The ideal boating magazine

[Guest]

I'd like to ask all of you old hands what you'd like to see in your ideal sailing magazine. Here in the US the big ones are Cruising World and Sail. There's some good writing in them but I find them both pretty dull compared to Yachting Monthly and Practical Boat Owner, which I sometimes find in the big bookstores here.I like a good cruising story (I'm still at the dreaming stage) but the US mags all seem to share the same writers and all read the same. The know-how stuff gets pretty boring even to someone like me who hasn't sailed all that much. Reading some of the posts here I find that some of you think the Brit mags could be a lot better. What sort of stuff would you like to see in your ideal boating magazine?

 

[rogerroger]

I don't think there's an "ideal" sailing mag - I lean more towards the ones that give practical advice (Sailing Today & PBO) as I now have a boat. Before I bought the boat I used to buy Yachting World which deals in dreams, is a good read but of little practical use.

I think most of the sailing mags here respond well to the time of year - more focus on sailing skills and destinations in the summer and more on practical boat work etc in the winter.

Britain probably has the broadest range of magazines in the world. This is generally because of our crap weather we spend more time reading about stuff than actually doing it !

Check out http://www.magsuk.com/ - there's clearly a large demand for UK magazines overseas.


Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[AndrewB]

The grass is always greener

Could have said precisely the same from the other angle! I'm a YM regular, but its always a pleasure to get hold of a copy of Cruising World, which seems to have a quite different take from the British mags. Lats & Atts is also good.

 

[DoctorD]

I agree with you - it is bizzare that the US sailing world cannot produce magazines as good as Yachting Monthly, PBO, Yachting World etc. I think what the UK magazines have going for them are firstly good market segmentation. The writing is often more lively - though some of the best writers/experts appear on both sides of the Atlantic (esp Nigel Calder). The segmentation is more specific and sophisticated in the UK:

e.g. PBO for the smaller boat owner on a budget and much more likely to do their own work than the boatyard. Highest circulation.

YM for the owner of the 30 foot plus boat who cruises, probably is in a club and either has or is interested in RYA qualifications. Very widely read magazine.

YW for the owner of the 40 foot + sailboat (or with aspirations for same) and also covering the leading technical developments to a reasonable level

Yachts ansd Yachting for the racer

Sailing Today which is the newest and like a cross between PBO and YM. It seems to be successfully establishing a readership.

I like YM the best because it covers almost everything I am interested in from new boats, to practical tips, seamanship, maintenance advice, cruising experiences including lessons learned after mistakes (VERY important) and humourous sections. It misses on racing but I only occasionally race anyway.

For coverage of Volve Ocean Race, America's cup and the other big races, Yachting World and the web seem to be the best.

 

[ParaHandy]

The circulation figures (Kim cringe!) show that IPC mags about nags (eg Horse & Hound) more popular than boat (all types) mags in UK. In fact, circulation of lad mag FRONT is higher than the lot of 'em. That might explain cover of YM two editions ago?

Anyway, given so many boaters how come boat mag circulation so small?

 

[ToMo]

...Could it be the old British Rail syndrome?...you put the price up, so you get less passengers...so you put the price up...etc!
Yes Kim don't jump at me, I do know about magazine production costs....but there needs to be a fine balance, and the question always is: how to have balance right?
TôMö

 

[RobertMartin]

The ideal mag would not have pages and pages of adds for a start ( I know we need them or the mag would cost $500 a issue!! ). But some times PBO has more pages of adds then articles... I Live over in ozz, read the British, American and Aussie versions.. PBO is by far the best, in terms of the average hold onto as many pennies as possible yacht owner.....

Bobby aka Seawolf..
Freedom is the song of your soul..

 

[davidhand]

Should copy "Sports Illustrated" and have a swimsuit edition.

 

[Guest]

I'll vote for that, but for the safety conscious they should always be wearing lifejackets as well which might sort of spoil it.

 

[Guest]

I subscribe to Yachting Monthly and Classic Boat and the combination of the two magazines satisfies my boating interests.

YM provides provides the escapism in the form of long distance cruising articles, and the occasional review of a "wish i could afford that" dream cruiser. The technical articles are generally informative and useful, especially the Sailing Skills section. The On Watch/Around the Coast sections keep me in touch with the British Yachting scene, and throw in some humour from Libby Purves and The Confessional and you have a pretty well balanced boating magazine.

On the other hand, CB provides a more "intellectual" view of boating with an emphasis on traditional/wooden craft, and boating history. However, it is not a stuffy magazine and has some excellent cruising features, humour from Des Sleightholme, and very useful boat maintenance/handling snippets. So far CB has not been inundated with superfulous advertising, so it's pretty good value for money.