Gordonmc
Active member
I was browsing through a pile of sailing mags from the 70's (mostly PBO but a few others in amongst) and it was noticable that while the boats were very familiar, the rest of the content was very different from today's.
Not suprisingly the style of adverts is dated. Birds in bikinis adorn most, even for products like boat covers and anti-fouling, seriously! Very un-PC. The Plastic Padding Marine ad was different... a bearded, man with a breton cap cradling a tube like a new born babe, grinning ridiculously. Then there is the full page colour ad for TBT anti-fouling extolling the virtues of this wonder product in various colours, easy to apply and safe as houses.
The chandlers ads prove an interesting scan. Many still had bits of ex-military kit such as mae wests and kapok filled bouyancy aids. This was the era of Seafix RDF and Decca. Far less emphasis in electronics, reflecting, perhaps, that if you went to sea in the boat you were expected to have basic sea-skills. One London based chandler filled six full pages of kit, classifieds style including seven models of "para-fin" cabin heaters.
The best indication of how far we have come is in the pics of clothing for boaters which for the most part look like orange paca-macs with Dylan hats. Lots of elastic and draw strings. What happened to Peter Storm?
The vast majority of the boat ads are for British marks, but a great proportion are home builds/finish. I guess this is an indication of the higher relative cost of boating 30 years ago.
The last observation is on the editorial which has more emphasis on practical issues and very little on product reviews. The writing style is far more varied with some articles containing a good sprinkling of wit while some readers' contributions frankly border on the pompous.
Does this reflect changes in the publication... or in sailing/boating generally?
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Not suprisingly the style of adverts is dated. Birds in bikinis adorn most, even for products like boat covers and anti-fouling, seriously! Very un-PC. The Plastic Padding Marine ad was different... a bearded, man with a breton cap cradling a tube like a new born babe, grinning ridiculously. Then there is the full page colour ad for TBT anti-fouling extolling the virtues of this wonder product in various colours, easy to apply and safe as houses.
The chandlers ads prove an interesting scan. Many still had bits of ex-military kit such as mae wests and kapok filled bouyancy aids. This was the era of Seafix RDF and Decca. Far less emphasis in electronics, reflecting, perhaps, that if you went to sea in the boat you were expected to have basic sea-skills. One London based chandler filled six full pages of kit, classifieds style including seven models of "para-fin" cabin heaters.
The best indication of how far we have come is in the pics of clothing for boaters which for the most part look like orange paca-macs with Dylan hats. Lots of elastic and draw strings. What happened to Peter Storm?
The vast majority of the boat ads are for British marks, but a great proportion are home builds/finish. I guess this is an indication of the higher relative cost of boating 30 years ago.
The last observation is on the editorial which has more emphasis on practical issues and very little on product reviews. The writing style is far more varied with some articles containing a good sprinkling of wit while some readers' contributions frankly border on the pompous.
Does this reflect changes in the publication... or in sailing/boating generally?
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