Forty years ago, the hong kong yachting association bulletin was published and over the years morphed into the magazine you’re reading now.
Forty years ago, the hong kong yachting association bulletin was published and over the years morphed into the magazine you’re reading now.
I HAVE TWO VIVID memories of 1976 – watching the Montreal Olympics and Jimmy Carter getting elected President of the United States. Fast forward and today here I am, the editor of a 40-year-old boating magazine half a world away from my home in Canada.
That was a time before Star Wars, the Internet, email, Facebook and Justin Bieber. Strangely, Starbucks had been around for five years. A lot of things happened in 1976. Apple Computer was founded. The Concorde started commercial flights across the Atlantic. Hong Kong’s famed Rugby Sevens tournament was launched.
During the summer of 1976, the Hong Kong Yachting Association was planning to turn its annual year book into something else.
“It has not yet been decided how many issues there will be in any year but we are aiming towards a minimum of six,” the Editor wrote in the 12-page first issue of the Hong Kong Yachting Association Bulletin. “… it is our hope that this publication will be used as a ‘forum’ for views and ideas to be put forward, disputed, supported and generally fought over – so if you feel you want to leap onto your high horse over some particular point don’t hesitate to write in…”
Then in January 1977, the HKYA Boating Monthly began with an editorial committee consisting of Clive Brook-Fox, Reg Maynard, Constant Van Kretschmar and John Beavan. Offical subscribers included Dunhill’s, Outboard Marine, Neil Pryde Ltd, Memosail, and John Manners and Co Ltd.
“I have scratched through my recent yachting magazine and press cuttings to put together an International Racing Roundup,” Nikki Brook- Fox writes on page one of the 20-page publication (including cover).
Boating Monthly carried on over the years, updating its appearance with colour covers and advertisements. Then in 1981, things changed dramatically for the magazine as HKYA President Dr John Park wrote in his message in Volume 5, No 6 issue of Boating Monthly.
“This is the last Boating Monthly in its present format. Next issue it becomes Asian Boating Monthly under the control of the Publications Department of the South China Morning Post Group. The magazine will still be distributed to HKYA members as in the past.
“Boating Monthly has grown enormously since its inception five years ago, and it has become such an enterprise that it is difficult to continue producing it on the part-time basis under which it had been operated…
“We feel confident that Asian Boating Monthly will bring to members a magazine of still higher quality then at present, and that its content will be of considerable interest to all who receive it.”
In November 1981, the first issue of Asian Boating Monthly was published. “Questions have been asked as to what editorial policy Asian Boating Monthly will adopt,” the Editor wrote. “Hong Kong readers will be pleased to hear that their activities will continue to be fully covered.
“The magazine has simply been expanded to provide more regional news in line with rapidly growing subscriptions and sales in other Asian centres…
“In short, the new Asian Boating Monthly is a thoroughly international boating magazine with a strong Asian flavour.”
By 1983 the magazine was more than 40 pages per issue, with two-page colour ads and spot colour used in editorial headlines, etc. In July 1987, the magazine’s name was changed to Asian Boating.
“Dropping the term Monthly didn’t mean a different frequency,” the Editor wrote. “[It] has been a monthly magazine since the 1970s, and intends to remain so.” There was one more major change coming for the magazine’s name, this time in October 1999 when it became Asia-Pacific Boating. “Some older Hong Kong readers, surprisingly, still call it Boating Monthly to this day, even though this hasn’t been the official title for nearly two decades,” the Editor wrote in the October 1999 issue.
The magazine’s ownership changed several times over the 40 years, with the current SPH Magazines subsidiary Blu Inc Media taking the helm at the end of 2007. But the quest to remain the leading yachting publication in Asia, with an international flavour, remains as strong as ever.
Today’s magazine is much different from the early issues. Now published bi-monthly, the editorial team uses the website, Facebook page, weekly email newsletters and a digital version of the magazine to keep readers informed whether they are in Hong Kong, Singapore, London or Vancouver.
There is also a Chinese-language sister publication, China Boating, that was started in 2004. It’ll be very interesting to see what happens over the next 40 years.
www.asia-pacificboating.com
www.bluincmedia.com
www.china-boating.com
