AMERICAN SAILOR, none, This one is for members of USYRU. Almost exclusively for racing. Dave Perry has a short but interesting ``rules corner''.
ASH BREEZE, none, P. O. Box 350, Mystic, CT 06355, $15/year (4 issues). The journal of the Traditional Small Craft Association. Member-contributed articles about design, construction, and history of traditional boats. Members also receive discounts on books published by International Marine.(al).
BOAT DESIGN QUARTERLY, none, P.O. Box 98, Brooklin, ME, $24/year (only 4 issues). Each issue contains six to eight reviews of boat designs. This magazine is mostly the effort of Mike O'Brien (who also writes for WoodenBoat magazine). Only worth it for those truly obsessed with boat designs.(al).
BOATBUILDER, none, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 800-786-3459. Primarily amatuer construction. Monthly articles by notable Dave Gerr (lots of his latest book "The Nature of Boats" was first published in Boatbuilder). Includes instant boat construction, origami steel boats, etc.(mp) Possible new address (subscription dept?): Boatbuilder, 76 Holly Hill Lane, Greenwich, CT 06836-2626.
COASTAL CRUISING, none, The Magazine of Achievable Dreams. This rag was formerly called "Carolina Cruising" and probably still should be. Concentrates on the ICW around and about its Beufort, NC home base. A harbor profile in each issue with a color arial photograch as a centerspread. Quirky columns written by people who are really into bringing the spoken accent to the written page. Printed on cheap newsprint paper and comes out 6 times a year. Unless you live or cruise in the Carolinas, save your money. (wms).
CRUISING WORLD, none, Good articles, wonderful reader service called ``Another Opinion'', which will tell you about other readers who own the same boat that you do (or that you are thinking of buying), and who might be interested in telling you about it, Extensive brokerage and charter listing. -jfh-.
GPS WORLD MAGAZINE, none, Monthly magazine covering the spectrum of GPS usage. Current regular subscription rates: US $59, Canada $79, Foreign $117. Advanstar Communications, P.O. Box 10460, Eugene, Oregon 97440-2460, U.S.A. Phone: (503) 343-1200 Fax: (503) 683-8841 Telex: 510-597-0365 (rb).
GREAT LAKES SAILOR, none, Tends to focus on the sailing scene in the midwest. Has suspended publication as of January 1993. (tl).
JOURNAL OF NAVIGATION, none, The main problem is this is a quarterly publication (at best), that often suffers long delays in delivery. It has an interesting mixture of high end and low end stuff. For instance it will have discussions of what the piloting station of a large freighter will have the next decade alongside a report of a last (ill fated) Atlantic voyage of a junk rigged 30' cruiser. (rb).
LATITUDE 38, none, The SF Bay sailing rag. Cheap paper, irreverant staff. Far more honest than any other sailing rag. Latitude 38,P.O. Box 1678,Sausalito CA 94966,USA. Phone: 415 383 8200 ; 415 383 5816 (fax). First class postage subscription: $45/year. Third class postage subscription: $20/year. ``We regret that we cannot accept foreign subscriptions, nor do we bill for subscriptions. Check or money order must accompany subscription orders.'' (However, Canadians may order the First Class subscription.).
MESSING ABOUT IN BOATS, none, This small magazine with its own strong identity and readership may interest those who enjoyed Small Boat Journal before its change. Costs 20 buck per year. 29 Burley St., Wenham, MA 01984. ``This is a great little magazine filled with reader-contributed articles and good classifieds (especially for readers in New England). Very entertaining, and you can't beat the price.'' (al), ``particularly since it comes out every two weeks. The primary focus is on boats for the "little guy," rowboats, patched-up boats, and homebuilt boats. There is a lot of coverage of off-beat boats, and most issues include a design by Phil Bolger.'' (wv).
MULTIHULLS, none, 421 Hancock St., N. Quincy, MA 02171, (800) 333-6858, $21/year (6 issues). As the name states, this magazine deals exclusively with multihulls. Coverage is divided about evenly between cruising, design, building, and racing. They also sell books, videos, and posters.(al).
NATIONAL FISHERMAN, none, The working seaman's magazine. Printed on newsprint, filled with editorials about why the fisherman cannot make it in the modern USA, and articles about how well EPIRBs *really* work, etc. A *great* mag. Wonderful classifieds.
OCEAN NAVIGATOR, none, Informative article; passagemaking information, info on nav hardware and tools. The letters are worth the price of admission. Nav problems at the end of each issue that include piloting and offshore celestial problems, with answers. Only magainze that I read cover to cover. Some articles about electrics tend to be slightly screwy-Nigel Calder can't distinguish amps from amp-hours.
OFFSHORE, none, 220-9 Resevoir Ave, Needham, MA 02194. Covers the Northeast coast from New Jersey to Maine. Good coverage of the area with plenty of local interest stories, marina profiles, safe boating, navigation and area history. Slightly skewed toward powerboats but plenty of interest to sailboaters, too. Regular columns on local boating news and Coast Guard Search and Rescue summary. Series by Dave Gerr on understanding Yacht Design contains many of the articles on which his book "The Nature of Boats" is based. Excellent classified section with a unique "renewable guarantee" that will keep your ad in until sold for a one time fee of $25.00 (wms).
POWERBOAT REPORTS, none.
PRACTICAL BOAT OWNER, none, published in Poole, Dorset, England. Practical Boat Owner Subscription, Quadrant Subscription Services, Perrymount Road, Hayward Heath, W. Sussex, RH16 3DH, United Kingdom. Another reader notes that ``The current Practical Boat Owner gives the following address for overseas subscriptions: Practical Boat Owner, PO Box 272, Haywards Heath, W Sussex, RH16 3FS, UK. Tel: 0444 44555.'' P.B.O. is great for boat tests (yachts any size, motor boats mostly small) and simply excellent for how-to-do-its. Editorials reflect the British scene since it's a British magazine. The editor, George Taylor, answers queries in person by return of post.
PRACTICAL SAILOR, none, These folks test out products and do sailboat reviews and compare products made by different people. They also answer questions. They have no adverts, so that their information is nominally unbiased. <As I learn more and more, I respect them less and less. They often test products in ways that aren't all that reasonable. Their test of rope, for example, was based solely on abrasion resistance. Fine for your mooring pennant, but not the whole story. Their test of other products has not impressed me either. And, last but not least, they have wacky ideas about galvanic corrosion--I would not trust anything these guys said about electricity. It helps to be an educated reader. (jfh) Practical Sailor's Subscription Dept can be reached at 1-800-829-9087 or PO Box 420235 Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235. Subscriptions are $72 annually, although I think I've seen discount offer's in Cruising World. Practical Sailor is published by Belvoir Publications, Inc at 75 Holly Hill Lane PO Box 2626 Greenwich, CT 06836-2626 (203) 661-6111. (sja).
SAIL, none, Informative articles, usually pretty basic. Good charter listings. Good brokerage listing.
SAILING, none, Published in Port Washington, Wisconsin. It's large format (11 x 14) can have some pretty striking pictures. They're a general interest sailing magazine. Their design editor is Robert Perry. There's a ``boat focus'' column on one particular boat each month written by an owner... usually nice family cruisers.
SAILING WORLD, none, Mostly about sailboat racing. Very good on that topic.
SEAHORSE, none, The magazine published by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in England. Far and away the best coverage of big-boat racing, and not afraid to get technical.(pk).
SMALL BOAT JOURNAL, none, now ``Boat Journal.'' <Never look at a copy of this printed after 1990, especially if you are a sailor. Early issues are real treasures--circa 1978-1980, they were the best, most honest, best produced, small sailing mag around.
SOUNDINGS, none, Good articles on all aspects of boats; great classified section. $18.95 FOR 12 MONTHS. 35 PRATT STREET/ ESSEX,CT 06426. 203 767-3200; 203 767-1048 FAX. UPDATE...A BETTER PRICE....$14.95 PER YEAR VISA, MASTER CHARGE 800 341-1522 24 HOURS.
THE COMMODORE'S BULLETIN OF THE SEVEN SEAS CRUISING ASSOCIATION, none, If you dream of sailing into the sunset someday, this will feed your fantasies. Full membership in this organisation is exclusive, but anyone can join as an ``associate'' member and get the Bulletin. It is just reprinted letters from members cruising all over the world. $25/year. Address is: SSCA// 521 S. Andrews Ave.// Ste. 10// Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 USA.
WEST MARINE'S ANNUAL CATALOG, none, For pure information per dollar, this has got to be the best buy around. True, it's a once-a-year journal, but their West Advisor sections on how to best run marine plumbing, what kind of wire is best, etc., is really worth reading. Slightly biased towards promoting the purchase of expensive items, though.
WOODEN BOAT, none, Lovely pictures, informative articles, and they pay attention to *new* woodworking as well as old. They have a love affair with Maynard Bray and Phil Bolger, though, and you have to watch out for this bias -jfh-.
YACHTING, none, The very rich person's boat magazine. Most boats over 60 feet.
YACHTING QUARTERLY, none, A ``video format'' magazine; about $100 per year for four videotapes. These tapes include a fair number of how-to segments, and are supposed to get you an idea of how-they-hoist-the-chute-on-the-winning-J40, and such things.