The most useful feature of ActiveCaptain is the reviews--written by cruisers for cruisers, without fear or favor.
How did you come up with the concept for ActiveCaptain?
Jeff and Karen Siegel: The seeds of ActiveCaptain began with musings in the pilothouse about how to have better information while cruising. When we pulled away from Castine, Maine, for our first voyage south we had all of the "required" guides: Skipper Bob, Embassy Guides, Waterway Guides, The Intercoastal Waterway flipbook, and others. We found these books to be invaluable, especially for the novice cruisers we were. We always had two or three of them open in the pilothouse.
But we quickly found that they weren't perfect. Phone numbers and services had changed. Marinas, restaurants, and local attractions had closed or changed hours. We once took a 2-mile dinghy ride to a "must not miss" hole-in-the-wall restaurant for an anniversary dinner only to find it had closed. Added to these frustrations were a lack of anchorage information, except for Skipper Bob, and limited coverage of marinas—primarily only the larger marinas or ones that had advertised in the guide book.
Of course, the information covered was always positive. We found that when we pulled into a marina we quickly sought information from other cruisers: Where's the best fuel price, which marinas should we pull into or definitely avoid, where's a good anchorage? Boaters are so friendly and open to sharing this type of information. "You paid how much for that dump. Too bad, there's a great little anchorage just a mile further on."
We started asking each other, why can't there be a way to systematically share this information on the Web? As they say, the rest is history.
What is ActiveCaptain?
How did you come up with the concept?
Who is the target market?
What is ActiveCaptain Mobile?
What’s in the future from ActiveCaptain?
Five years from now, what will the next big thing in electronics be?
What’s your background and expertise in technology?
What is your background in boating?
What are your cruising plans?
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