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Pat's Boating in Canada
celebrates 10 years on the Web
Boating in Canada is one of the oldest
and most comprehensive boating information sites on the Web. A labour of love,
the site was actually started because Canadian Power & Sail Squadrons were not
interested in providing information online. I was testing web services for our
community network at the time, so I just started putting together all the
information and notes I had collected into web pages. It just kept growing and
growing until there are now about 300 pages.
Because of the site, I've heard from people from all over the world, and have
acquired an odd sort of virtual fame. After I started the newsgroup
can.rec.boating in 1998, the people who discussed boating there thought I was
God (or at least the moderator). I didn't argue!. The first year the group
really did need help keeping ads out (my emails to people were always polite,
learned from basic netiquette). My husband was quite impressed when we were
hailed on the VHF radio call under the Thousand Island Bridge by a passing boat
who recognized our boat name, "Are you 'Pat' from the boating site?". After 14
years online, I'm still friends with many people in the online community whom
I've never actually met, from people who have written books about boating and
marine history to others who work in high-tech and web services. Some have sent
me articles for the site and others have sent me photos, books and products - I
just love that!
People always want to know if the site makes money. I must say that it took
years before anyone in the marine business considered advertising on my site to
attract the thousands of boaters who visit it. The first serious advertisers
were American businesses (still there)! I bent over backwards to set up an
affiliate program with a Canadian chandlery, but after a year, I'm still trying.
It's almost funny if it weren't so sad. They have no idea how much business we
are both losing. The Canadian marine industry is really in the last century -
when the Internet went mainstream.
Pat Drummond is a member of Canadian Power & Sail Squadrons (OPS/JN), Thousand
Islands Yacht Club (TIYC), Ontario Sail Association (OSA), Canadian Yachting
Association (CYA). With her husband and usually a cat, Pat has cruised the
Rideau Waterway, Great Lakes, Thousand Islands, St. Lawrence Seaway, NY State
Barge Canal, Chesapeake Bay, ICW (Intracoastal Waterway), Florida Keys, Bahamas,
the Virgins and Grenadines. Now retired, she hopes to keep "Boating in Canada"
going as long as it's "fun".
A few highlights:
Featured in Monitor Magazine (March 2003 Ottawa): "One of the oldest, largest
boating information sites in Canada!" No kidding! Everything, and I mean
everything, you need or want to know about boating can be found on this site.
From cruising the 1000 Islands, to sea-sickness and Zebra Mussels, you'll find
it on Pat Drummond's excellent reference site.
The editor of the Thousand Islands Association newsletter (1200 members), Susie
Smith, wrote, "Your page is terrific and I thought you may like to know I am
featuring it... Please keep up the good work. I and many others appreciate it."
Ottawa Webgrrls' (became DigitalEveOttawa.com) first feature page in 1999 was
about Pat Drummond, the boating site "Boating in Canada", and her Web service.
Jeff Goddard's review in The Fishing News, a national fishing paper available in
tackle shops, rated it excellent - 5 out of 5.
Sympatico NetLife magazine (Jul/1999) featured "Pat's Boating in Canada" and
creator Pat Drummond in its Virtual Ontario section.
Pat and Jim Drummond gave a seminar about cruising with cats and dogs at the
Toronto Boat Show in 2006, and the web site's "Canadian Water Quiz" was featured
in the Vancouver International Boat Show Guide the same year.
http://boatingincanada.com/
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