New days ahead for the Log, oh buoy!

MIKE WHITEHEAD

Ahoy.

The breaking news in the boating community is that the Log

Newspaper was purchased by the Duncan McIntosh Company. You will

recognize the name, as Duncan McIntosh has produced two annual boat

shows in Newport Harbor for decades and is the publisher of Sea and

Go Boating magazines.

The Log Newspaper was founded in 1971, and the paper is the oldest

and largest boating newspaper in California.

“The rumors are true,” Duncan wrote in an e-mail to me. “We took

over [Sept. 1]. Everyone, with the exception of Dan [Teckenoff,

former publisher], is remaining with the publication.”

The Log has three editions, for San Diego, Los Angeles-Orange

counties and Northern California. I am eager to see the direction

that Duncan will lead the newspaper with his vast experience in

publishing and boating.

The Log has a website at https://www.thelog.com and Sea magazine’s

website is https://www.seamag.com. While at the Sea magazine’s

website, be sure to click on the September issue and read my boat

review of the Navigator 57 Rival. Here is a teaser quote of mine from

the article: “Navigator’s new 57 Rival handled well throughout our

sea trial, turning in a solid performance -- and the amenities are

comfortable and well thought out in their design. I found the Rival

to be a well-built boat that I would gladly take around Point

Conception, without fear.”

TIP OF THE WEEK

Do you know about National Weather Service’s Dial-A-Buoy service?

I think that this is great for boaters, and I give Dial-A-Buoy two

thumbs up.

I have mentioned several times in my previous articles about the

weather buoys stationed along the Pacific coastline and how you can

access the buoy’s data via the Internet. These buoys report the wind

and sea conditions, updated hourly, and you can also read the history

of the data. History comes in handy when you tell me that you were in

15-foot seas last week, and the buoy’s history report lists 2-foot

seas with no wind.

I use these online reports to help predict the sea conditions,

especially when I am cruising north around Point Conception, located

on the coast between Santa Barbara and Morro Bay. The only problem is

that most boats do not have on-board Internet access to read the

online reports. Therefore, you are not able to check current

conditions, and most importantly, you do not know the current

conditions when you are on a multiple-day voyage.

Well, now we have Dial-A-Buoy, which you can call from your

cellphone to hear the reports from the mechanical sounding voice. The

same information that you would read online, you can hear on your

phone. So, you are cruising up the coast, and two days out you want

to know what the conditions are at Point Arena -- then just use

Dial-A-Buoy.

“Dial-A-Buoy is a logical extension to the Internet,” National

Data Buoy Center’s David Gilhousen said. “It will allow the mariner a

way to get the conditions while offshore, at the marina or away from

the Internet.”

Just dial (228) 688-1948 from any touch-tone or cellphone, and

follow the directions that will prompt you for the buoy’s station

identifier. I recommend writing down the five-digit identifiers that

you can read at https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov, or you can hear a listing

of buoys, including the ability to enter a latitude and longitude for

the closest stations.

I am constantly being asked for the Internet sites that I use for

my predictions. I use these two Internet buoy sites: Current Combined

NOAA and CDIP Buoy Summary at https://facs.scripps.edu/surf/

buoylist.html and Southern California Buoy Data at

https://facs.scripps.edu/surf/ socal.html. The combined summary lists

stations from the Bering Sea to Guam, and the Southern California

site shows buoys south from Diablo Canyon to the Mexican border. I

augment this with forecast reports from https:// www.nws.noaa.gov/om/

marine/zone/west/westmz.htm and locally from

https://www.nwsla.noaa.gov.

Recognized as the No. 1 boating talk radio show in the nation,

“Capt. Mike Whitehead’s Boathouse Radio Show” airs every Saturday

from noon to 1 p.m. on KCBQ-AM (1170). You can join me, Chandler Bell

and Eric Hovland on my radio show by calling the listener line at

(888) 344-1170, and you can listen worldwide at https://

www.BoathouseRadio.com. Let me know of your boating news or

information.

* MIKE WHITEHEAD is the Pilot’s boating and harbor columnist. Send

him your harbor and marine-related thoughts and story suggestions by

e-mail to mike@boathousetv.com or visit https://www.boathousetv.com.