Enjoy a Fantasy, with Yachting Magazine

Reviewed by Bryan Carey, 2009-08-20

Yachting Magazine is a publication dedicated to the acquisition of large sea going vessels and the enjoyment that spending time on a yacht can bring. This publication is all about big boats, with an emphasis that is divided between buying a yacht, comparing yacht performance, evaluating new models of yachts, and enjoying life to the fullest as the owner/operator of your own home on the water.

Yachting Magazine is a magazine about luxury and it compares favorably to other, similar publications. Magazines about yachts are intended for an elite group of people for whom money is no object and Yachting Magazine is no different. The big boats talked about, tested, and offered for sale in the classified section usually sell for a minimum price of around half a million dollars and many of them sell for multiple millions of dollars, placing the bulk of the magazine's promoted material out of the reach of most individuals.

Even though yachting magazine is impractical for most people, there are a few nice features with Yachting Magazine and at the top of the list is the photography. Not only do you get to gaze in awe at these incredible aquatic machines, you also get to enjoy great photographs of beautiful lakes, oceans, and rivers where yachts of different sizes can often be found. These photographs set the imagination soaring and they rank as the magazine's number one asset. Second to the photographs are the travel articles. Again, they usually feature some nice photography, not to mention a few travel secrets from coastal and/or riverfront cities around the world.

As for the writing in Yachting Magazine, it is generally good, but other than the articles mentioned above, most of the material in this publication is too simplistic and/or irrelevant to the bulk of the population. For example, the evaluations of new make/model of yachts are often very lacking, offering only a one page summary, which isn't nearly enough to make an informed buying decision. Worse from a practical standpoint, the vessels the magazine features are usually in the one million+ dollar price range. This is fantasy material for most people. The yachts are nice to look at and fantasize about, but unless I receive a pay raise in the one- thousand percent range, there is practically no chance that I will be purchasing a multi- million dollar yacht any time soon.

Taken as a whole, Yachting Magazine is an acceptable publication that I will continue to read solely for its eye- candy properties. I really like the photography and the magazine can sometimes impress with a few of its travel articles. But other than that, Yachting Magazine is a fantasy read, pure and simple. Even though the photographs are great and they can set your imagination on fire, the magazine is an impractical read for most with more fantasy material than your favorite adult movie.