Sailing Magazines Worth Reading

Media Guide · Print & Digital

The sailing magazine landscape has contracted significantly over the past twenty years. Titles that once occupied crowded newsstand racks have merged, gone digital-only, or disappeared. What remains is a smaller and arguably more useful group: the titles with genuine editorial independence, identifiable points of view, and content that holds up as reference material beyond the month of publication. The magazines listed here have survived because they provide something readers cannot easily get elsewhere.

Practical Sailor: The Consumer Reports of the Marine World

Practical Sailor is in a different category from all other sailing magazines, and the difference is fundamental: it accepts no advertising. Every other sailing publication — including the excellent ones — balances editorial content against the interests of the advertisers who fund the magazine. This creates predictable distortions: products from major advertisers tend to receive softer coverage; comparative tests tend to find multiple products acceptable rather than one superior; critical findings about brands that spend significantly on advertising appear rarely.

Practical Sailor has no such conflict. Its income comes entirely from subscriptions, and its business model requires that the product testing be seen as trustworthy by its readership. The practical consequence is that Practical Sailor will tell you that a popular antifouling paint performs poorly in the fifth year, that a well-known windlass brand has a persistent failure mode in salt environments, and that the less-promoted alternative outperforms the market leader in independent testing — things that advertising-supported publications rarely say in print.

The long-term product tests are particularly valuable. Antifouling paint comparisons run five years on test panels in different water conditions; bottom paint recommendations from other sources are typically based on manufacturer claims and anecdote. Practical Sailor's recommendations are based on controlled side-by-side comparison over time periods long enough to reveal performance that short tests miss. The subscription — roughly $80 per year — pays for itself many times over when applied to a single equipment purchase decision. A sailor who reads Practical Sailor before buying a windlass, a bilge pump, or a suite of safety equipment will spend the money better and own better gear as a result.

Cruising World: The Culture of Bluewater Sailing

Cruising World is the American magazine of record for bluewater cruising — the publication that for five decades has captured what it feels like to take a small boat across an ocean and what happens when you get to the other side. The mix of first-person voyage narratives, destination guides, gear reviews, and seamanship content makes it the magazine closest to what most people imagine when they think of a sailing publication.

The voyage narratives are the heart of the magazine: first-person accounts of passages, circumnavigations, and cruising adventures that range from accomplished to extraordinary. These are not the literary memoir accounts that appear in books — Cruising World's stories are closer to expedition reports, detailed about the boat and the weather and the anchorage conditions, useful for passage planning as well as inspiring as reading. The destination coverage over five decades of issues represents an extraordinary archive of cruising ground intelligence that remains relevant even as the individual details (marina prices, customs procedures) change.

The gear coverage is good but should be read with the caveat that applies to all ad-supported publications: the most critical assessments appear in product categories where no major advertiser has a dominant stake. Gear reviews in categories with concentrated advertising tend toward the complimentary. Practical Sailor is the right cross-reference for any significant equipment decision where Cruising World's coverage seems incomplete.

Yachting Monthly: Seamanship and the North Atlantic

Yachting Monthly is the British sailing magazine with the strongest seamanship emphasis — the publication that takes offshore safety, heavy-weather technique, and passage planning seriously in a way that distinguishes it from both American and British competitors. Its readership sails the English Channel, the North Sea, the Bay of Biscay, and the North Atlantic; these are not forgiving waters, and the editorial content reflects the environment they demand.

The seamanship coverage is the best available in print: detailed, practical, and written with the assumption that the reader is actually offshore rather than reading for entertainment. Heavy-weather tactics, man-overboard procedures, the management of a boat in breaking seas, the decision to heave-to versus run — Yachting Monthly addresses these subjects with a depth that reflects decades of offshore incident analysis and the editorial culture of a publication whose readers regularly sail in conditions where the decisions are genuinely consequential.

For any sailor planning North Atlantic voyaging — the Azores, the trade-wind route from the Canaries, transatlantic passages in either direction — Yachting Monthly is mandatory reading. The magazine's coverage of the North Atlantic, Irish offshore sailing, and the waters north of the English Channel represents the most concentrated regional expertise available in the English-language sailing press. The UK focus is a feature, not a limitation, for sailors who will sail those waters.

Sail: The Dual-Use Magazine

Sail occupies a different position than Cruising World or Yachting Monthly: it covers both racing and cruising with roughly equal attention, making it the right choice for sailors who maintain a foot in both worlds. Club racing, offshore racing, one-design, and bluewater cruising all appear in each issue, and the coverage of racing tactics and sail trim is among the most accessible available in print.

The sail trim coverage in particular — upwind, downwind, heavy air, light air, spinnaker technique, headsail setup — is excellent and practically applicable for cruisers who want to sail their boats better rather than just getting from anchorage to anchorage. Most cruising sailors sail their boats slower than they need to for reasons of trim and setup rather than boat design; Sail's technical sailing content, read alongside the cruising content, produces a more complete sailing education than either racing or cruising publications alone.

48 North: Regional Excellence in the Pacific Northwest

48 North is the regional magazine for Pacific Northwest sailing — Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, the Gulf Islands, and the BC and Southeast Alaska coast — and it is the model for what regional sailing publications can be. The editorial is strong, the writing reflects genuine knowledge of the region, and the free digital edition makes it accessible to sailors who are planning Pacific Northwest passages from other areas.

For the specific region it covers, 48 North is more useful than any national publication. The coverage of the Inside Passage, the approaches to Alaska, the specific tidal and weather patterns of the Salish Sea — this is regional knowledge that Cruising World and Sailing cannot provide with the same depth. Sailors planning passage through the Pacific Northwest should read the 48 North archives alongside the cruising guides for the area.

Reading Foreign Magazines Internationally

One of the underappreciated complications of the cruising life is that your home country's magazine subscriptions often don't travel well. Print subscriptions don't follow you to a boat in the Mediterranean; digital subscriptions may be geofenced to your home country. The solutions have improved: Pocketmags and Zinio both carry international sailing publications and allow purchase from outside the home country, with downloads that work offline. A sailor who buys digital access to Yachting Monthly through Pocketmags can download the current issue before leaving marina Wi-Fi and read it in an anchorage without cell coverage a week later.

Most magazine publishers also make back-issue archives available to current subscribers, which is where the real value concentrates. Cruising World's archive covers five decades of first-person accounts from every significant cruising ground; Yachting Monthly's archive contains decades of offshore incident reports and heavy-weather analysis. Searching the archive before a passage — for accounts of the specific passage area, the specific season, the specific weather patterns — provides intelligence that no current cruising guide can replicate. This is how experienced sailors use magazine subscriptions: less for the current issue than for access to the accumulated archive.

Using Magazine Content for Passage Research

The research protocol for a well-prepared passage includes the pilot books and cruising guides for the destination area, the relevant weather routing resources, and a search through the major magazine archives for first-person accounts of the same passage. The magazine accounts provide something the pilot books don't: the human experience of the passage, with the specific decisions made under actual conditions, the problems that occurred and how they were handled, and the anchorage and port impressions of sailors who have actually been there.

Cruising World and Yachting Monthly between them have published accounts of virtually every passage a bluewater sailor is likely to make. A search of their subscriber archives for "Canaries to Caribbean," "Pacific Crossing," or "Inside Passage" produces accumulated first-person experience that no other source matches. The intelligence is sometimes dated — marina prices change, customs procedures change — but the passage character, the weather patterns, the timing windows, and the critical hazards change slowly if at all.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Practical Sailor described as being in a fundamentally different category from other sailing magazines? Practical Sailor accepts no advertising — its income comes entirely from subscriptions, and its business model requires that product testing be seen as trustworthy by its readership. Every other sailing publication balances editorial content against advertiser interests, creating predictable distortions where products from major advertisers receive softer coverage and critical findings about significant advertisers rarely appear in print. The practical consequence is that Practical Sailor will state that a popular antifouling paint performs poorly in its fifth year, that a well-known windlass brand has a persistent failure mode in salt environments, and that a less-promoted alternative outperforms the market leader — things advertising-supported publications rarely say.

What makes Practical Sailor's long-term product tests particularly valuable for sailors? Antifouling paint comparisons run five years on test panels in different water conditions; most other recommendations are based on manufacturer claims and anecdote. Bottom paint recommendations from other sources reflect short tests that miss performance patterns only visible over time; Practical Sailor's recommendations come from controlled side-by-side comparisons long enough to reveal actual durability. The subscription at roughly $80 per year pays for itself many times over when applied to a single equipment purchase decision — a sailor who reads Practical Sailor before buying a windlass, bilge pump, or safety equipment will spend money better and own better gear.

What does Yachting Monthly offer that distinguishes it from American sailing publications? Yachting Monthly has the strongest seamanship emphasis of any sailing magazine — its readership sails the English Channel, North Sea, Bay of Biscay, and North Atlantic, which are not forgiving waters, and the editorial content reflects those demands. Heavy-weather tactics, man-overboard procedures, management of a boat in breaking seas, and the decision to heave-to versus run are addressed with a depth that reflects decades of offshore incident analysis. For any sailor planning North Atlantic voyaging — the Azores, the trade-wind route from the Canaries, transatlantic passages in either direction — Yachting Monthly is described as mandatory reading.

How should sailors use magazine archives for passage research? The research protocol for a well-prepared passage includes pilot books and cruising guides alongside a search through major magazine archives for first-person accounts of the same passage. Magazine accounts provide what pilot books don't: the human experience of the passage with specific decisions made under actual conditions, problems encountered and how they were handled, and anchorage impressions from sailors who have actually been there. Cruising World and Yachting Monthly between them have published accounts of virtually every bluewater passage a sailor is likely to make; a subscriber archive search for a specific passage produces accumulated first-person intelligence that no other source matches.

What does Sail magazine offer that other publications don't? Sail covers both racing and cruising with roughly equal attention, making it the right choice for sailors who maintain a foot in both worlds. The sail trim coverage in particular — upwind, downwind, heavy air, light air, spinnaker technique, and headsail setup — is among the most accessible available in print. Most cruising sailors sail their boats slower than necessary for reasons of trim and setup rather than boat design; Sail's technical sailing content read alongside cruising content produces a more complete sailing education than either racing or cruising publications alone.

How can sailors access sailing magazines while cruising internationally? Print subscriptions don't follow boats to a Mediterranean anchorage, and digital subscriptions may be geofenced to the home country. Pocketmags and Zinio both carry international sailing publications and allow purchase from outside the home country, with downloads that work offline — a digital Yachting Monthly issue bought through Pocketmags before leaving marina Wi-Fi can be read in an anchorage without cell coverage a week later. Most publishers also make back-issue archives available to current subscribers, which is where value concentrates for passage research.