From "what" to "why"...get the answers here Frequently Asked Questions

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Campbell's Guides to Cruising...
Feature Article for Cruisers
Tidbits for Cruising Texas' Coastal Waters
Hot Topics for Cruisers
Frequently Asked Questions about Campbell's Guides
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What is a cruising guide?
How are Campbell's Guides different?
Who uses Campbell's Guides?
Why don't your guides contain regular charts?
Are Campbell's Guides available in digital format?
Why advertise in Campbell's Guides?

What is a cruising guide?
A combination of popular definitions for these two words tell only one side of the story. “Cruising” may be described as “to travel for the sake of traveling,” while “guide” is taken to mean “something that provides a person with guiding information.”

For pleasure boating enthusiasts, cruising guides attempt to fill the informational void between commonly-used nautical charts (i.e., navigational maps) and what, in reality, exists at a particular site. The traditional presentation reads like a Coast Pilot for small boats, with the focus on depth, chart anomalies, harbor entry, safe anchorages and other navigation-related data, with some description of facilities to be found in or near harbors. The presentation is customarily text-laden, hopefully augmented with photographs and charts.

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How are Campbell’s Guides different?
Contemporary...Thorough...Complete. Campbell’s Guides address the needs of the spectrum of today’s boating public - fishermen, sailors, power boaters of all speeds - as well as those merely interested in exploring the waterfront. Sketches of harbors and anchorages, maps of waterfront communities from the land side showing the location of important services and points-of-interest, listings for lodging, restaurants, and shopping areas, as well as hundreds of telephone numbers and internet addresses provide the information required for the user to enjoy boating and touring a given area. Readers can begin to draw their own mental image of “being there” for planning and feel “at home” before they arrive.

"I found it, using Campbell's Guide to Cruising..."

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Who uses Campbell’s Guides?
The traditional users of cruising guides are those more affluent boaters whose vessels are large enough to sustain the owner’s lifestyle for days, weeks or months away from home waters. However, an increasingly diverse readership of fishermen, trailer-sailors, and boaters of all sorts has begun to discover how Campbell’s Guides can make every trip more enjoyable for each family member. From amusement parks and ATM’s to historical attractions and telephone numbers for pizza delivery, these guides are a complete resource. More and more readers are discovering their value for “land cruising” along the coast, as well as the usual boating excursions.

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Why don't your guides contain regular charts?
With pleasure boats, squeezing into a small package all the information needed to naviguess on the water would really be wonderful. However, out-of-date, tiny format charts are more of a hazard than a help. Our view is that a really good cruising guide bridges the gap between the best available charts and what you really see out there.

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Are Campbell’s Guides available in digital format?
They may be. We periodically publish a replica of the printed book using the Adobe Acrobat
tm PDF format; the same as the US Coast Guard on-line Notice to Mariners. The CD-ROM's are designed for IBM-PC compatible computers. E-mail to check the availability of a particular guide.

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Why advertise in Campbell’s Guides?
Many cruising guides shun advertising, claiming that it interferes with objectivity. In Campbell’s Guides there are no “ratings” or judgments (objective or subjective); we would rather present the facts and let the individual guide-user determine for themselves whether they would prefer one place over another. There are many subtleties to the choices each traveler makes.

We feel that advertising enriches the quality and quantity of information available to the reader. Additionally, the business that advertises has the opportunity to craft their own message, appealing to those it seeks to serve. Our guides offer the opportunity to place that message in the hands of buyers in a format that provides long-lasting, cost-effective advertising impact.

"I found it, using Campbell's Guide to Cruising..."

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Copyright 2005 The Walter Eden Company, Inc.