I'm one of the few people who knows exactly how the staff at Powerboat feels. I was working for Boating when Bonnier purchased the magazine. They sent out all the right press releases talking about how important the team was, and blah-blah-blah.

Soon I was told I was no longer needed for features. Two weeks later, I was too expensive to do boat tests, and finally a couple weeks later, I was no longer needed for the Boat Doctor column, which I authored for 10 years. Suddenly, the reality set in that I could no longer support my family doing what I loved, writing about the marine industry.

The irony is that, recently I've done a couple of tests for Boating and may get some more freelance work from the magazine in the future. All I ever wanted to do is write about the marine industry. I loved my job, whether it was at Powerboat, or Boating, or now at Sportboat and Power & Motoryacht. Now, I can't make a living at it, but do what I can to continue to support the industry I've to which I've devoted 25 years.

Sorry for the length of the rant, but like Matt, the closure of Powerboat angers me.

Sincerely,

Eric Colby

Right on the money, both Eric and Matt. While we once-loyal readers have taken a minor hit in our wallets, the hard-working writers and editors of Powerboat have been treated far worse.

Shame on you, Bonnier - classless and clueless...

Matt, Eric, Tank, BT and everybody else on the PB staff. Thank yuo for all the work you guys did. Been an avid reader for many years. If it was not for PB and your articles ect. many of us on the other side of the ocean, would never had known so much about this wonderful world of powerboating.

It's a shame for the mag, but it's terrible and down right disgusting to see good, hard working employees being treated like this. I can't imagine what I would do and how mad I would be, if it was me.

Thanks Matt for putting your personal take on it. Perfect blend of the personal and professional. A true writers craftmanship.

I hope you guys have a very merry christmas despite all this crap.

Anders

Very - VERY - well said...as usual.

-Was a long time subscriber, have a bunch of binders going back to '78. I quit PB several years ago when it became one big Teague ad. That guy was on every page. Not a fan.

Thanks for all your hard work and dedication Matt and Eric, sad to see Powerboat go down in flames this way.

Print is dead thanks to the Internet . Adapt and move on , In 10 years you wont find a newspaper

Obviously, with speedonthewater.com and the work I've done for Boats.com for the past 12 years I "believe" in the internet. However, at least as special interest magazines go, I have to respectfully disagree. There is still demand for them.

It's worth noting that radio was supposed to "kill" print and didn't, and television was supposed to kill radio and didn't and cable channels were supposed to kill the networks and didn't. But did one "new" and growing medium effect the one that preceeded it? No question.

But that's a bigger discussion.

More insult to injury!

I received this email on Christmas day and it shows powerboat available as a digital subscription. This of course is not true and you find this out only when you click on the link!

I got this last night too and they always refer to it as Powerboat ing.