New Performance Boating Magazine Launched
 

Interesting news to take you into the weekend, http://boatermouth.com//index.php?vi...ntent&Itemid=8.

Yea!--it sounds like my kind of boating magazine :)

I'd welcome a new one to the stands. Dropped PB yrs ago after growing sick of the gold chain crowd. Always cracked me up too when they'd test a boat w/a decent cabin and never show a single picture of bellow deck :o Kinda proved their intent to me.
Interesting too to compare the classified sections of the current PB w/the PB of old. Way different.
I liked and subscribed to Family and Performance Boat for part of it's short life. It was unique in covering a more diverse group of boats.
w/todays market though I can't imagine anyone thinking publishing a boat magazine as a good investment.
BTW, I spent some time Googling "Super Sport Magazine" last night and came up w/nothing.

The economy is tough on business these days, but Powerboat mag has been pretty weak lately. A new mag would be cool.

"Pretty Weak" is an understatment:eek:

I just dropped PowerBoat too. Got sick of paying for a half dozen or less skinny magazines. I will subscribe again if they go back to a monthly magazine. It's a shame if they go under but what do they expect?

Never been the same w/o Bob (the man!) Nordskog.

No good deed shall go unpunished.

I just got my renew notice in the mail for Powerboat. The magazine has gone to a bi-montly sales flier. I will not be renewing and I am sure a lot of others will not also. I can go to Barnes and Noble and read it in the isle in less than 10 minutes. It was a great mag. What a shame. Jeff Wurl

I have subscribed to Powerboat for 20 years and think I have all of those issues. Personally, I look forward to receiving it and think they have done a good job considering the current economic climate.

I mis Hot Boat when they covered just the small hot boats for a while there was a section called (runs in the family)it was one of the best parts of the mag,

Our Publix carries it.
 

Takes me about 30 seconds to see what I need to.
Agree with lightning jet too. HB had an era that was almost as good as PB back in the day.
One of the things I always found interesting was when comparing PB classifieds of old to new was exact opposite in content. Early days was a lot of smaller boats, O/B's and do it yourself stuff. Now (and last 10 yrs) it's almost all high zoot big stuff and professional ad's. Always wondered if the market really did dictate that (I know the trend was larger boats but did people STOP buying smaller stuff??) or the new direction of the magazine towards all high end stuff and the advertising $$$ from those builders regardless of what we the readers wanted??? I know I wrote letters and was not the only one stating same.
Makes it tough now too when magazines are $6. per and more! You definitely need to keep my attention for more than a few min's for that kind of jing!

Hot Boat was my favorite too and I really hate to give up on PB but WTF? I want an issue every month.

to state the obvious, not renewing to PB and reading in the isle is not going to make it any thicker or more frequent.

I will keep my sub, Teague on tech is worth it.

Thanks, Phantom 1. As a freelance writer for Powerboat for 11 years (and I worked inside the magazine for five years before that) I appreciate your support. I also appreciate the critique from those who don't necessarily share your opinion. It's all good stuff.

The last issue of Powerboat was 68 pages, which is about half of what it was two years ago in the same month. Within those 68 pages were articles on:

•The OPA Offshore World Championships
•An Indy Drive upgrade project on a Skater 30.
•An interior renovation on a Howard 28 Bullet
•Winterizing
•Towing with a "toter home."
•Dave Villwock chasing Bill Muncey's Unlimited hydro win record.
•The Old Farts Forever Reunion.
•The departure of John Haggin from offshore racing
•Eliminator Boats Chapter 11 restructing
•Hering titanium propellers
•The Around Long Island Marathon
•The 30th Anniversary of Howard Arneson's Miss. River Run
•Donzi's move to the Fountain plant
•The Absolute Speed and Marine Poker Run
•The SBI Nationals
•UIM involvement in the SuperSport and Evo that used to be in P1.
•David Scott
•Teague on Tech

Some of those articles were long and others were short. Regardless, that's a lot of content to pack in to 68 pages. While everyone at Powerboat strives for improvement of the magazine, I don't see any other performance-boat magazine delivering that breadth of coverage.

But even with a 200-page magazine that printed 24 times a year, we know we could not possibly make everyone happy. Still, it's a goal.

The ironic thing? A Powerboat magazine writer (me) wrote the story about the new magazine that is/was the topic of this thread and brought it here.

Teague on Tech is to help Mr. Teague sell parts. How many BS speed claims has he printed for 496 CMI headers. And now he pushes "his" oil. Byebye PB.

Matt, I thought PB let you go?

Nah, they keep me in spite of myself. But as you can imagine, with reduced page counts and fewer issues there is less for a freelance writer to do. So I've branched out quite a bit.

Respectfully disagree on Teague on Tech. By a huge margin, reader survey after reader survey says that Teague on Tech is most read and appreciated element of the magazine.

It's enough to make a feature writer jealous.

OK. I do respect Bob Teague but I have seen him push products that he happens to sell a little to often! I'm not going to rehash the CMI sportube thing but I did get suckered into thinking they would get me 4 mph. They got me nothing!

The very very best performance boat mag was the few issues of SpeedBoat that Eric Colby was editing. There were a lot of boat tests with good performance info on boats that actual middle class people might be able to buy sometime in their life. I would be subscribed to that even if it only came out quarterly (which is pretty much what it did). Nothing else I've seen even comes close...

I think it’s a pretty sad state of affairs when people who enjoy this hobby/sport/lifestyle/addiction - or whatever you refer to it as – turn their back on the single longest running performance boating magazine in existence (been printed for the last 40 years). So let’s examine what they’ve done to hopefully ensure they’ll be here for the next 40:

1) Cut back on issues. Reason? Pretty simple; money savings. This was introduced with the plan to get through these lean years and move forward through the recession with the goal to bring back issues as the economy recovers.

2) Made the cover size smaller and got rid of the perfect bound spine. Reason? Well again, it all comes down to money but this one was kind of a no brainer since the magazine is owned by the infinity group that puts out numerous other magazines, it’s cost affective to run the magazine at the same size as the rest of the magazines.

3) The use of Bob Teague as lead test driver. Why use him? Bob has been with Powerboat, almost since the beginning. He was a good friend and rival racer of Nordskog. Bob’s own success over the years has grown in leaps and bounds in no small part to his good business sense, his racing record and his participation with the magazine. Like or don’t like him, the guy knows his sh!t and can run a boat. PBM brought on Johnny Tomlinson as a second test driver to counter the skepticism some readers voiced at Bobs tests and opinions. Now tests are done independently by each driver. And you know what? Their scores and opinions mach each others 95% of the time! And I’ll ask this, as I have before - if not Bob Teague and Johnny Tomlinson, then who? Who has the industry, race, business and over all knowledge these two can bring to the masses? The two test drivers are a perfect match and complement each other (kind’a ying to the yang thing going on with them) quite nicely.

4) The magazines half the pages it used to be. Why’s this? Do me a favor for those of you that have an issue from five or six years ago – grab it and compare actual content to what is in the current issue. You’ll quickly see that it is advertising that has been cut WAAAAAY back because many in the industry are just not advertising as much to save the bottom dollar. I find this extremely amusing because I remember back when the economy was boomin’, the number one complaint was that there was too many advertisements! Freakin’ classic!

But let’s look at what Powerboat is doing to better their magazine, even during these crappy economic times:

1) www.Powerboatmag.com Check it out. Lots of up-to-date info, great blogs from industry leaders (which you can actually reply too – recently Steve David was seen conversing with readers via replies), polls and a plethora of user friendly stuff like ordering back issues & tests, videos and the list goes on.

2) Continuing east coast and west coast performance testing. The east coast tests were just completed with six tests on various leading manufactures and two stories on two of the gnarliest boats to hit the water in the past 6 months.

3) Continued tradition of top notch, intriguing and innovative writing and coverage including events coast to coast coupled with fantastic & invigorating photography.

4) Staff that is continually listening to, reading from and evaluating its readers. If you have a problem, email someone at powerboat. Nine times out of ten, you’ll get an answer quickly.

So with all that said, I personally look forward to seeing the new magazine put out by two people I consider friends (Brett Becker & Gregg Mansfield). I agree with Matt, in that I think competition is a good thing and healthy for any industry. I was sad to see Family & Performance Boats and Hot Boat go away because with the loss of more magazines comes the inability for me to preview more outlets of this life style I love so much.

Yes, things are not what they once were at Powerboat. However, be patient ye with little faith - For things will turn for the better as this country marches on to recover from this economic disaster. And while it is recovering, sit back and enjoy the choices you have…including Powerboat.

Eric's very good at what he does, and it's a shame Speedboat didn't last. But the publisher wasn't in it for the long haul. When the bucks didn't roll in right away, they pulled the plug.

Speaking of quarterly, I spoke to Joe Rode, the publisher of Sport Boat, and quarterly is what they're planning for that new title. Given the start of the industry, that makes a lot of sense.

Scary thing is (to me), printed magazines will probably never go back to they way they were before the recession. More than one that I subscribed to are now gone! Most of the ones left are 1/2 what they used to be.
You see the same things w/the local newspapers. More and more people rely on the internet for their info and it's free. I am old school and still look forward to pulling my mags out of the mail box to catch up on whats new.
I keep our local papers honest too by dropping them when they start pandering to one side of the political spectrum. Have sent letters to presidents of both papers and let them know why I'm changing. Have gotten positive replies from both. Also told them that I'd been reading their reports of competing w/the net and to not confuse that w/us going to the net to get the side of the news they won't print.
As far as the tech articles in PB, I used to read them all too but they're pretty much the same. A guy has his car race buddy build a motor for his 26' brand X and it's now slower than it was stock and wants help. Seems there's some confusion when it comes to dropping a motor built to propel a 3K lb vehicle w/a 5 speed transmission in a 6K lb boat w/a 1 speed ;)
An interesting thing is that even in this economy some mag's still thrive and even very much niche oriented. I subscribe to 2 very specific car drag mag's that are full color, large page count, professionally done that appear to be as strong as ever. They are the best though at that specific target market.
I really think back in the hey day of the performance boat builders selling more than they could build, spending stupid advertising money w/the mag's, almost all 100% positive write up's etc, etc that the magazines chose to listen to the advertisers and not their subscribers.
Remember back in the day no one made it through a PB test w/o something negative or critical coming up??? Now even if an issue w/a boat does surface they spend a paragraph telling you it doesn't matter or all the builders are guilty of same. I always flip to the advertiser index to get the real reason.
A friend of mine used to write the Unlimited section (when they had one) for PB and they even let him stir the pot.
I still say it was never the same after the big man passed away.

Excellent post. I agree with every word......although I shortened the "quote".

With all due respect, and I do agree with many of the points you've made here, but the Performance Reports during the era of Bob Nordskog, a man I never met (he died the year before I got there), were overwhelming positive as a majority. If you don't believe me, go back and read them. I have ... again, I worked in house for five years and managed to piss away a lot of time reading back issues.

There were negative reviews, to be sure. But most were pretty positive. Again, I'm not making this up. I've done my homework on this subject because honestly, I wanted to know. Things that get repeated again and again tend to become "true," even when they're not.

Guys ... make no mistake. To quote my friend T2X, Powerboat is far from perfect. But the last issue was pretty damn good. That said, you can and should expect every issue to be pretty damn good. No, you should expect it to be better.

And I expect to hear from you when it isn't.

The content point is true. The rag is thinner mainly because of less advertising. But IMO they need to go back to a monthly format and sink or float because the present plan isn't working; It is costing them subscribers. I am now down to "Boating" and the "BoatU.S." Mag. :(

Boating and boat US are completely different content than PBM, IMHO. powerboat is performance driven, the other two are not. Performance oriented boating mags are few and far between. If "boating" is what you're looking for then there are a few more mags to chose from. If performance/speed/offshore/bad azz is what you're looking for then your choices are very limited and my personal opinion is - as of now - powerboat has led and does lead the way.

Guess I didn't get my thoughts..
 

to paper very clear. Didn't mean the reports were negative as a whole only that the old man was very, very picky and critical. He expected every performance boat they tested to be built, rigged and finished to the quality of a top level race boat to which very few actually were. Those issues which he/they found were brought to light, in a positive way. so a good test might be 90-95% positive he/they'd tell us what they felt needed improved on.
Now it seems that it's all positive or nothing at all.

I would like to see some articles and reviews about places to use our boats. It would be nice and cheap for the mag to go to some locations and review them. They also, or maybe it was hot boat used to do a towing section. There are a lot of practical things people would be interested in. Our tow vehicles are an important factor in our powerboat experience. Matt if you ever need any ideas call me because I spend way too much time thinking about all this stuff. I know times are tough for the whole marine industry I'm trying to stick by those who are hanging on.

Thanks. Comments like this are greatly appreciated and believe me, no one misses that magazine more than me. Best of luck to the guys with Sport Boat.

Magazines like BoatUS and TrailerBoating should be read by every boater. They have great monthly columns that don't show up in more targeted publications, but they have a lot of relevance for all power boaters. They should be read In Addition to your own special mag IMO.

I read the online sites like Boat Tests and others, which are pretty good. But they never elicit the long term appeal of the printed magazines. Some years ago, pundits on TV and radio started daily pounding and laughing at printed newspapers and how they were going to go the way of the dinosaur. I remember thinking how utterly bankrupt society would be if this were true.

The people that cheered them on didn't really know their motives. I think that many magazines got caught not only in the political crossfire, but also the dramatic reduction in advertising dollars as a result of the recession. It's too bad, because if the Internet is to be the source of it all, the decline in information will be substantial IMO. It's already happened in many ways.

Of course I know the difference between "Boating" and "PowerBoat" but how long are the subscribers supposed to subsidize PB? I'm done. I want a magazine every month. Also I would like to see pictures of the hull on the trailer in the boat tests. Isn't this a very important consideration in buying a boat? Would it kill them to snap a few pics before the boat is dropped in the water?

Will always read PB until it quits publishing
 

I have always looked forward to Hot Boat and Powerboat arriving each month. I just enjoy holding a magazine in my hands more that a mouse and trying to read online. I hated to see Hot Boat die, as it alway felt as if it were more for the regular guy and not for only the rich. But over the years, my income has risen and gone up and so has the size of my boats. I used to feel like Powerboat only covered the ultra high dollar stuff, but this month they have an article about a drive upgrade on a Skater. I will continue to read Powerboat and any other magazine that address's my passion regardless of how many times a year it is published. I go back an read old copies of each many times over and use the information as reference material.

Of all the assets a magazine has, readership is the most important. No magazine ever became great for its ads, nor does anyone buy or subscribe to a magazine for its ads.

However, in consumer magazines (with notable exception of Consumer Reports), ads pay the bills. If you're talking about what or who subsidizes a consumer magazine, you're talking about advertisers. Economic reality is that subscription rates barely cover postage.

That said, thirdchildhoold (love the screen name), I absolutely, completely and totally (fresh out of adverbs) get what you're saying. Regardless of how well Powerboat does with six issues, it is disappointing not to have the 11 issues you were used to. No one who is involved with the magazine likes it, but it's a matter of long-term survival.

I do hope you come back as a reader As I said at the outset, readers are any magazine's most important asset.

Regarding the "all or nothing" comment on boat reviews: It is indeed a (very fine line). I have told this story before but here goes: One day, a reader called me to tell me how soft a report I wrote was on a manufacturer's boat. On the same day, the manufacturer canceled his advertising schedule because I was too hard on his boat.

Still, I understand your point.

Thanks for the input Matt. We'll see. I don't think I'm expired yet. The problem is that the price seems a bit high for 6 issues and a lot of us folks are feeling the economic pinch too. I am a retailer and sales are down at lest a third this year and this has been the worse Xmas I've ever seen sales wise. I am cutting back too!

My girlfriend owns an upscale clothing store. November was very strong. So far December has been horrible. These are tough times for anyone in retail. Really tough.

I am sorry to hear you're struggling as well. Sending you a PM.

PM received and answered. Thank you for the very kind message. Merry Christmas.

I appreciate a magazine and have kept loyal to Powerboat even though the magazine content and issues have declined. I think its important to keep a subscription and help Powerboat through the tough times. My only real squak is alot of the material and photos in these boating mags (including Poker Runs) are too repetitive. Nothing against Gino and the Mercedes boat or Bill's Skater from Florida, but how many times can these boats be photographed and displayed on a magazine page over and over again? It gets real old real fast. How about some photos of the latest builds from Cig, Ol, Nortech, etc? Lets see some NEW equipment and not the same old stuff over and over. I think just about everyone would love too see what new boats have hit the water instead of the same old stuff.

I'll keep it
 

This PB bashing reminds me of the Reggie bashing. The internet plays a big roll in as well. I love PB and keeping my sub. If for no other reason then just cuz I can't bring my computer to the throne

I don't see it as bashing. We are just talking about it and it looks like we all want it to survive. There have been good points brought up. Let's see...we keep Teague on Tech even if he does push his own products ;). More items from Matt Trulio:asskiss:. Pics of boat hulls on trailers included in tests. Less repetitive content. Some smaller boats. Oh, and what's with the wake boats lately:crazy:. And just maybe..........maybe........one issue a month at least in the summer.....:party-smiley-004:

Good summary!