Sailing Rags

[Apex]

This has likely been posted before, but recent opines are always useful:
What sailing magazines do YOU read AND recommend?

I have subscriptions to Sail and Cruising World. It is always fun to dream about the latest models and the how to section (albeit short) of Sail magazine will keep my subscription current. Cruising world has some interesting reading of previous models, while the cruising life doesn't currently match my weekend sailing lifestyle. That free subscription is worth that, but due to difference in sailing life, I will not likely pay up for renewal.

I did just recently receive an advert for Practical Sailor: What do you like/dislike on that magazine? Would you continue to pay the $20 for bi-monthly?

 

[Chris Patterson]

I also get Sail, and have no reason why, I hate it. I think a customer actually paid for the scrip and put one of my addresses on it just to make me mad. It strikes me as an 8 dollar sales brochure for goofy boats I don't like, and stories about 16 year old girls sailing around the world, financed by mommy and daddy so their name ends up inna rag. Sometimes it will actually end up in my 'in' box, I flip through it, loudly profane the responsible party, and throw it across the floor of the office. Fantasy.

ProBoat. This wouldn't appeal to most, just the truly sick. So I love it. Builders tips and tricks, for boats none of us own and never will. Big stuff.

( I keep some paid scips also from mostly defunct republics and developing countries that I like, and some I intensely dislike. It's mostly just a small financial donation for dying prints, I like to keep up with the 'other side', know thine enemy, (The Art of War), and anyone who relegates their reading to only things they like are ignorant, narrow minded, and very uninformed. Some languages are time consuming to translate though, and it eats my time. Kind of like N.Y. newspapers. Anyway).

But Practical Sailor is my hands down favorite. Yes, I would pay any price within reason for several reasons. No ads means generally non-corruptible. If a magazine has one single ad, EVER, it's opinionated garbage dictated by the ads which are not real. So anyway, of course not every single test is going to apply to me, in fact it would alarm me if it did. And I hear now and then about the lack of testing facilities, and that's probably true. If Bavaria or whoever can't buy a ten thousand dollar opinion in it, you ain't gonna have a million dollar testing facility. Fabulous. Generally low tech, and tested by sailors. That sail. I even read a lot of hand wringing about some recent anchor testing about how they should have done this or that, but the thing is, these people were out on the beach with a truck dragging anchors around for who knows HOW long, just to get the info. If that's a problem, it's a simple fix. Run out and buy ten brand new anchors, take it all to the surf and start dragging them up and down the beach to pick out the one you like, throw the other nine away, and you are set. Or read about it in an eight dollar magazine while sippin' a cold one and complain about how the test doesn't suit ya. I would pay for the magazine subscription if I never had the time to read it, just because I like 'em. And they are on our side. I have no connection with these people, and I'm more than sure that they are genuinely happy about that. But it is real. Most rags are just designed to sell you something. Anyway..

 

[Captn TJ]

I like Sailing - large format, great pictures. More oriented to Great Lakes.

Hate practical sailor - very expensive reference for stuff I'm not going to buy. If I want their opinion on a particular piece of equipment I can buy the article. Once you're on their mailing list you get spammed to death.

Cruising World is ok - lots of ads but better than Sail. Overall I'd rather go on line to either Panbo or Sailing Anarchy. Daily updates rather then waiting a month to read a couple of articles.

 

[Sailm8]

I let them all lapse and just search for blogs from real people, really sailing. I did just subscribe to Practical Sailor online recently, so the jury is out on that one. I really like this site for information best of all.

 

[Windborne]

I have a subscription to Sail because they offered me 2 years for $18. Some months I read more of it than others. I wouldn't pay full subscription price for it. The magazine that seems most targeted to my type of sailing and my type of sailboats is Good Old Boat. Online I like sail-world.com.

Len

 

[woodster]

Good Old Boat is my mag of choice but the real mag is here SBO....what mag out there can you ask a quest to and get an answer......none.....we even get editorials on here

regards

woody

 

[philwsailz]

Practical Sailor is junk. I subscribed twice; not sure why the second time. My opinion is that the contributors are often not knowledgeable enough to be considered experts. I have too often found technical problems with their outcomes.

I like Cruising World a lot, but have to pin a similar complaint of technical problems in a recent article. There is a treatise on pumps in the most recent edition. The author suggests that water cannot be compressed when a pressure is applied; therefore it must expand. ?????? If it can expand cannot it therefore be compressed????? He goes on to explain that pumping water into a tank makes it expand to fill the tank. Odd explanation.... This has been my only gripe on Cruising World.

I also have Good Old Boat and Sail Between the three there is still not enough to read...

 

[TLW]

I subscribe to SAILING due to Great Lakes coverage, and advertising. Also take PRACTICAL SAILOR, but not sure why. The idea of the publication really appeals to me, but the product often disappoints.

I also get CRUISING WORLD because a subscription comes FREE with a ticket to STRICTLY SAIL-CHICAGO. Although CW held little appeal in the past, the editors have made no secret of their attempts to improve the magazine - and I think they are making good headway.

Of course, I also get GOOD OLD BOAT. Reader submissions make up most of this magazine, so a few good ideas mixed with a lot of questionable ones.

 

[Merlin Clark]

I'm down to Small Craft Advisor. It's about small boats and the people that sail/cruise them with the occasional (home built) stink pot thrown in for good measure.
Wooden Boat is awesome boat porn.
Did (paid for) Sail and CW long time back and now and then am graced with a mystery subscription to Sail. Trying to sift the articles from the ads reminds me why I quit the mag.

 

[JohnnyMac]

I often wondered if there was any connection between Sail and CW. It seems that they review the same boats in different months. A lot of the articles are similar. Could just be contributors selling their stories wherever than can.

 

[caguy]

I get a subscription to Good Old Boat as a Christmas gift from my daughter every year.

 

[njsail]

I used to get lats and atts when it was still in publication. I enjoyed it. The only one i keep subscribing to is good old boat. Everything else goes in the garbage even if it's free. Hated sail and they sent it to me free for years. Even when i called to tell them i didn't subscribe they kept trying to bill me. The others were all filled with ridiculously expensive boats i wont be buying anytime soon. Good old boat at least is encouraging folks to restore something and enjoy it.

 

[arknoah]

My primary mags are Good Old Boat and Small Craft Advisor. I also subscribed to The Ash Breeze, the magazine of the Traditional Small Craft Association (TSCA) and Messing About in Boats, but The Ash Breeze just wasn't worth it to me. Sailing magazine was nice for the pretty pictures, but once I didn't renew ASA on time, it lapsed, and I certainly didn't feel the need to renew it by itself.

 

[higgs]

I enjoy Soundings, which has power and sail articles about real people who aren't writing about how to outfit your boat and only spend 20 grand.

 

[RECESS]

Good Old Boat is the only paid subscription that has ever held my attention.

I also read Southwinds online. I prefer the PDF mode and often load the PDFs in my tablet for offline reading.

http://www.southwindssailing.com/

 

[All U Get]

I only read SBO online, interesting, informative, and entertaining. There are always gripping human interest stories and dramatic tales from a bunch of old farts that believe they will endure whatever odds. You can't beat the deals on used and new items listed on this site. I hope the mailman reads the stuff still coming to our house, it will make the cold ride a little warmer. (Needs more pictures of hot babes even if they are my age)

All U Get

 

[IH82BL8]

Sail. Seems to include decent tech articles.

Good Old Boat. My boat is a 1984 and I have done all of the work myself so far. The magazine is right for me on both those counts.

Got a subscription to Chesapeake Bay magazine for Christmas. Regional interest obviously.

Let Sailing subscription lapse. Seemed like a lot of nice pictures.

 

[Anonymous 121765]

I used to subscribe to Sail, Cruising World, Practical sailor & a few others.
I don't anymore. Cruising World targets folks that have the time & money to spare &
sailing boats that the common man will never be afforded.

Practical Sailor is fine for fixes & upgrades however, what if what they are publishing does not fit with your current project? Hope you can find and/or browse old issues to fit with your current project.

Sail mag I thought was better for it's articles, but all magazines are heavy on the advertisements. Just count the pages with REAL useful info against the number of pages hawking stuff of no interest to you.

So, I feel with today's technologies, any question or lookup you may have, is readily available all over the internet. I agree, it is nice to dream while reading about sailing to exotic destinations, however I prefer to stay focused on the now & my next project.

I am still old-school, in as much that every day starts with my Classical music, the newspaper & a strong cup of java.

CR

 

[Warren Milberg]

With the possible exception of Good Old Boat and Practical Sailor, you can pay practically anything you want for a subscription to most of the big sailing slicks. They don't make any money on subscribers, they make it in their ads (mostly for boats you'll never own). They just want to demonstrate to advertisers how many "readers" they reach. As such, I used to get Sail, Cruising World, et al, for $5 a year by calling their 800 number and telling them that is what it was worth to me.... Now I just look for what I need on the internet and don't have to worry about adding to that huge stack of old sailing rags in the basement that have articles I know I wanted to save...

 

[Brian S]

Now I just look for what I need on the internet and don't have to worry about adding to that huge stack of old sailing rags in the basement that have articles I know I wanted to save...

Hahaha, how true! I've been trying to train myself to throw out the old magazines. I WANT to keep them, but I know I'll rarely refer back to them… Just last night I put 3 in the trash, though it pained me to do so...

As such, the high points of my month are when Good Old Boat and Small Craft Advisor arrive in the mail.

I get Sail, because it's so cheap, but I hate it for reasons others have stated.

I used to get Sailing for the pretty pictures, but it lapsed, and I occasionally get old issues from a friend.

I get Boating, because I went to a boat show, but I can rarely bother to thumb through it. Honestly, they just don't make the kinds of power boats I would want to have anymore - 16' outboard runabouts like we had when I was a kid. I blame idiots buying PWCs for that…

Brian