I’ve been looking at the latest issue of the fortnightly US boating magazine Messing About in Boats, and I’m inspired to tell you gentle readers what a great little magazine it is.
Each issue of MAIB is packed full of comment, news, stories and explanations about a wide variety of small- to medium-sized boats, usually with more than a dash of the traditional about them. Where they’re not so traditional, they’re usually built or buildable by hobbyists and amateurs.
If you live in the US the annual sub is just $32, or $1.40 per issue, which seems to me to be extraordinarily good value.
In other parts of the world a subscription becomes a little expensive (24-times a year overseas postage doesn’t come cheap), but we can still enjoy the option of subscribing to the downloadable pdf version, which is nearly as good once printed out on a standard 600 by 600 printer.
The latest issue includes a reprint of an old Weston Farmer article about the Mabel (from Billy Atkin’s drawing board, I think), a story from a reader who nearly bought the elegant double-ended bilge keeler seen under the Forth Bridge on the cover but did buy a Folkboat, and articles from both John Welsford and Phil Bolger. To a European, even the adverts are a fascinating insight into how different are the kinds of boats people use in the USA compared with our own.
This is the link for the paper subscription:
http://www.duckworksbbs.com/media/maib/index.htm
And this is the link for the downloadable pdf version:
http://www.duckworksbbs.com/media/maibonline/index.htm