Revvin’ Up!
It’s been a few months since we joined the ranks of Trader Publishing, and things are getting into the rhythm of the “new normal.” Initially, we took things at displacement speed to get acclimated to the workings of a large organization and its inherent internal processes. But now we’re feeling a part of a big team that is gathering momentum.
Overall, I’m happy to report, it has been an easy transition.
Laurene and I want to thank you for all your kind best wishes on the change.
I know I promised a great deal, and let me assure you: It is happening. So just to get this issue off to a festive start, I am pleased to announce that we have acquired West Marine Trawler Fest, a series of trawler-lifestyle boat shows and seminars hosted around the United States.
By acquiring Trawler Fest, we now have a major opportunity to intertwine our subject matter expertise and PMM‘s significant technical horsepower into the Trawler Fest platform. It is a terrific match and one that allows us to really ramp up a major program event to satisfy and celebrate your interests at key locations around North America. While our TrawlerPort remains a show within a boat show, we now have many opportunities that simply weren’t possible before. It is all very exciting.
But wait! There’s more! We’re coming out with a seventh issue this fall, and we plan to increase frequency to eight issues in 2006. For years, this has been the number-one request of our worldwide readership, and the explosion of boats in our market demands more issues just so we can cover them all. The boating world has indeed warmed up to our lifestyle, and sailors in particular are moving into our style of boats in droves. It was inevitable.
The seventh issue will highlight the Great Circle Route, a grand exploration of Americana that has many variations. The completion of this trip is the most sought-after dream adventure for the majority of trawler owners in this great country. I’ve traveled several legs of the trip over the years, and I can’t wait to do it in its entirety on my own boat.
We want to include you in the editorial, to make it even more personal. So I ask those who have undertaken this adventure to share with us your best and worst times, your preparations, recommended destinations, restaurants that linger in your memory, marinas most enjoyed, the legs most savored.
We want you to share your favorite images with us, as well. Sunsets and boats and people and food and dogs and history–a collage of what it is all about. This issue will be all about you and your experiences, so let’s make magic together. It’s going to be cool.
Increasing issue frequency means we’ll cover more adventures and more boats, and we’ll present more cruising stories and technical features–without losing the elements that continue to define our successful publishing model.
It is what you have asked us to do–and we plan to deliver.
I promise to share more great news in the coming months. I guarantee you’ll see us pioneer ways to celebrate boating from all angles. I’m even pitching a spin-off publication that will knock your socks off.
There has never been a more exciting time to embrace the cruising under power lifestyle, and I’m really stoked to unleash new ways to promote, educate, inform, and entertain.
Best of all, the folks at Trader are solidly behind us, so it shall be done.
With all that is happening, I’ll have to work hard to get quality time aboard Growler this season. But it will be worth it when I scan the horizon out several years and see where this may lead us.
The journey we started in 1995 continues, but the pace has certainly changed.
The vision has not.
Bill Palatore
Editor-In-Chief
