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Articles

Creative Director Stefan Sojka is one of Australia’s most published freelance writers and commentators on Web business and Internet culture.  He has been a regular monthly columnist for the award-winning NETT magazine for the past three years.  Previous roles included 7 years writing for internet.au magazine and the Australian Net Directory. He continues to contribute to a number of blogs and publications.

Watersports

Monday, April 05, 2004

By Stefan Sojka

Name of Site: DiveOz
URL: www.diveoz.com.au
Load Time: Normal
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: If scuba diving gets your outboard motor running, there's a good chance DiveOz is going to become your homepage. The site has everything: a beginners 'Learning to Scuba Dive' section, discussion forums, a 'buy, swap & sell' directory, plenty of info, events, news, links, galleries and plenty more. Interestingly, DiveOz is also the home of the new 'sport' of Australian Extreme Underwater Ironing! "What the heck is that?" you ask. Well it's the act of taking an ironing board and electric iron (minus the electricity of course) and setting it all up, somewhere interesting on the bottom of the ocean and taking the photos to prove you did it. I guess all that pressure really does play with your mind! - SS

Name of Site: Penrith Whitewater Stadium
URL: www.penrithwhitewater.com.au
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: It's funny that the Olympics seem like they just happened yesterday, when in reality Athens 2004 is just around the corner. If you want to relive some of the excitement or are just keen to try paddling about in the foam, then Penrith's Olympic artificial white water stadium in Sydney may be the place for you. The site lets you view activities, prices, learn about upcoming events and download wallpapers to get you in the mood. So if you want to try something adventurous, get a group of friends or go solo, kayak style... Aquaphobe that I am, I'll stick to paddling about in the bathtub. - SS

Name of Site: ModernBoating
URL: www.modernboating.com.au
Load Time: Medium
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: Media Player, QuickTime
Review: It was difficult to accept that this was a mere addendum to the newsstand magazine, more an entire web-zine in itself. The lads at the helm here have hoisted the spinnaker and let the wind billow the content to cup-winning extremes. Videos galore, a forum, a well-stocked shop, boat tests, articles and editorials - archived and constantly updated - will have you basking on the top deck and surveying the land ahoy with smug sea-loving pride. You're going to subscribe to the mag in a fit of guilt at how much you got here for free. The very model of a modern boating magazine. - SS

Name of Site: Australian Swimming
URL: www.ausswim.telstra.com.au
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: Windows Media Player
Review: While most water sports require you to have some kind of equipment, real tightwads can always go in for the cheapest water sport around: swimming. And if you need some inspiration to get you started you can check out this site, home of the national swimming team and full of info on the squad, their records, events they're participating in, audio interviews and video footage of swim meets. The whole site made me feel quite patriotic and strangely enough I experienced a strong urge to change my phone over to Telstra, but I can't think why. - SS

Name of Site: Cyber Diver News Network
URL: www.cdnn.info
Load Time: Normal
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: If you're after a good honest source of cutting edge information about diving, you can't go past CDNN. This site is huge! With tons of news through it's UES Global Online Publishing parent (who run some 30 publications around the world), in depth articles on things like 'Shark baiting' and 'Night Diving', Travel tips, Scuba Polls, Forums, newsletters and lots more reading material, it's the sort of site that you can get lost in for hours. So if you have some time to kill grab a snorkel and go find Nemo! - SS

Name of Site: RecFish Australia
URL: www.recfishoz.com
Load Time: Scorching
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: This is the peak national body for sporting and recreational fishing in Australia, so you'd better bookmark it, even though at the time of writing it is sadly a little too under construction. I can see that the site is mapped out ready to become a major resource for fishing boating enthusiasts across the land, with resources, habitat info, environmental info, likns, R & D and all kinds of other things, but at this stage it seems the Webmaster has, yes, you guessed it - gone fishin'! I'm sure he'll be back soon with a bumper catch, a few that got away, and the renewed enthusiasm to throw this site into the 'big pond' and hook a few more visitors. - SS

Name of Site: Waterways
URL: www.waterways.nsw.gov.au
Load Time: Medium
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: Bob Carr and Co. give you their portal to the rivers, harbours and seas around this fabulous country. Waterways Authority has a huge responsibility, managing these massive assets and all the activities that happen in and around the water. Safety, environment, mapping, licensing, mooring - the list goes on. Like any good government department, they have gone to a lot of effort to spend your tax dollars wisely on this site to provide you with all the information and help you need before setting sail. Now boating is not only good for you, it's good for the country. - SS

Name of Site:
URL: www.yachting.org.au
Load Time: Medium
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: If you want to get an idea of just how big Yachting is in this country just take a look at the site map here - gigantic! The yachting fraternity would be mightily proud of this site, providing everything they need, from race results and event calendars to a complete personalised portal - where the site knows your club, your preferences etc, and helps sort through the ocean of info for what you need. Whether you have a little dinghy or an America's Cup contender, this is your home when you're not out there catching the sea spray. - SS

Name of Site:
URL: www.safeboating.org.au
Load Time: Medium
Ease of Navigation: Walk in the Park
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: Sometimes its hard to remember, when you're out there kicking back in your skippers chair, knocking back a few cold ones after the slap up barby of the marlin you caught earlier, that boating can be a very hazardous past time. The ocean is an unforgiving mistress at times. Supported by a consortium of organisations, this site aims to arm you with all the safety know-how you will need, from pre-trip planning and preparation, to equipment guides and emergency response training. They have managed to make the site easy to use, friendly and appealing to all age groups so that everyone can benefit from being properly trained and aware of the safest ways to enjoy life at sea. Arr me hearties. - SS

Name of Site:
URL: www.lonelyplanet.com/theme/watersports/water_index.htm
Load Time: Medium
Ease of Navigation: Signposted
Plug Ins Required: None
Review: From those kind folks who bring you the ultimate and definitive tourist guide books, comes their little adventure guide to the best water sports across the globe. It is by no means a comprehensive guide, more a sampling of what the world has to offer - shark baiting, swimming, kyaking and white water rafting. Each theme is described in some detail then links are provided to the respective country in the guide-proper - the main LP site. Now your appetite is whet, it's time to get really wet. Start planning your adventure now - its not such a lonely planet after all, the world is full of fun crazed people just like you. - SS

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