Boat Cards: How to Create Effective and Unique Ones
You meet dozens of amazing people while out sailing, but remembering their names and boats? Nearly impossible. That’s where boat cards come in.
These cards have saved me many times – helping me remember cruisers’ names, their boat, and even where we first met (if I had the foresight to jot it down!).
We made up boat cards before we sailed away, and I made a few mistakes. I’ll share what went wrong and how you can avoid these mistakes. I’ll go over what is best to include on your boat card, what not to include, my go-to tool for designing eye-catching cards easily, and give you some unique ideas to make yours stand out.
Why Every Cruiser Needs a Boat Card
There are a lot of cruisers out here sailing and living on their sailboats in the USA, Bahamas, Caribbean and the world! Keeping up with who you met and where can start to be a challenge.
With the right information on them, boat cards are an easy way to share contact information with fellow cruisers.
It’s also fun to go back through the boat cards you have collected over the months and years, and reminisce on all of the fun and cool people you have met while out cruising.
We have collected over 100 boat cards from fellow cruisers in our first 2 years of sailing.
From a practical point, it’s much easier to share a boat card with someone, whether you are on the dinghy dock, at the beach, or cruising around in the anchorage, than to type all their information into your phone.
It also helps that most people include pictures of themselves and their boats as well!
Best Information to Include on Boat Cards
So what should you include on your custom boat contact card? Well, that is up to you when you design your card. You can include as much or as little information as you would like to share with others. Here is what I would recommend including:
- Boat Name
- Photo of Boat
- Your Name(s)
- Photo of you (and your pets)
- Contact Info:
- Phone numbers
- Emails
- Social Media Links
- Website
- Extra Space for Writing in Info
1. Boat Name and Photo of Boat
It is a boat card after all! Be sure to include your boat name and a photo of your boat. This is so helpful when you are going through boat cards looking for a particular boat you run into again and want to recall the boat owner’s names and/or contact them.
Another great bit of information to include is your boat’s make/model on the card. We have both a photo of Pelagia and mention that she is a 1998 Hunter 450 Passage on our card.
2. Your Names and Photos of You
Ah yes, of course you will include your names (and the name of your pet too if you are sailing with a dog or cat), but don’t forget a picture of you guys.
It’s great to recall a name with a face, and going back and seeing pictures of those that have turned into great friends.
3. Contact Information
This is where you can add as much or as little as you would like. Some cruisers aren’t comfortable with sharing their personal emails or their phone numbers, while others share that and more. It’s totally up to you, but be sure to include some way for people to reach out to you.
- Email address
- Phone numbers
- Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, etc.)
- Website
4. Extra Space for Writing Information
This is where I messed up when making our boat cards – I didn’t include any extra space for writing on the card.
When we had our boat cards made, I knew we would be changing our phone numbers, so I left that off our cards. Now, when we hand out boat cards, I have no good place to write in our phone numbers. And, others have no good place to write notes about where they met us, etc.
What NOT to Include on Boat Cards
While you can include anything you want, what I don’t see often on boat cards includes the following:
1. Home Address
A home address, or even home port is not necessary on a boat card. You are typically on the move and space is limited on what you can include on your card.
2. Personal Information
I see a mixture of email addresses that are personal (we have our personal gmail addresses on ours) but also a boat email address (boatname@gmail.com). This is a good option if you are not comfortable sharing your personal email.
3. Too Much Information
Don’t put so much information on your card that you have to reduce the font size, as it will become hard to read.
As I mentioned before, you want to include extra white space so either you or your friends can write in additional information.
Boat Card Ideas
While simple is best, there are ways to design your boat card to make it stand out in the crowd.
- Consider a vertical card instead of a horizontal card
- Print on both sides of your card
- Logo – Do you have a cool design with your boat name? Be sure to include it on your card!
- Website – Do you have a website like a blog, or maybe a side business? This is a great way to promote your stuff!
- QR Code – A QR Code can allow people to scan the code with their phone’s camera and take them directly to your website, social media page, or wherever you want to send them. You can make a QR code for free to add to your card.
- Durable Coating – Consider a durable coating when getting your cards printed. We live on boats, and there is a good chance they could get wet. However, you also want something you can write on, so consider this too! I have seen thin paper boat cards, and they don’t last long.
- Boat Stickers – In addition to boat cards, stickers are a great way to promote your brand. I’m seeing more and more stickers in bars and restaurants in the Bahamas and Caribbean, especially from the younger cruisers.
Where to Design and Print your Boat Cards
There are many places online that you can use to design and print your cards, such as Canva, Vista Print, Moo and Zazzle.
We used Canva to design and print our cards using their templates, and I highly recommend them. First of all, you only need the free version! Canva is also very user friendly with a lot of design options, and you can both design and print right from their website.
What Will Your Boat Card Look Like?
Boat cards are an efficient and fun way to help keep in touch with your fellow cruisers. We have accumulated many cards over the years and it’s fun to grab a cup of coffee, sit in the cockpit and look back on our travels.
Do you already have a boat card? What are the best boat card designs you have seen? Tag us on Facebook and Instagram with a picture of your boat card; we’d love to see it!
