Take one tabloid six times a year
Issue 108: May/June 2016
When we hang out in our booth at boat shows, subscribers stop to resubscribe, of course, but we’re amazed by the number of times they tell us, “I’m here to renew my prescription.” I usually do a double-take. Subscription? Prescription? Well, maybe it is a prescription. How many times have we all been told that God does not deduct any day spent sailing from our total time on Earth? Perhaps, then, reading Good Old Boat is a prescription for better health afloat.
Maybe we should call ourselves the Good Old Boat Magazine and Wellness Foundation. Our goal is to help our readers maintain their boats in a way that makes them proud, in a way that keeps them safe on the water, and in a way that gives them the security that comes of knowing what might go wrong and how to deal with it if or when it does.
All this leads to a comfortable feeling of self-assurance aboard and that has to be healthy. Call it the confidence that comes with competence. As we restore and enjoy our boats, we (the caretakers) are likewise restored.
Sailing is a healthy activity no matter how you analyze it. When you motor out of the marina, raise the sails, and turn off the engine, the peaceful feeling that follows must surely be a powerful prescription against anything that ails you. Non-sailors will never appreciate that intense calm. It must be experienced.
We’ve all heard stories of individuals who, when told they had only a few months left to live, decided that what they’d most like to do in their remaining time was go sailing. The kicker, of course, is that they often lasted well beyond the number of months predicted. The cruising lifestyle is so healthy, some lived for years beyond their physicians’ predictions.
I’ll argue that if sailing is a healthy treatment and cure for all kinds of problems, Good Old Boat is a prescription for health: yours and that of your boat. At the boat shows, we welcome all who want to renew a subscription that guarantees they’ll receive our kind of prescription for several more years.
One other theme has emerged and often been repeated over the years: that of joining a club. Our readers have frequently told us they want to renew their “membership.” I like that concept as well. From the very beginning of this magazine, we’ve talked about being a “community of sailors.” By that we meant that we are regular folks of the sort you’re likely to meet on the dock. We don’t pretend to have rounded all the great capes or raced in the America’s Cup. We admit that there’s a lot to learn about sailing and about taking care of sailboats. We don’t know it all, but within our vast “community of sailors,” we have all the bases covered. Every reader brings something to the mix and we are grateful for every one of you.
This allows us to do what we do best: we let your voices be heard. Most of our articles are written by subscribers who get in touch to ask us if an article on this project or that one might be of interest to other sailors, their fellow readers. What’s different is that they do these projects themselves. We don’t sit around at an editorial board meeting and decide that the September/October issue is coming up so therefore we need to assign someone to go forth and write a series of articles about haulouts and winterizing.
We don’t hire someone to write a “what-if” article using assumed equipment in a pretend refit. Our readers take their boats apart, put them back together, and then write about their experiences. I’m more than a little leery about a refit that goes according to plan anyway. Have you ever heard of one that came in on time and under budget?
Whether they buy a prescription or a membership — or even a plain old subscription — our thanks go to all who are part of our “community of sailors.” We are all better together.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
