International News: Service for cruisers

New Weather and Routing Forum.

Noonsite.com, the global information website for cruising sailors, launched a unique service for cruisers wanting global weather and routing advice. The new noonsite.com ‘weather and routing forum’ has developed from 10 years of experience assisting cruisers with their varied queries regarding routes around the world.

Noonsite.com editor Sue Richards commented, “We are delighted to have this new service for our readers. The noonsite.com routing pages, although a huge help to cruisers wanting advice, are no longer enough for the detailed questions we receive, so the forum will enable answers and information to be shared more easily, and for cruisers around the world to contribute from their own experiences and knowledge.”

She continued “The new forums are shared with our parent site – www.worldcruising.com – so that all noonsite.com users can benefit from the shared experiences of the ARC and other rallies.”

The main forums, all reached via www.noonsite.com are:

‘Weather and Routing’ which will host discussions on all aspects of route planning and cruising weather, with responses from sailors from across the globe and a new ‘watch this topic’ feature which allows users to track discussions on any item of interest across the site.

‘Crewing Opportunities’ is the place to visit to find crew or for those keen to hook up with skippers needing crew. Open to all users, the electronic message board enables skippers and crew to link up for any sailing, not just World Cruising Club rallies.

For those wanting to sell surplus cruising gear, then ‘The Cockpit Locker’ is the place to visit whether buying or selling. Sails, cruising equipment, iridium telephones and charts are all regularly snapped up, so it pays to keep watching this page.

Using the forums is free and the one time only registration simple for new members; existing members can log in with their email address and password.

The forum is already furnished with several messages received from cruisers recently, and it is hoped that it will become as indispensable to cruisers as noonsite.com itself.

Jeremy Wyatt , Director of World Cruising Club, which took on responsibility for noonsite.com 18 months ago commented on the future development of the site: “We have a great many improvements we wish to make to noonsite.com to improve usability for our viewers and enhance their experience on the site. Launching this useful interactive forum is just the beginning. Watch this space over the next 12 months as we have lots more great ideas coming to the site.”

KEY INFORMATION

noonsite.com – the global website for cruising sailors
www.noonsite.com

* The website for cruisers: noonsite.com aims to provide a one-stop website featuring essential information on all matters of interest to sailors planning an offshore voyage anywhere in the world, whether already underway or still in the preparatory stages.
* Countries : All cruising destinations are covered (currently 193 countries and over 1900 ports) with information on clearance formalities, visa requirements, fees, weather, special events and other facts needed by visiting sailors. Also featured are details of repair facilities as well as marine and shore services for every major port visited by cruising boats.
* General Cruising Information: These pages provide a library of cruising and routing information based on the experience of hundreds of cruising sailors around the world.
* Free to use: All information on the noonsite.com is free to view.
* Sponsors: A range of sponsorships are available on noonsite.com to suit the needs of both large and small organisations, whose support is essential in maintaining noonsite.com as a free service.
* Cruising Community: noonsite.com welcomes news and updates from the worldwide community of cruising sailors.
* Noonsite.com is managed by the global cruising rally specialists World Cruising Club – www.worldcruising.com

About World Cruising Club

World Cruising Club organises rallies for cruising yachts on a worldwide basis. The best known event in the World Cruising Club portfolio is the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), an annual rally which has been crossing the Atlantic since 1986. The concept of the ARC – safety and fun across oceans – has been expanded into other rallies, including World ARC, a round the world cruising rally and shorter passage making rallies in Europe.