cruisingworld.com6
B
efore embarking on a
new long-distance pas-
sage, a prudent sailor
hauls the boat to make sure
the vessel, systems and gear are
ready for sea. Well, over the last
few months, the Cruising World
staff has been busy doing just
that. And now, with our Feb-
ruary issue, we’re taking the
plunge, confi dent we’re pre-
pared for the voyage ahead.
First, the obvious. By now
you’ve no doubt noticed that
this month’s magazine looks
and feels diff erent. It’s heavi-
er. The paper is a little thicker
and brighter. And the cover has
been revamped; its fi nish is tex-
tured. The logo has been up-
dated, and we’ve changed the
way we tease to stories inside.
The paint crew — in this
case, our art department —
has been hard at work spruc-
ing up the Old Gal, you might
say. We hope you’ll enjoy whatyou fi nd. It’s been several years
since our last big redesign, and
we felt a good visual overhaul
was surely needed.
But as for the new journey
I spoke of at the outset, once
we began to plot a course, we
soon determined more than
a bit of paint and polish is
needed if Cruising World is to
remain the seaworthy publica-
tion she’s always been. So this
month we set off with a new
set of charts to address the
needs of the “Cruising Major-
ity,” the term the magazine’s
founder, Murray Davis, usedmanual typewriters, stuff edorful stamps issued by king-
doms across the far cornersof the globe. Previous editors
developed ingenious ways to
ensure cherished photographs
and slides weren’t lost. It could
take months to correspond
with an author whenever re-
visions were needed. Today all
that happens with a few taps
of the keyboard.
Looking through our fi rst
issue, you’ll fi nd only a single
advertisement for electron-
ics. And among the sage advice
the editors chose for content
is a piece on “How to Enjoy
Wet Weather” with a good
set of rubber waterproofs and
woolen underwear.
We live our lives diff erently
in 2016.
We still love sea stories told
by sailors crossing oceans on
their small boats. We want
to dream of new landfalls, be
challenged to learn fresh skills,
and take pride in how we out-
fi t and maintain our sailboats.
As a publication, we’re blessed
to have thousands of readers
who look forward to receiving
a print copy of Cruising World
on their doorstep, but we have
many others who want to fi nd
us online, on their phones and
on the fl y.
So this February we are re-
setting our course to once
again meet the needs of theping our two smallest issues),
but we’re going to double the
editorial content in four of
the months, when interest is
the strongest. And starting in
2016, two of our issues will be
focused solely on popular spe-
cial interests: chartering, and
the ranks of DIY sailors who
choose to keep and improve
the vessels they already own.
At the same time, our
editors will spend more
time producing content for
the growing cruisingworld.
com website and our weekly
e-newsletters, and we’ll work
with contributors to showcase
the rich online content they’re
developing on their own.
In introducing Cruising
World more than four decades
ago, Murray Davis wrote: “All
of us who have been involved
in the exciting business of put-
ting it together are now too
close to it to quite know what
we have produced. We will
have to hold it up to the light
and, like everything, we expect
it to evolve and to grow.”
Like Murray’s team, we’re
excited about the changes
coming our way and the chal-
lenge of seeing Cruising World
evolve and grow in pace with
how we set sail today.
It’s launch day. The breezeFEBRUARY2016We still love sea stories told by sailors crossing oceans on their small boats. We want to dream
of new landfalls, be challenged to learn new skills.BY MARK PILLSBURYEditor’s Log
FEBRUARY2016cruisingworld.com6
DOWN the
WAYS —AGAIN
CW’s edit team — Ben Meyers, Eleanor Merrill, Mark Pill-
sbury, Jen Brett and Herb McCormick — is set to relaunch.Original Cover, 1974 Circa 2015 February 2016MARIANNE LEE PHOTOGRAPHY