Back in early 2008, there were only four passable online cruising wikis – boater-maintained, real-time electronic bulletin boards to exchange information about anything from fouled mooring buoys to new marinas. Of those, only two really achieved the goal of allowing skippers to help other skippers: ActiveCaptain and MyCruisingLog (read my reviews here).

Nearly two years later, have things improved? After conducting some new tests, I'd say "maybe."

This time around I used a new navigational hazard to rate the competition: The "hazard" was the removal of the old Union Oil pier that stuck out into Puget Sound from Edwards Point, just south of Edmonds, Wash. The Washington State Ferries removed the pier in February to open the views.

ROSE POINT COASTAL EXPLORER 2009The Union Oil pier still exists on the charts, even though it's been removed -- a hazard for me.THE HAZARD

And that's fine with me – except that the pier is still on all the charts, and I relied upon it as a navigational landmark. When approaching Edmonds from the south, after clearing Point Wells, I routinely aimed just slightly to port of the end of the pier, knowing this will take me just outside the shoal area between the two points.

I could give it a wider berth, of course, but why bother? Sticking close to shore keeps me out of the ferry lanes, and puts me right along the breakwater for the Port of Edmonds marina.

Removing the pier constitutes a hazard for me. Or at least it did in May, the first time I cruised to Edmonds since the pier had been removed. I mistook the marina breakwater for the end of the pier and aimed slightly to its left. After a few minutes, it dawned on me that something didn't seem quite right; checking all my navigational instruments told me that I was running (at full throttle) in about five feet of water, much closer to shore than I intended. Huh? Where the heck was the pier?

So now I want to report this change to fellow mariners. Here's what I want to communicate: "The old Union Oil pier extending west from Edwards Point was dismantled and removed in February 2009. Virtually no trace of it remains visible from the water."

ACTIVE CAPTAINActive Captain continues to be the strongest competitor in the wiki field. My grade: A-.I tried to update all of the cruising wikis I could find, and although I succeeded in every case, the overall usability and utility of the sites varies quite a bit. Here's the play-by-play:

THE SOLUTIONS

ActiveCaptain: It came as no surprise that I was successful in adding a note to the "Interactive Cruising Guidebook" at ActiveCaptain, because it was the strongest wiki 18 months ago, and they have continued to make improvements ever since.

However, I was a little disappointed that not all of the feature categories were available. To accomplish my goal, I had to "misuse" the inlet category, while the appropriate category would have been "hazard or warning," or perhaps "other." Both of those categories, however, are unavailable, producing a note saying "The category you selected for a new local knowledge marker is not yet available." But the integrated text and map search functionality is intuitive and relatively easy to use. My grade: A-.

ACTIVE CAPTAINWhile Active Captain is good, not all the features I wanted were available.

MyCruisingLog: I couldn't find an existing entry for Edwards Point, Edmonds or Port of Edmonds. The site uses the familiar MediaWiki software"”the same interface Wikipedia uses"”so it was easy to create a new entry. I created one for Edwards Point. Although I was successful, I am disappointed that MyCruisingLog hasn't gained more momentum. My edit is the only one made to the entire site for the past 30 days. My grade: D

YACHTPALSYachtPals: This site features a Google Maps view allowing you to find entries using the map as well as by searching for text.

CaptainWiki: I found an entry for Edwards Point, complete with a Google map inset. I added my comment and saved successfully. It was a bit annoying that the Edwards Point article included an almost empty article template; before I added my comment, the article consisted largely of irrelevant headings containing no content. But, because it uses the familiar MediaWiki software, I fixed it.

Still, a lot of content at CaptainWiki consists of empty templates and boilerplate. There is a good deal of genuine content, some of it recent, so CaptainWiki is still in the game. And, the Google map insets are helpful. But the lack of full map integration is disappointing. My grade: C.

[IMAGE: p5]

CruiserLog: This site is also based on the MediaWiki engine. I found an entry for Seattle, but that's as close as I got. CruiserLog content seems to be very thin for my cruising region. Once I had registered for an account, I was able to create a new page for Edwards Point. There is content and recent activity here, so somebody must be using it, although the lack of a map-based interface is limiting. My grade: C.

YachtPals: This site features a Google Maps view allowing you to find entries using the map as well as by searching for text. The search and navigational interface isn't quite as smooth as I would like; I got lost a few times before I figured out how to find what I wanted. The editing environment is unfamiliar, but it seems to work well once you figure it out. My grade: B.

YACHTPALSYachtPals, my grade: B

There are lots of options out there, but in my opinion only a couple exploit the full potential of today's technology. I think map integration is crucial; geographic content should be presented geographically. It's interesting that the two sites that feature geographical content-navigation interfaces are also the only two that do not rely on Wikipedia's MediaWiki engine.

This product is still young, however, and even the leaders have room for improvement. I encourage you to take all of them for a test drive. Look up places you're familiar with, and when you spot something that should be revised, update it.