world is in the midst of an upheaval as publications and readers turn to online outlets to deliver content. Naturally, we at OceanLines feel we’ve been helping to lead our audience of cruisers and passagemakers to that new online world of resources. Well, the publishing powerhouses continue to evolve and adapt (at least some are). And some of the current leaders of the online publishing world are taking big new steps.

The First Big News

OceanLines has recently become part of a unique cooperative venture among 12 of the leading journalists in our industry, through a new website called Boatermouth.com. You’ve probably seen the ad-link I’ve posted on the right sidebar for BoaterMouth, which is the brainchild of Kim Kavin, one of the most respected marine journalists in the world. Last fall, Kim gathered us on (naturally) an online conference call to propose the Boatermouth.com cooperation and by November we were online. (warning — shameless self-promoting quote from Kim ahead)

“OceanLines brings outstanding coverage of the passagemaker and trawler markets to the BoaterMouth team. Tom’s writing covers everything from new boat models to the equipment and electronics that people need if they are truly going to live the cruising lifestyle. I am thrilled to have Tom as part of our team, as his work is not something you can find so regularly updated elsewhere online, let alone written with such authority and expertise.

At BoaterMouth you can read about every segment of boating, from PWCs to fishing to speedboats and sailing, and yes, about passagemaking and cruising boats through the OceanLines participation.

The Next Big News

Boats.com and Yachtworld.com, the massive sites for boating classifieds, announced this morning a big new partnership with BoaterMouth to put our editorial content on their websites. If you will forgive this brief self-promotion, here’s an excerpt from the press relief:

“This partnership recognizes and leads a paradigm shift,” said Ian Atkins, vice president and general manager of Boats.com and YachtWorld.com. “People who love the water are online now, looking for boats and high-quality editorial content to go with them. Teaming up with a crew of 12 writers who have the credentials of the BoaterMouth group is an outstanding enhancement for visitors to our sites—and a privilege for us.”

Articles by BoaterMouth’s marine journalists will cover a range topics, from power and sailboats to fishing, megayachts, marine electronics, chartering, cruising, racing, and advice on maintenance and equipment. Boats.com and YachtWorld.com will utilize their established online technology to pair this expanded editorial content with related new-boat and brokerage listings, offering the BoaterMouth team’s writing to an average monthly audience of 3.5 million boating enthusiasts—more than the combined circulation of every U.S. marine magazine.

BoaterMouth.com was launched in November 2009 by Imagine Media LLC and is owned by longtime marine journalist Kim Kavin. She is among the 12 BoaterMouth writers, who also include Lenny Rudow, Ben Ellison, Diane Byrne, Pete McDonald, Tom Tripp, Zuzana Prochazka, Jeff Hemmel, Charles Doane, Kimball Livingston, Matt Trulio, and Ed Sherman. (Click here for detailed biographies.)

“My hope when I conceived BoaterMouth was not only to work with the colleagues I respect most as marine journalists, but to do so in a way that helps move marine publishing forward in the digital age,” Kavin said. “The team at Boats.com and YachtWorld.com shares our vision of connecting with boaters using rich editorial content innew online formats, and we’ll be working with them to apply our industry expertise across digital platforms as they continue to evolve.”

By integrating BoaterMouth-branded sections, Boats.com and YachtWorld.com will provide the ultimate boater experience online, such as offering boat-spec information and expert insights, connected and cross-referenced. The partnership will also utilize an existing and growing array of social-networking sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube.

These two new partnerships are going to help us bring the content here on OceanLines to millions of new readers and our hope is that will lead to more comments and participation by our readers, many of whom are out there on the water living the life we would all choose.

A New Look for OceanLines

Editor — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:03:51 +0000

: OceanLines – The Latest News in Passagemaking

Sometimes we advertise these changes weeks or months in advance. Sometimes we just spring ‘em on you. Like now. Welcome to the new OceanLines LLC corporate theme for both Oceanlines and Marine Science Today. The WordPress theme is the WP-Vybe theme from Solostream. It’s extremely flexible and well-written and we’re thrilled with it.

Our web support partners at New York Design Group are helping us get it tweaked and our long-time graphics design partners at Taylor Design created the banner logos for both websites. This new design will allow us to bring you content that is easier to look at, easier to search and just plain old good-looking. Please drop a comment here and let us know what you like; what you think needs work and we’ll keep working on it.

Stay tuned this week for news about Ovation Yachts two new models, some impressive new long-range catamarans from Pacific Expedition Yachts and some new photos of some of your favorite trawlers and some new ones just coming down the ways.

And remember that starting with the new year, Marine Science Today debuts with its own dedicated publication and this sporty new look, too. If you have an interest in the science that’s dominating our current environmental discussions, visit Marine Science Today and learn about the latest ocean research.

Coming Soon: Marine Science Today, a Dedicated New Publication

Editor — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:28:52 +0000

New Banner for Marine Science Today

I am pleased to announce the upcoming debut on January 1, 2009, of a new online publication, Marine Science Today, dedicated to news, analysis, and discussion of modern marine science. With our heightened understanding of the central role played by the world’s oceans in controlling our climate and overall environment, there is both a need and a desire to educate and inform the general public about the myriad activities, discoveries and ongoing work in this scientific field.

We began covering marine science news here on OceanLines but have discovered there is an audience for a dedicated publication, serving not just the interests of one organization or another, but the public interest in understanding as much as possible about this vital field. This is a public that must, eventually, understand to provide the financial and political support for spending and programs in marine science and our goal at Marine Science Today is to help provide that crucial understanding.

Marine Science Today (www.marinesciencetoday.com) will provide in one place news from around the entire marine science community, with features and photos covering the science, the people and technology currently at work around the globe. In addition to hard news and features written by staff, MST will provide an opportunity for students, teachers and researchers in the field to publish basic summaries of their latest work. We will also encourage analysis and opinion pieces by policy makers and interested parties as part of our attenpt to continue to stimulate public discussion of topics related to marine science.

Marine Science Today will debut in just a few short weeks, so plan to join us at the website then. And please do plan to jump right on in, the water is everywhere!

Tom Tripp
Owner, OceanLines LLC
Publisher of OceanLines, and Marine Science Today

Arriving: The New OceanLines

oceanlines — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:56:53 +0000

Welcome to the new and improved OceanLines (I always wondered about that slogan: Would anybody ever announce that something was new and ‘unimproved’?).

You will notice a couple of major changes to the site. The two new, more sharply focused content areas are highlighted in the design. Readers interested in all things related to making passages aboard boats have their own highlighted content area — Passagemaking News. Readers interested in our coverage of ocean science have their own area — Marine Science News.

Readers may subscribe to either content stream by entering an e-mail address in the appropriate box at the upper right of the home page. In addition, they can click on the main topic headline, either Passagemaking News, or Marine Science News, and be taken to the part of the website that deals only with that subject.

We also have a new “widget” in website parlance, in the gray box to the right of the home page, which lets you do the same thing, simply by clicking on the appropriate tab. It also has a third tab to take you to our new image gallery section where you will find it much easier to see the photos related to our story content. This new gallery section is fairly thin right now but will be populated quickly over the next few days.

My special thanks to Tom Taylor of Taylor Design, Inc., who created the look and feel of our new site, and to Chris Jean and Adam White at Main Street, who performed the programming magic to transform that concept into a custom WordPress installation, and who host the site on their speedy servers.

We are most interested in your feedback on the new design; how it looks and, more importantly, how well it works for you. Please drop me an e-mail with your comments and suggestions for improvement at, tom at oceanlines dot biz (replace words with symbols in address).

And as always, please contact us with story suggestions and material. There’s a lot of great stuff happening out there and we want to share it, so send us news and updates on your boat, technology and marine science work.

Tom Tripp, Publisher

OCEANLINES COMPLETING REFIT: RE-LAUNCH SET FOR AUG 1

Editor — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:24:24 +0000

OceanLines is about to undergo a major transformation. Over the past year, I have been carefully studying reader response to the various stories we’ve done and I’ve decided to re-design the website to focus more sharply on two specific content streams. OceanLines will, starting August 1, 2008, feature daily coverage of “passagemaking” and “marine science” news; each in a separate “feed” that readers can subscribe to.

In the Passagemaking category, you will find news and analysis of the boats that people cruise on, whether for a weekend in New England, a trip down the IntraCoastal Waterway, or across the oceans deep. You will be able to read about all the new boats from well-known brands such as Nordhavn, Grand Banks, Nordic Tugs, Kady Krogen, Selene and many others, as well as some not-so-well-known brands that might be interesting alternatives for some. We will also cover news about interesting passages people are making and we will encourage them to post here and answer our readers’ questions about seeing the world by boat.

The Marine Science category will provide popular coverage of the exploding number of fascinating stories coming out every day about new discoveries related to our oceans. While decidedly distinct as a topic from passagemaking, there may be some readers who, like us, want to know more about the oceans we travel on. If so, this will be the place to see the highlights. New understandings about global weather, environmental issues such as global warming, ecology and preservation of marine species, the evolving science behind government policies that regulate fishing and access — all of these will appear in the Marine Science category.

On the technical side, there will be a number of significant improvements. Our website “refit,” if you will, includes new photo and media galleries that will allow us to give you a lot more to look at, and allow us to keep it organized to let you find what you’re interested in. You will be able to subscribe, via RSS feeds to any of your favorite blog readers, for either or both content streams, and as always, you can sign up for e-mail notification of new content. If you know right now that you want one or the other (or both) content streams, send us an e-mail and we’ll ensure you’re on the list for the re-launch, beginning August 1.

Please note that I’ve already posted here (in the navigation links at the top of the page) our new Privacy Policy and Editorial Policy. Every website you visit should tell you how they use data collected during your visit; our policy does that and will hopefully reassure you that what we know about you and your visits is NOT personally identifiable. Our Editorial Policy lets you know what our philosophy is, and in our case, let’s you know that we are not beholden to anybody; not advertisers or contributors. We believe you deserve content that is as unbiased as we can make it and that when we express an opinion, it’s clearly identified as such. Have a look at them if you want to see the details.

I truly hope you will also consider giving us feedback on both the design and content. I’m smart enough to know that there are many smarter people in the world than me and I hope some of them are reading OceanLines and will give us suggestions on how to improve. So, as they say in the business, stay tuned as we prepare to re-launch this ship and send her on some great new voyages.

Tom

My Articles for Mad Mariner

Editor — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:41:11 +0000

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of writing for Glen Justice at Mad Mariner (www.madmariner.com) and I’ve had a chance to work with his great crew there on a number of separate pieces.

The first piece was an overview of the engine choices available to boaters today; covering everything from outboards to the drive pods of Volvo Penta and Cummins MerCruiser Diesel. Have a look at it here: Story link…

The article talks about how 4-stroke outboards dominate that market segment, with the notable exception of the Evinrude E-TEC line of high-pressure injected 2-strokes. We also covered basic gas-powered inboards, dominated by computer-controlled, fuel-injected models from companies like Crusader, MerCruiser and Volvo Penta. Diesels, too, are going electronic and the benefits are significant — better fuel economy, smoother and quieter operation, and drastically reduced smoke and emissions. The article ends with a discussion of the next wave in marine propulsion, the steerable pod drives now in service with Volvo Penta IPS and coming from Cummins MerCruiser Diesel with the Zeus units.

If you haven’t seen Mad Mariner yet, go check it out. Glen’s many years of experience as a New York Times reporter gives the site a major leg up over other online boating sites. He’s got a great collection of basic reference articles and good, hard news, too. I’m proud to be associated with him and his team.

Missing Posts…and News from Newport

Editor — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 02:00:28 +0000

Well, I finally got bit by the technology gremlins. My web-hosting service screwed up the servers and lost the last three days of data — and posts. I’ll re-create them and get them back up as quickly as possible.

A quick re-cap — highlights for me from the Newport International Boat Show were new products in the computer and propulsion area. MarineNav’s new small form-factor, truly marinized PC brings PC-based navigation (and all the other things possible with PCs) down to those of us who don’t have huge lockers to install big tower-PCs. Check them out at www.marinenav.ca .

Also, Glacer Bay’s new line of diesel-electric propulsion solutions will get even small-boat owners thinking about this approach to re-powering older boats or even powering their new builds. Their power generators are based on new Mercedes Benz diesels and in-house developed, high-efficiency electric motors. They really have an amazing package concept, too. The smallest of their units is a 25 Kw generator, powered by a 0.7L, common-rail, turbocharged diesel. Yep — -0.7L WITH common rail and turbocharger. Incredible. It will produce a total of about 70 HP at the shaft in a single-shaft application, or 35 HP if split for two shafts. See their stuff at www.ossapowerlite.com .

I will have detailed stories on both new product lines posted tomorrow after I finish cleaning up the mess made by our hosting service. Also, look for the start of our new series on “The Ultimate Helm,” which looks at good/better/best alternatives for different classes of boats. We start with the trawler community and show you some examples of how some of these slow-speed cruisers at Newport outfitted their helms. There are some great ideas out there and technologies like that from MarineNav (from above) will add significantly to the possibilities.

So, more coming from Newport. Stay tuned.

Leadership by Example?

Editor — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:19:52 +0000

One recent evening I was at a popular overlook near the mouth of a river that empties into Long Island Sound, watching with many others as a Bay Constable boat (unidentified to protect the guilty) attempted to attach a flashing light to the top of a locally maintained red buoy. The Constable Himself was behind the wheel of the center console, while a summer employee was up in the bow, reaching with one hand for the buoy while desperately hanging on for dear life with the other. For some reason, our Constable had chosen the absolute peak of the flood tide to accomplish this chore and the current was running at several knots while he tried to hold station with the buoy off his port beam.Well, things didn’t go so well and the Constable eventually edged farther downstream, the buoy sliding aft along his port rail, when suddenly he swung around the buoy to port and the tide and his steering ensuring that he would run over the mooring line for the buoy. Now his prop is fouled, the buoy has been wrenched tight up against his port quarter. He is forced to cut the mooring end of the line and limp slowly back upstream to the public launch ramp and unscramble things.Now, we all make mistakes from time-to-time, but this exercise had so many things running against it, including the tide, that it struck me as particularly inappropriate for somebody in a position of (presumed) experience and authority as our local Bay Constable. Frankly, the mouth of this river is virtually unnavigable; in fact the Coast Guard has refused in the past to mark its entrance, considering it too dangerous to sanction navigation there. At low tide, its possible to watch any number of boats run aground, or at least grind up impellers and water pumps in lower units as they scrape their way in and out of the waterway.I just expect the Bay Constable to know better.

The First Ocean Lines

Editor — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:16:55 +0000

If you are passionate about something you no doubt have some opinions, perhaps even strong ones, about that subject. Does that mean you have to share them with the whole world? No. Clearly, most people on the planet really don’t care what you, or I, think. But, we’re rarely alone in our passions and that’s probably how and why blogging has exploded on the Web. In any event, here’s another one.

The topic will always be related to the marine world — those things involved with that stuff that covers 80 percent of the surface of our planet. Anything is fair game — the ocean itself, man’s relation to the ocean, our activities on it, in it and below it; and all the wild and wonderful things that live in it.

Stop back periodically and see what’s new. If I do this right, there might be something to stir your own thoughts and opinions about the marine world. There’s lots to talk about and I can guarantee that I’ll wander all over the subject. I love talking about the ocean, and boats, and ships and science and biology and conservation and ecology.

Ah yes, I hear the ship’s bell ringing, and the 1MC blaring, “Ocean Lines, arriving.”