The Boating Wire, powered by boats.com, is a free, biweekly email newsletter that quickly guides you to boating oriented web sites.Our editors scour the web for boating info, products & services and report what they find to you. What could be easier?

Dog days of summer? Not here! You'll find slips and tips, a visit to the doctor and more in this, the latest edition of TBW.

To subscribe to this newsletter click on the link at right or visit www.boatingwire.com and subscribe there. When there, do check out the special offers from leading online boating, sports and outdoor equipment stores. You'll find sales, coupons and other discounts to save you money.

TBW is sponsored by...
************************************
BOSE OUTDOOR SPEAKERS
A twilight cruise on the water. Some of your best time is spent on the boat. It's made even better with music. But while the boat may be the perfect setting for music, it's hardly the best environment for speakers - unless they're Bose outdoor speakers!
BOSE Speakers
************************************

============
MARINAS
============
Marinas.com
www.marinas.com
This is a commercial directory with links to marina web sites. (If a marina doesn't have a web site, you won't find it here, but you might find it at a sister site, MarinaFinder.com.) The listings are worldwide and it's easy to find a marina by keyword search or by region using a clickable map. English translation of marina marketing info can be amusing. For Porto San Rocco, Italy: "The great imprenditoria to the service of the nautical one."

Find A Marina
www.findamarina.net
This site features a searchable database of USA marinas and their amenities. It's quick. You can search by state and by the dockside services you want. Most listings contain basic contact info only; marinas must pay an annual fee to include a detailed description of their facilities.

Marinalife
www.marinalife.com
This site has just launched an online transient slip reservation service. Right now, it's available only in the Chesapeake Bay region, but there are plans to expand throughout the US next year. There's also a marina locator for facilities along the east coast and in the Bahamas.

============
REPAIRS & MAINTENANCE
============
The Boat Doctor
www.boatdoctor.com
Click "Ask A Tech" and you'll see a plea to post a problem to this site's message board and chat room first before you contact this small but talented group of boat techies. The service is free, but there's a strong hint posted on the "company info" page suggesting that it won't be for much longer.

Below The Waterline Maintenance Guide
catalog.com/bobpone/diyCover.htm
I don't know who Bob Pone is but he's written a comprehensive guide to below the waterline repairs and maintenance and posted the whole thing on the web. Yeah, there's standard bottom painting info, but now I know how to replace a cutless bearing and a packing gland.

TBW is also sponsored by...
************************************
WHAT'S ON SALE ONLINE? FIND OUT - FAST
Our free weekly email newsletter quickly guides you to what's on sale at leading online stores. Our editors gather sale info from over 100 well-known online merchants - and you reap the savings! What could be easier?
For a free subscription, go to
www.wosowire.com
************************************

============
TRAVELOGUES
============
Nina del Mar
www.world-sailing.com
The first annual TBW "Sure Beats Working" Award goes to young Norwegians Paal Kristian Crosby and Per Christian Ottesen, who've quit their jobs, bought a bought and set sail June 15 from Oslo on an 18-month Atlantic cruise. The duo is posting to an online log and there's a mailing list you can join to get updates.

Pacific Odyssey
www.pacific-odyssey.co.uk
British Royal Marine Commandos Tim Welford and Dominic Mee are rowing across the North Pacific Ocean. They left Tokyo on May 5 and hope to cross the finish line beneath the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco 5,000 miles and 120 days later. Apparently this is causing quite a stir in Britain, with regular coverage by the BBC. Be sure to check out the direct satellite link tracking the latest position of the boat.

============
DIRECTORIES
============
MarineWaypoints.com
www.marinewaypoints.com
This comprehensive site features boating news updated daily, weather forecasts, a handy directory of state boating and fishing resources, rules and regs, online charts, wind scales, calculators and much more. You'll find a lot of the same info elsewhere on the web, but I doubt you'll find it organized any better than it is here.

TBW is also sponsored by...
************************************
PREMIUM OUTDOOR PRODUCTS
Bass Pro Shops is your #1 place for fishing tackle, electronics, apparel, footwear and more. Visit our clearance center, too, for quality products at extra savings.
Bass Pro Shops
************************************

============
SAFETY
============
Commander Bob's Boating Safety Notebook
www.commanderbob.com
Robert "Commander Bob" Story was one of the first to recognize the potential of the web to help spread the gospel of boating safety. His award-winning site takes a serious but entertaining approach, providing tips for the safe operation of all types of watercraft, offering opinion polls on mandatory boating education and PFDs and tons of trivia.

Free Online Boating Safety Course
www.boatus.com/onlinecourse
Over 150,000 people have taken this NASBLA-approved free course since it was launched by the BoatU.S. Foundation a couple of years ago. With several hundred pages of reference material and 55 questions ("Rules of the Road", boating safety, navigation, and state specific boating laws), this is no pushover. A passing grade earns you a certificate accepted by many states with boating education requirements.

TBW is also sponsored by...

************************************
BOATERSWORLD.COM - NO SALES TAX, FREE SHIPPING*
Shop our cool summer specials now on watersports: tubes, kneeboards, wakeboards, water skis -$99.99!
Enter our Garmin Handheld GPS giveaway. *See site for details.
Boatersworld.com
************************************

Well, that wraps up this edition of TBW. We'll see you in two weeks.

If you received this issue from a friend and you wish to have your own free subscription, you can get that by visiting www.boatingwire.com and filling out the subscription form. It takes less than a minute.

We encourage you to pass this issue of TBW along, provided you do not change the copy, you keep the opening and this closing material, and you notify us at [email protected].

Cordially,
David Pilvelait, Managing Editor
The Boating Wire
[email protected]
www.boatingwire.com

Advertising inquiries: [email protected]