8 trade aboat.com.au
Daysofyonder
Putting our 500th issue together, I took some time to think
back on where we have been. We have issue #1 which,
would you believe, was titled Boats and Planes. Yes, planes.
Back then the magazine was much more commercially
focused with industry the target audience. Unexpectedly
though, it resonated with a wider audience around the
country and very quickly what was started in a domestic
garage had to expand. Founders Max Morton and Alex
Morrison took on staff and expanded quickly but kept the
focus very much on the trade of boats and planes. In 1985,
nearly 10 years after the title launched, the magazine still
featured planes and still no editorial, just listings. The
’90s saw gloss ads appear and with them more corporate
advertisers. It was refreshing to see the likes of Riviera,
Caribbean, Blackwatch and more support the magazine
back then. The mid-nineties saw the move to include
more news and reviews and with it, one of the longest
standing editors, Mike Sinclair. Mike would go on to a more
senior role as the masthead evolved to include a dedicated
game fishing section called Blue Water and the launch
of Boatpoint.com.au. Toward the late nineties, Blue Water
became its own title and with the changes Geoff Middleton,
a legend of the industry, became editor. He started
introducing more content and with them, future editor and
one of the people I look up to most, David Lockwood. David
contributed to Trade-a-Boat and was editor for a total of 15
years. His work is still popular in our archives, as you will
see later in this special issue. David moved on with the sale
of Boatpoint and its sister site, Boatsales.com.au, and with
the change, a mentor of mine, Jeff Strang, took the top seat.
Jeff held it a few years while I worked with him from the
client side. He oversaw testing and advertising placement
for the manufacturer I worked for, Stabicraft Marine. Being a
recent father then with family back home Jeff had to make
the hard decision to leave Trade-a-Boat and in the process,
threw me the helm seat. Here I am today, still trying to live
up to what Trade-a-Boat and its previous editors created,
some four years later.
This issue marks a turn for the title. In October 2017
it found its fifth owner, Adventures Group Holdings. The
previous owner was arguably the most successful with the
title being around through the glory days leading to the GFC
but since then moved focus away from marine first selling
Blue Water then merging Trailerboat and Trade-a-Boat. In
that time, and not unexpectedly, sellers for boats moved to
the internet to find buyers and with it, Trade-a-Boat shrunk.
The new owners are looking to reverse the trend and
with this issue as a starting point are backing their words
through action. Fifty-four pages of classified ads back
into the magazine is a move to focus on the industry and
the people that make it what it is today. The coming year
promises a lot and with you, I hope it’s an enjoyable journey.
Safe boating,
Tim.NEWS, PRODUCTS AND FEATURES start on page 10»
EDITORIAL
SENIOR EDITOR Tim van Duyl
DEPUTY EDITOR Peter Quilty
DESIGNER Lance Freeman
CONTRIBUTORS John Willis, John Ford, Kevin Green, Kevin Smith,
Andrew Norton, Chris WhitelawEDITORIAL AND NEWS
125 Hawthorn Road, Caulfield North, Vic 3161
[email protected]
DIGITAL
PRODUCT OWNER Will Dolman
[email protected]
DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGERS
Katrina Minchenko
[email protected]
Leah Glynn
[email protected]
MARKETING
[email protected]
PARTNER MARKETING MANAGER
Lauren Grigg 0436 407 493
[email protected]
ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES
[email protected]
http://www.adventuresgroup.com.au
HEAD OF PARTNERSHIPS
Christopher Jefferson 0477 775 020
[email protected]
QUEENSLAND
David Forrest 0455 999 085
[email protected]
VICTORIA/SOUTH-EAST
Rowena Lyrijis 0428 950 936
[email protected]
Renee Bordieri 0429 018 098
[email protected]
NEW SOUTH WALES/WA
Danielle Gowan 0435 065 325
[email protected]
Serena Prasad 0429 489 615
[email protected]
NATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
Andrew Wilson 0437 034 003
[email protected]
PRIVATE ADVERTISING
http://www.tradeboats.com.au/sell, 1300 362 272
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1300 657 076
[email protected]
EXECUTIVE GROUP
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Robert Gallagher
[email protected]
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Matthew O’Meara
[email protected]
ADVERTISING TERMS & CONDITIONS
http://www.adventuresgroup.com.au
Trade-A-Boat is printed in Australia with a
total print run of 9000 copies.Trade-A-Boat is published by Adventures Group Holdings.
All material in Trade-A-Boat is protected by the Commonwealth Copyright Act, 1968. ACN: 155 672 192 ABN: 29 155 672 192
No material may be reproduced without written consent. *Recommended maximum retail price. Distributed by Gordon & Gotch. Printed by Blue Star Web, NSW.on
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