View source for Boatnerd

{{Copy edit|date=April 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = boatnerd
| headquarters = [[Port Huron, Michigan]], U.S.
| region = [[Great Lakes]]
| website = https://boatnerd.com/
}}
The '''boatnerd''' corporation is a registered not-for-profit corporation intended to spread information about vessels that ply the [[North American Great Lakes]].<ref name="Fwdailynews2013-03-13" /><ref name="BoatnerdCampaign" />
== Services ==
The organization holds annual festivals, at sites of interest to those interested in maritime commerce on the Great Lakes.
''The Globe and Mail'' profiled boatnerd when the 2008 festival was held in a shipyard in [[Port Colborne, Ontario]], where the [[Calumet (ship, 1929)|''Calumet'']], an 80-year-old lake freighter was being scrapped.
According to ''The Globe and Mail'' the site's volunteers often report breaking news prior to its announcement by official authorities. ''The Globe and Mail'' quoted a volunteer who described how, while professional mariners kidded the volunteers, they obviously monitored it, because they could count on regular mariners promptly informing them when they had made a mistake.
The organization is large enough to maintain an office in [[Port Huron, Michigan]], overlooking the confluence of the St Clair and [[Black River (St. Clair River tributary)|Black River]]s.<ref name="Acheson" /><ref name="BoatNerdHQ" />
The site went online in 1995, and became a registered not for profit corporation in 2006, under the name ''Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping Online''.<ref name="BoatnerdCampaign" />
The organization provides unusual prizes through fund-raising raffles.<ref name="BoatNerdTrip" />
Various lake freighters were built with an "owner's suite".  These suites are rarely used today, but the organization has been able to convince shipping companies to make cruises on board a working lake freighter, in the owner's suite, available to donors.  76 donors have won Great Lake freighter cruises.
== Recognition ==
When [[Acheson Ventures]] provided space for a headquarters for the organization in their Maritime Center overlooking the [[St Clair River]], they called boatnerd ''"the most widely-used website for Great Lakes maritime information."''<ref name="Acheson" />
Reporters consider the boatnerd site reliable enough that they cite or quote it by name in their articles.<ref name="Netnewsledger2013-11-09" /><ref name="BuffaloNews2010-09-12" /><ref name="ToledoFreePress2014-09-26" /><ref name="DailyTribune" />
The organization was profiled by ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' in 2008.<ref name="GlobeAndMail2008-09-26" />
Travel writer [[Bob Boughner]], reporting in the ''[[Chatham Daily News]]'', in December 2014, that ''"The average person, like myself, would have no idea where the ships were headed or what they were carrying if it wasn't for a relatively new organization headquartered in Port Huron, Mich., known as BoatNerd.com."''<ref name=ChathamDailyNews2014-12-05/>
==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=ChathamDailyNews2014-12-05>{{cite news |url = http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/2014/12/05/travel-writer-finds-contentment-on-st-clair-river |title = Travel writer finds contentment on St. Clair River 3 |work = [[Chatham Daily News]] |author = Bob Boughner |date = December 5, 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150815164830/http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/2014/12/05/travel-writer-finds-contentment-on-st-clair-river |archive-date = August 15, 2015 |url-status = dead }}</ref>
<ref name=GlobeAndMail2008-09-26>{{cite news |url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/nerds-ahoy/article1350013/ |title = Nerds ahoy |work = [[The Globe and Mail]] |author = Patrick White |date = September 26, 2008 |location = Toronto |archive-date = November 21, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131121030156/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/nerds-ahoy/article1350013/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name=BoatnerdCampaign>{{cite news |url = http://www.boatnerd.com/501/default.htm |title = Campaign for boatnerd |publisher = Boatnerd |archive-date = May 9, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130509163620/http://www.boatnerd.com/501/default.htm |url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name=BoatNerdHQ>{{cite news |url = http://www.boatnerd.com/about/worldHQ/default.htm |title = World Headquarters at Vantage Point, Port Huron, Michigan |work = Boatnerd |access-date = November 21, 2013 |archive-date = May 9, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130509134229/http://www.boatnerd.com/about/worldHQ/default.htm |url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name=BoatNerdTrip>{{cite news |url = http://www.boatnerd.com/trips/ |title = Cruise the Great Lakes on a Working Freighter |work = Boatnerd |access-date = November 21, 2013 |archive-date = September 7, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130907015511/http://www.boatnerd.com/trips/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name=Acheson>{{cite news |url = http://www.achesonventures.com/MaritimeCenter.aspx |title = Visit the Maritime Center at Vantage Point! |publisher = [[Acheson Ventures]] |access-date = November 21, 2013 |archive-date = July 28, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130728170846/http://achesonventures.com/MaritimeCenter.aspx |url-status = dead }}</ref>
<ref name=Fwdailynews2013-03-13>{{cite news |url = http://www.fwdailynews.com/archives/boat-nerd-reveals-childhood-obsession/article_19d4c2b2-39c6-5ba1-a191-d8e1caf58b47.html |title = Boat nerd reveals childhood obsession |work = [[Fort Wayne Daily News]] |first = Jeff |last = Jones |date = March 13, 2013 |archive-date = April 10, 2014 |archive-url = https://archive.today/20140410052820/http://www.fwdailynews.com/archives/boat-nerd-reveals-childhood-obsession/article_19d4c2b2-39c6-5ba1-a191-d8e1caf58b47.html |url-status = dead }}</ref>
<ref name=Netnewsledger2013-11-09>{{cite news |url = http://www.netnewsledger.com/2013/11/09/lake-superior-storm-claimed-edmund-fitzgerald/ |title = Lake Superior Storm Claimed Edmund Fitzgerald: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald |work = [[netnewsledger]] |first = James |last = Murray |date = November 9, 2013 |archive-date = November 21, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131121030213/http://www.netnewsledger.com/2013/11/09/lake-superior-storm-claimed-edmund-fitzgerald/ |url-status = live }}</ref>
<ref name=BuffaloNews2010-09-12>{{cite news |url = http://www.buffalonews.com/business/article187652.ece |title = Tough times for Great Lakes shipping |work = [[Buffalo News]] |first = Mary |last = Kunz Goldman |date = September 12, 2010 |access-date = November 25, 2013 |archive-date = September 23, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100923053046/http://www.buffalonews.com/business/article187652.ece |url-status = dead |df = mdy-all }}</ref>
<ref name=ToledoFreePress2014-09-26>{{cite news |url = http://www.toledofreepress.com/2014/09/26/maumee-river-busy-with-new-project-freighter-action/ |title = Maumee River busy with new project, freighter action |work = [[Toledo Free Press]] |first = Don |last = Lee |date = September 26, 2014 |location = [[Toledo, Ohio]] |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141110111019/http://www.toledofreepress.com/2014/09/26/maumee-river-busy-with-new-project-freighter-action/ |archive-date = November 10, 2014 |access-date = January 1, 2015 |url-status = dead }}</ref>
<ref name=DailyTribune>{{cite news |url = http://www.dailytribune.com/20100425/despite-the-name-this-website-is-for-anyone-but-nerds |title = Despite the name, this website is for anyone but nerds |work = Daily Tribune |date = April 25, 2010 |access-date = June 22, 2015 }}</ref>
}}
==External links==
* [http://boatnerd.com/ Boat Nerd website]
[[Category:Water transportation in North America]]
[[Category:Non-profit organizations based in Michigan]]