BoatTales.com vessels featured at U.S. Sailboat Show

PRLog (Press Release) - Oct 02, 2006 -
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Gary and Sharon Woodward, owners of the Antares 44i catamaran s/v "Gabridash," will be sharing the adventures aboard their new yacht with friends and family via their personal BoatTales.com website and blog (visit http://www.boattales.com/gabridash/).
But first their boat will star in this year's prestigious United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Md., Oct. 5-9. Gabridash will be the official showboat for PDQ Yachts Inc. of Whitby, Ontario.
Coincidentally, Kenny and Kathy Walker, owners of Gabridash's sister boat "Mer Soleil," have also launched a BoatTales.com website (jump aboard at http://www.boattales.com/mersoleil/).
The Antares 44i isn't the only BoatTales.com vessel to have been featured in the U.S. Sailboat Show. Fred Drummond is recording his adventures aboard "Royal Serf," the 2004 Show model Catalina 42 MK II, at http://www.boattales.com/royalserf/. "My first large vessel was a 26-foot Island Packet that was in the 1984 Annapolis boat show," Drummond says. "After retirement, I decided it was time to go sailing again. Finally I found the boat of my dreams docked at Deltaville, Va., and the adventure began."
BoatTales.com sailed onto the World Wide Web two years ago when John T. Beresford built a boating website for his friends, Rob and Jo Lucey to record their Caribbean adventures aboard their Morgan 382 sloop "Sea Spell" (visit http://www.SeaSpell.net). Beresford built a custom site with an elegantly simple administrative area for uploading ship's logs, crewmember profiles and blogs, a boat description, photo pages, an automated locator map and more.
Building on that model, they launched BoatTales.com so that other cruisers and boat owners could subscribe to their own inexpensive, semi-custom sites.
"Keeping our site up-to-date was easy," Jo said. "We wrote logs on our laptop and shot photos with our digital camera. Then it just takes a few clicks to load onto the website after logging onto the Internet."
Laptops have become standard equipment aboard modern cruising boats.
"With free access at libraries, access with our laptop via our cell phone, the growing number of wireless hot spots, and ubiquitous Internet cafes, we've had no problem finding places to access the Internet," Rob said. "It's easier than finding a post office and cheaper than buying stamps and stationary."
Since 1994, Beresford has operated Digital Studio Design, a web design and hosting company based in Edmond, Ok. After completing their cruise, the Luceys settled in Oriental, the Sailing Capital of North Carolina, where they are launching Carolina Currents - The North and South Carolina Sailor's Magazine (visit http://www.CarolinaCurrents.com).
For more information about BoatTales.com, visit http://www.BoatTales.com, e-mail Ahoy@BoatTales.com or call 405-388-BOAT (2628).