Doo Dah Net           

Dick and Judy run the Doo-Dah Net. Dick is One of Seven Cruiseheimers Net controllers.  FYI, this is not Dick's website, it's a courtesy page. 

The net opens with "Good afternoon.  It's beer o'clock." *
Then there's a call for any emergency traffic.
"St Jude" then delivers any traffic to boats from folks back home.
Next, position reports are taken from boats on passage.
And finally, boats are offered time to chat.
The Net usually wraps up by 1730, but may run longer during the heavy Spring/Fall migration seasons.

* in honor of John Atkinson, Bill Downing, Dennis Rings (see below)

If you would like the Doo-Dah Net to record your offshore passage position and/or act as a shore-side emergency contact, you are requested to file a Float Plan with "St Jude" prior to departure.

Download the Float Plan File.
Send it as an attachment to "St Jude" at richardcgiddings@yahoo.com.  
Or you may send the information without the form if you choose.

When Dick and Judy receive your Float Plan you'll get a confirmation e-mail with further emergency contact information, if requested.

Follow Up
Contact "St Jude" when you've reached your destination. This can be done through e-mail or on the Net.

by Kathi "Dyad"


You've notified the family that you're leaving Maine and are cruising to Florida.  "What a lovely four day trip," they're thinking. Then they call the Coast Guard on day six because they haven't heard from "Fluffy  the Boat" who they believe was due in Miami.

Communicate clearly and realistically with friends and family before you leave your home port. This is especially important if it's your first extended cruise.

Let them know in advance, whatever may apply. For instance:
...we plan to arrive at [destination] in approximately #weeks/months.
...we'll be making many stops between A and B.
...we'll send e-mail or call every [schedule]
...we'll keep our blog updated at [website]
...we'll check in regularly with Cruiseheimers and/or Doo Dah.

A fair number of "missing" boats are found safely anchored in harbors that were actually part of their cruising agenda.

There were four of us cruisers who got together on SSB at 1700.  We used this time to keep track of each other. John on "Escape" called it "beer o'clock" as he opened the Net. The four of us were:
John Atkinson on s/v "Escape"     Bill Downing on s/v "Cypraea"
Dennis Rings on s/v "Moxsun"      Dick Giddings on s/v "St Jude"

We talked about the display on the Icom 710, which three of us were operating. Particularly, we discussed the function of the little bars that lit, indicating incoming signal, strength, and output/modulation.

We were all familiar with "S" meters, but this gizinkus was a little foreign to us.  Bill started calling the bars "doo-dahs".  "You are giving me four doo-dahs" meant a pretty good signal.

When trying to come up with something socially acceptable to call us, Bill immediately tagged us "The Doo-Dah Net" and so it has been since 2002. ~Dick

"Judy is every much a part of Doo-Dah as I am, backing me up when I am A.W.A.Y. or other astrays from time to time, and also supporting me when the mass migrations begin, answering phone calls etc. She is an integral part of this radio operation, and everything else that goes into it."  ~Dick

Photo courtesy of Jimages

(also DIY: St Jude's embroidered boat logo)
.