You may have heard rumors that print media is on its last legs. In some quarters, maybe, but not in these parts. In case you’ve wondered where Yachts International has been the past few months, we’ve had our heads down retooling the old girl into the dazzling quarterly magazine you’re holding in your hands.
The magazine publishing business has been evolving as fast as you can say digital, and yes, there’s plenty of wreckage out there. Some great titles have faltered and failed in recent years. Others have moved online. Luxury enthusiast magazines like this one, however—that focus on categories relevant to readers’ recreational passions—continue to thrive.
Even so, as you may have traded your mom jeans for skinnies and your deck shoes for runners, the times and shifting media consumption patterns warrant a wardrobe upgrade.
And here we are.
Our parent company, Active Interest Media, which publishes more than 60 enthusiast print titles, conducted research that suggested some of its magazines would better serve their audiences by reducing frequency while upgrading paper and presentation. It’s a trend the broader magazine industry is embracing as well. With that in mind, we decided that our audience of affluent, busy, passionate yachting enthusiasts would prefer a quarterly frequency with the same number of editorial pages we’ve historically delivered in seven issues.
We’ve taken the moment to rethink how we package and present our material, too. Yachts represent the most expensive consumer products on the planet. Many are veritable works of art: high design with cutting-edge engineering and unparalleled craftsmanship, constructed to operate in harsh environments while delivering an unmatched luxury experience. The broader yachting milieu comprises a deep cache of history, engaging personalities, epicurean excellence and spectacular theaters of operation.
When considering how to repackage those elements, we first decided to change to a more contemporary paper stock. We also acknowledged some new energy and sensibilities in yachting photography: men and women who view yachts and the yachting lifestyle through a different lens, so to speak. That lens is more dramatic, more emotional, more vivid, more in line with the essence of their subjects. As our culture and media consumption habits drift faster toward the visual, we decided to place more emphasis on storytelling through pictures, without sacrificing the excellent journalism that has long characterized our award-winning magazine.
And finally, we’ve organized our content in a refreshing new way aimed at treating each of the elements as equals. We call these sections of the magazine “chapters.” While yachts always will anchor the book, we’ll be devoting more space to technology, destinations, design, epicurean topics, and features about the men and women who create the individual elements of the boats we love. We’ve moved our news sections onto our digital channels: e-news, social media and yachtsinternational.com.
So, here you have it. In this issue, you’ll find a rich composite of content including an exclusive interview with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his wife, Gene, who discuss their spectacular new Oceanco, Bravo Eugenia; a feature about British custom furniture maker Silverlining; a taste of luxury charter in Thailand; a first look at Lürssen’s breathtaking 348-foot (106-meter) Amadea; a profile of up-and-coming designers Igor and Yulia Lobanov; and a fascinating piece on New York newspaper magnate and yachtsman Joseph Pulitzer, who, in the early 20th century, criticized his rivals as purveyors of “fake news.” You can’t make that up.
We’re already working on the next issues and intend to bring you more of the kind of great content you’re seeing here. Join us for the ride.
This article originally appeared in the Summer 2019 issue.
