Yottie mags are getting boring what do you want to read about?

Although it is our dinner time, I HAVE to come in on this thread!

For starters, I love reading Miranda Delmar Morgan's contributions. How dare you criticise her (just because she is a woman?).

I enjoy ( positive approach) the articles on the 'learning curve'. In fact I have some thoughts of my own on this subject which hopefully will amount to an article (that you can all ignore).

I love articles about cruising and I think there are too many about the east and Welsh coasts, because at this time I have no intention of going there. The restaurants and wines are far better on the North French coast in my opinion.

Also, when something crops up on Cornish Maid, I usually search through the mags to find a relevant article which I wouldn't have read at the time, but stored for future use. Example; in May this year there was an article on window restoration, which has suddenly become of priority to us now!

I can keep mags for up to a year before the untidyness drives me to ditch them.

I believe that although some articles in the 'usual suspect' mags aren't of interest at the time you first see them, you can never tell what might crop up later.

For people like me the mags are a very useful resource of information, but not quite as good as the forum!
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Re: What about a whole page for Scotland??

How come one of the biggest and growing sailing areas in the country gets to share with Wales and Ireland in the pathetic 'Round The Coasts' section?

Looks to me like YM needs a new Scottish correspondent . . .

- Nick
 
Excuse me madam but I've never heard of Miranda Delmar Morgan, much less criticised her.

I note your interest in "cruising"and the fact that you have no intention of visiting Wales and I feel a mixture of regret and relief.

Nonetheless I hope you enjoy your Cornish Maid and I'm sorry to have interuppted your dinner............. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
I have bemoaned the Solent slant so often on here, do keep up! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I am glad I was not the only one who wondered why there is such a black hole in reporting of the Irish Sea, it is not only Wales but the East coast or Ireland too.

Does anyone know how many times Cherbourg has appeared in the places to go in YM or PBO?

Every time my copy arrives, the front sheet advertises to manage your account on line and I think this is the month I will cancel subs. But I still have not, maybe living in hope that someone from the IPC marine floor will get off their arse and look further than the Solent.

I would even appreciate articles on Cornwall and Scotland, in fact anything not SE.

It is either an in joke at IPC or they really are this blinkered!
 
Are you still sailing more than motoring. It was nice to meet you that afternoon, on a yacht! Isn't it time you bought one and stopped sitting on the fence so to speak!

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But then you would have to have it on a marina off the Solent and buy fender socks!
 
As a Solent Sailor I would like to complain about the huge bias towards the River Hamble. I wonder where the Editor sails from?

As for Gipsy Moth what a waste of money that refit was. Chichester said is was a pig & I reckon he should know!

Martin
 
Zefender,

Suspect Cardinal_mark was being just a tinsy winsy bit sarcastic there /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

me... I would like to see far more articles that are about how to sail my boat better.... more handling stuff, trimming, navigating, setting up, and general technique stuff....how about some stuff about advanced navigation... perhaps a series on astro nav?.....

PLEASE.... drop the endless charter articles... we mainly can't afford them, and if we could, we've got our own boats, and would actually quite like to use them....

And forget bluewater letters... who cares about Fred helpfully swapping charts for the outer moogly islands and the quality of the bananas in greater wimwam ........ again, we mainly all work, and we get a fortnight or perhaps if we are lucky a wee bit more, and thats our long haul annual trip....
 
[ QUOTE ]
me... I would like to see far more articles that are about how to sail my boat better.... more handling stuff, trimming, navigating, setting up, and general technique stuff....how about some stuff about advanced navigation... perhaps a series on astro nav?.....

[/ QUOTE ]

Seconded!
 
Fender socks? is that so people dont crash into yer ankles, or is it socks with pictures of guitars on?? Now I'm really confused!

Done quite a lot of sailing over the summer, mainly on board Galatea. We had a good run over to Arklow / Wicklow in July and done plenty of jaunts round St Tud's, down to Barmouth and regatta racing.

In fact my little mobo has just stayed on the mooring gathering barnacles most of the summer, the odd exception being when we go out and terrorise the local bass and mackeral population!

The problem with hauling myself off the fence and into a proper boat is knowing what to buy...... and being able to afford it!

Meanwhile it makes sense to freeload (er crew) with someone else and gain experience.
 
I tend to get PBO YM and Sailing Today most months - I like the articles on secondhand boats - for me a lot of the enjoyment from the mags is about dreaming about the next boat - which will NEVER be a new one for me. Whenever I "decide" on what I am buying next I just hunt out all the old mags and re-read all the articles until................ I "decide" to buy another /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

And at least with secondhand boats the testers can be a bit more honest, with no advertisers to offend.

I enjoyed the series "One man and his boat" one of the mags (I firget which!) did a few years back - where someone shows of his pride and joy, including the "improvements" which you can either admire / or giggle at /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I kinda like Libby Purves - but my enjoyment of her articles has lessened since I started reading some of her other stuff in the Newspapers.............. but I guess not really the topic of here /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
LIKES/WOULD LIKES
Learning from experience/sailing skills*
New and used boat tests (doesn't matter which, as today's new is tomorrow's used and therefore I might buy it 10 years down the line)
Gear tests
Letters
Confessions
Libby Purves
Tom Cunliffe
Dave Selby (Mad about the Boat) - give him more space!
Chandlery, For sale and new gear ads (which I do actually read)
Real-life cruises - especially more on either (a) AWB's or (b) smaller, older yachts, reflecting what many people realistically own and sail: the one with the young chap who sailed round Britain in his Hunter was good, let's have some more of those
The realities of yacht-sharing (give Yacht Fractions a call and they'll refer you to/mailshot some customers)
Tech articles (I'll never do half the things you cover, but at least I'll gain some insight and be able to talk to the yard about it). Whie you're at, do I have to use International varnish on my brightwork or can I just pick up the 'normal' stuff from B&Q? By the way, that cheap cuprinol really brought up my rubbing strake well...
More on re-fits/re-furbs of older boats (and no I don't mean the latest £50K professional refit on a Classic Boat or Gypsy Moth's restoration)
Retro-fitting electronics, fridges, deck gear
Are Walker Logs still relevant - carry one even today?
Mooring/anchoring way from the crowd in popular areas (e.g. Owers Lake)
First time to the Continent - here's someone in a small/old boat to tell you how it went and either scare you silly or give you the the confidence to try
Head-to-head group tests of secondhand boats (in fairness there was one recently)
Head-to-head group tests of new boats (now THAT would make the advertisers think...but car/bike mags do it all the time)
Comparative marine reviews in selected areas - price/service, etc (get your readership to fill in voting forms)
The Best & Worst marine service companies (as above - bike magazines do this annually and compare results from one year to the next)
Britain's 'average' sailor - that was fun, let's do it again next year!
Transporting your boat to the Med for a season or two (£2k each way for my pocket cruiser) - is it worth it or too much hassle?
The Insurers Wouldn't Pay Up! (canvass the readership for stories)
Fastnet Force 10 revisited 30 years on - with interviews

DISLIKES
Bl***y marina handling articles!!!! (I cock it up all the time, but in 10 years I've only ever drifted on to anything once, we had the roving fender ready and I bought the guy a drink to say 'sorry for disturbing you'. I won't be carrying your mag open at the page to help me at the relevant time and I've no hope of simply remembering what you said because I'm utterly confused in my mind between all the techniques - some of them bonkers - that you insisted on printing. Anyway, I bet your boat doesn't handle the same way as mine.)
Evan Starzinger: I'm really sorry Evan, you may be a nice guy, but you've been on the podium for too long now and you're a bit too 'professional' and blue-water to have much of relevance to say to me. There aren't any reef passes in the Solent, unless you want to stretch the definition to include the Needles Channel. I liked it better when people who were not making a living out of journalism used to tell hair-raising tales of peril somewhere in the Irish Sea and then vanish back into comfortable obscurity while someone else took up the cudgels the following month)
Blue-water diary (I don't care who you 'bumped into' by chance in Bora Bora. They may be your friends but I probably wouldn't like them. I went there once by the way: stayed in a proper hotel, chartered a nicer yacht than my wife will ever let me buy, then came home and resumed my life. Your brains are atrophying out there and you sound increasingly like some people I know who retired too young to Chiantishire)
Gypsy Moth: please, please stop - I've got the message, I think it's great what you've done, really
Bl***y marina handling articles!!!!
The same article on Southampton patrol in YM and PBO: stop being twerps and talk to each other! I'm in a competitive sector too - but I still talk to the competition and find out what they're up to. People don't like buying the same thing twice. In fact it makes them angry and utlimately harms your business.
Bl***y marina handling articles!!!
 
I really dont like the new boat reviews. They seem so bland and inconclusive with nothing close to a controversial opinion. The series in one mag where they had someone looking to buy a specific type of boat and took them round 3 or 4 boats and then compared them was more interesting.

The only "inside back cover" worth reading is Confessions. PBO is just so unfunny and the ST column has to much "is it me, or ...." type stuff.

It would be good if someone could produce one complete "yacht market" magazine and kill off the classified sections from all 3 sailing magazines.

The chandelry stuff is a waste of paper these days when almost all catalogues and price lists are available online. They just need to orint something to get you to their web site. No need to list loads and loads of kit.

I like the "lessons learnt" type articles. It gets you thinking, although if you read too many of them you start to be scared of getting in the boat at all let alone leaving the marina.

The DIY stuff is good, but of course its hit and miss because you might not want to do that or have a boat that you could do that to.
 
Have you seen the tests in the French mags? Much more informative, and horror of horrors, actually test the sailing abilities.
 
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