Top Ten Sailing Blogs of 2007 - Nominations Requested

Dear Reader, I need your help. In a few weeks time I will publish the third of my annual lists of the top ten sailing blogs of the year. And I would like to hear your suggestions of which blogs should be included in the list for 2007.

I have a feeling that it will be tougher this year than ever before to select the top ten sailing blogs. This is why...

When I compiled the first such list for the Top Ten Sailing Blogs of 2005, it was comparatively easy. To be honest there weren't a huge number of sailing blogs around in 2005 and there were only a dozen or so that struck me as being of sufficient merit to warrant including as candidates for the top ten list.

Then in 2006 the number of sailing blogs increased dramatically, but even so there weren't too many high quality blogs that had been updated regularly for most of the year. I had to eliminate several blogs that would have been good enough to make the top ten list the previous year but, even so, I only had a relatively small list to whittle down to the winners in the race for Top Ten Sailing Blogs of 2006.

This year I have two kinds of problem...

Firstly the number of sailing blogs has mushroomed even more. I just can't keep up with them all. Every week I am discovering new sailing blogs and many of them are of a standard that would put them on the short list for last year's top ten. This is a good thing.

Secondly, it seems to me that the quality of the top few sailing blogs is now significantly higher than any of the blogs that made the top ten list last year. I could name three or four blogs that stand head and shoulders above the others, and set a standard comparable to the best professional sailing journalism in any medium. This is a good thing too.

But that leaves me with a quandary. I think I could easily name the Top Three Sailing Blogs of 2007. But my short list for the Top Ten would include forty or fifty names, and there are probably others of similar quality that I haven't even discovered yet.

So please help me. Let me know which sailing blog or blogs you think should be included in the list of Top Ten Sailing Blogs of 2007.

And another question. Here are the criteria I applied to decide whether to consider a blog for the top ten list last year...

• It must be mainly about sailing.
• It must have been in existence for most of the year.
• It must be updated regularly.
• It must be actually worth reading... it's interesting, entertaining, educational, funny, whatever... something grabs you about it.
• The writer engages his or her audience, allows comments on the blog, responds to them, makes comments on other sailing blogs, is part of the community.

I think the first four are no-brainers. But what about the fifth one? Should I consider "blogs" for the top ten list if they don't allow comments? Are newsy websites that don't allow any feedback from readers even real blogs at all?

Please let me know what you think. I am all ears.