As you may or may not have seen (if not, go to...
http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=152036 )
but the story is that Y&Y have now completed the purchase of DSM. To date, the reactions have been positive though I keep hearing the same cautionary words regarding the loss of the dinghy focus.
But, let's give the new way a try, for from where I am sat, the future looks more assured than it has done for some time. Certainly, my name is in the frame for doing dinghy related articles for Y&Y and in this respect I have to say that I am happy - I've been thinking for some time now that I wanted to get back to my core discipline which is the development of the racing dinghy - who got it right, who got it wrong!
So, DSM is no more and I have to wonder just even if it will be missed in a short while. For now, I will have a tad more time for sailing (well, repairing the boats that Jon has broken), a tad more time for writing and I might even now be able to get my own website up to date.
I'll know more by Bough Beech......see you all then
D
DSM....RIP!
DSM....RIP!
David H
Re: DSM....RIP!
I had seen the news.
Great that you are coming to BBSC, what will you be sailing?
Great that you are coming to BBSC, what will you be sailing?
Harrier 25
505 7163
505 7163
Re: DSM....RIP!
Does that mean you'll start posting on Y&Y forum now, David?
As you know from Y&Y, I'm one of the ones who is worried by this. It seems that the market just isn't there for a dinghy based magazine. It must be that non sailors like looking at pictures of big yachts, Yachting World style, or bits of furniture, Classic boat style, rather than little boats that, according to the BBC, are only sailed by people who can't afford to sail round the world, but dream of it...So it seems to me that Y&Y will keep the focus on big boats for much of the time, only giving major headlines to dinghies at Olympic times or when a major advertizer has a new product out.
I hope I'm wrong.
Will dinghy cruising writing survive?
As you know from Y&Y, I'm one of the ones who is worried by this. It seems that the market just isn't there for a dinghy based magazine. It must be that non sailors like looking at pictures of big yachts, Yachting World style, or bits of furniture, Classic boat style, rather than little boats that, according to the BBC, are only sailed by people who can't afford to sail round the world, but dream of it...So it seems to me that Y&Y will keep the focus on big boats for much of the time, only giving major headlines to dinghies at Olympic times or when a major advertizer has a new product out.
I hope I'm wrong.
Will dinghy cruising writing survive?
Rupert
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Ancient Geek
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Re: DSM....RIP!
I am sure that there is only really room for one hard copy magazine for all sailing boats in the long run.
Yachting World Yachting Monthly and to some extent Yachts and Yachting are full of mastabatory adverts (I accept essential to pay for the magazine.) when you analyse it there is seldom more than a dozen to twenty pages of copy and the editorials are no more editorials than this post is, they are just diaries of how the writer freeloaded another days sailing somewhere far removed from the ken of your average sailor. Oh where are the modern versions of Peter Milne, Peter Cooke, Ian Proctor, John Nicholls, Jack Knights, David Thorpe, Group Captain (daddy.) Haylock, Richard Creagh-Osborne to name few, people who could write and inform on subjects of interest, not just Americas Cup and other things far removed from the grass roots.
Yachting World Yachting Monthly and to some extent Yachts and Yachting are full of mastabatory adverts (I accept essential to pay for the magazine.) when you analyse it there is seldom more than a dozen to twenty pages of copy and the editorials are no more editorials than this post is, they are just diaries of how the writer freeloaded another days sailing somewhere far removed from the ken of your average sailor. Oh where are the modern versions of Peter Milne, Peter Cooke, Ian Proctor, John Nicholls, Jack Knights, David Thorpe, Group Captain (daddy.) Haylock, Richard Creagh-Osborne to name few, people who could write and inform on subjects of interest, not just Americas Cup and other things far removed from the grass roots.
Simples.
Re: DSM....RIP!
Rupert,
I just do not know at this point...........what I do know is that I am very keen to get back to my roots and focus on the historical side of things, both the boats and the people.
One of the ways in which DSM lost it's way a year or so ago was with the almost slavish following of the big names - be they in Finns or 49ers. This is easily understood as contrary to popular belief, there are some really great people sailing at the top of the squad system. These are sailors who despite having Championships (and in some cases medals) already on their CV would still find time to stop and pass the time - meat and drink to a poor journalist!
But that said, the relevence of the pinnacle toppers to the wider grassroots of the sport is a tenuous link indeed, as was demonstrated so well last year. The better we got at being alongaside the big names, the poorer the quality of the overall magazine. Then, despite the many naysayers, Mr RS himself, Pete Vincent, took the magazine on and in a few months had shown just how good a publication focused on dinghies could be. I thought that we might be entering an era of RS bias in the stories carried (indeed, someone tried to complain of it) BUT simple research showed that I'd got more pictures and column inches on Contender related material (and this across 3 issues so fairly representative) that there had been on RS boats!!
All this is history now.... once the dust has settled and I know what the score is, I will probably be putting more effort into the Bearfacemedia website: I'll get more done on the Mirror 14, I've a great story on the last remaining Ghost and al the snippets that I've collected of late may see the light of day.
I do not want to pre-judge any other issues, if the chance comes up to write for Y&Y (and I think it may well do so) then I will put my very best efforts into keeping the dinghy flame alight there.
But one promise first: I had just started a new series on the 'Iconic Dinghies' - a top 10 list of the great individual boats that have either always made it to the front or else have changed the game in the nature of dinghy sailing.
If Y&Y don't want this (seeing it started elsewhere) then I will post that up, a month at a time, over on the Bearfacemedia website.
AND
Henshall's wall chart: Yes, that now exists too - a sort of clouds and arrows diagram showing the inter-relationships between designers, classes, technology and sometimes just sheer inspiration.
Watch this space!
D
I just do not know at this point...........what I do know is that I am very keen to get back to my roots and focus on the historical side of things, both the boats and the people.
One of the ways in which DSM lost it's way a year or so ago was with the almost slavish following of the big names - be they in Finns or 49ers. This is easily understood as contrary to popular belief, there are some really great people sailing at the top of the squad system. These are sailors who despite having Championships (and in some cases medals) already on their CV would still find time to stop and pass the time - meat and drink to a poor journalist!
But that said, the relevence of the pinnacle toppers to the wider grassroots of the sport is a tenuous link indeed, as was demonstrated so well last year. The better we got at being alongaside the big names, the poorer the quality of the overall magazine. Then, despite the many naysayers, Mr RS himself, Pete Vincent, took the magazine on and in a few months had shown just how good a publication focused on dinghies could be. I thought that we might be entering an era of RS bias in the stories carried (indeed, someone tried to complain of it) BUT simple research showed that I'd got more pictures and column inches on Contender related material (and this across 3 issues so fairly representative) that there had been on RS boats!!
All this is history now.... once the dust has settled and I know what the score is, I will probably be putting more effort into the Bearfacemedia website: I'll get more done on the Mirror 14, I've a great story on the last remaining Ghost and al the snippets that I've collected of late may see the light of day.
I do not want to pre-judge any other issues, if the chance comes up to write for Y&Y (and I think it may well do so) then I will put my very best efforts into keeping the dinghy flame alight there.
But one promise first: I had just started a new series on the 'Iconic Dinghies' - a top 10 list of the great individual boats that have either always made it to the front or else have changed the game in the nature of dinghy sailing.
If Y&Y don't want this (seeing it started elsewhere) then I will post that up, a month at a time, over on the Bearfacemedia website.
AND
Henshall's wall chart: Yes, that now exists too - a sort of clouds and arrows diagram showing the inter-relationships between designers, classes, technology and sometimes just sheer inspiration.
Watch this space!
D
David H
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Michael Brigg
- Posts: 1663
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Re: DSM....RIP!
Many of them are writing regularly for nothing on forums such as these.Ancient Geek wrote:I am sure that there is only really room for one hard copy magazine for all sailing boats in the long run..
Oh where are the modern versions of Peter Milne, Peter Cooke, Ian Proctor, John Nicholls, Jack Knights, David Thorpe, Group Captain (daddy.) Haylock, Richard Creagh-Osborne to name few, people who could write and inform on subjects of interest, not just Americas Cup and other things far removed from the grass roots.
Looking through old copies of the Yachting almanac and such, the reports of each and every dinghy meeting in minute detail was posted by local corespondents and published only in these magazines.
Now every class of any significance, or none for that matter publishes its own journal and website and forum. The national magazines cannot compete and so unsurprisingly have dropped the subjects as unprofitable.
Kids today, (sorry to say that again) are so used to (so easily) seeing their names in lights up on the internet that the printed page holds no allure.
When was the last time your children used a book as source material for their essay??
Michael Brigg
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alan williams
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Re: DSM....RIP!
I really enjoyed DSM when it first arrived on the scene. There was a refreshing feel that this mag was solely for dinghy sailors in that it featured the established classes not the new SMODs.
Then it lost it's way with fashion, holidays and introduced yachts in the form of sports boats. I gave up buying it then and just used to read the website. Y&Y at least in its tile clearly states that it is a yachting mag that includes dinghys, but as AG says has drifted of into a life style mag of late. Shame its gone but I feel if it had stuck to the original format it might still have been going.
Cheers Al
Then it lost it's way with fashion, holidays and introduced yachts in the form of sports boats. I gave up buying it then and just used to read the website. Y&Y at least in its tile clearly states that it is a yachting mag that includes dinghys, but as AG says has drifted of into a life style mag of late. Shame its gone but I feel if it had stuck to the original format it might still have been going.
Cheers Al
Last edited by alan williams on Thu Jun 03, 2010 4:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ancient Geek
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Re: DSM....RIP!
On a rather emotional day how nice to find someone (alan.) agreeing with me!
Michael they (The putative journo's.) may be writing but having read it are we any the wiser or even better informed? One report in Y&Y was so much using nick names that ir neglected to list even the winner!
So keen are the writers to show they are part of "the scene" they fail to grasp most of us are not part of their scene!
When I was lad and racing dinghies one could read a good few column inches about oneself and the previous days racing in The Times and Telegraph some one office or school bound understood the first ten and who had done what, nowadays with all the technology, results and what pass for reports are often several days in being posted, and you are referred elsewhere for the results too. It is after all all stored electrically and a mere press of a button away! Am I the only one to mourne the passing of "One Design and Offshore Yachtsman" and "Yachting and Boating Weekly" clearly I may be because they folded as did DSM and Y&Y did too remember,l though it's been rescued though for how long?
Michael they (The putative journo's.) may be writing but having read it are we any the wiser or even better informed? One report in Y&Y was so much using nick names that ir neglected to list even the winner!
So keen are the writers to show they are part of "the scene" they fail to grasp most of us are not part of their scene!
When I was lad and racing dinghies one could read a good few column inches about oneself and the previous days racing in The Times and Telegraph some one office or school bound understood the first ten and who had done what, nowadays with all the technology, results and what pass for reports are often several days in being posted, and you are referred elsewhere for the results too. It is after all all stored electrically and a mere press of a button away! Am I the only one to mourne the passing of "One Design and Offshore Yachtsman" and "Yachting and Boating Weekly" clearly I may be because they folded as did DSM and Y&Y did too remember,l though it's been rescued though for how long?
Simples.
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Ancient Geek
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Re: DSM....RIP!
Here is an example:-
http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=152037
I think this is fair comment.
http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=152037
I think this is fair comment.
Simples.
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alan williams
- Posts: 1650
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- Location: Devon
Re: DSM....RIP!
Agree AG meaningless except to the people taking part. At school I used to buy Yachting and Boating weekly which had not only coverage of the last weeks events but photo's too. We used to look forward to sometimes seeing our names in print. Alas its now very rare to see ones name in the published results and even rarer to see the class sailed in some handicap events.
Cheers Al
Cheers Al
Re: DSM....RIP!
Ah, it was all better in the good old days...
Was it really? I bet there were as many crappy writeups back then as there are now, its just (unless you happened to be at a club or champs that featured in the Times (or, as I remember, Telegraph) you had to wait a month or more to see your name in print in Y&Y, whereas now you can sometimes see it in lights (well, back lit, anyway) in a few hours.
And reading the Dinghy Year Books, with their yearly round ups and the like, there is some really terribly old boy network prose. Maybe you didn't notice back then because you knew all the people?
Was it really? I bet there were as many crappy writeups back then as there are now, its just (unless you happened to be at a club or champs that featured in the Times (or, as I remember, Telegraph) you had to wait a month or more to see your name in print in Y&Y, whereas now you can sometimes see it in lights (well, back lit, anyway) in a few hours.
And reading the Dinghy Year Books, with their yearly round ups and the like, there is some really terribly old boy network prose. Maybe you didn't notice back then because you knew all the people?
Rupert
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Ancient Geek
- Posts: 1133
- Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:50 am
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Re: DSM....RIP!
I genuinly do think they were good old days.
The reports may have been full of good well structured English even as a teenager one was aware that we were a much smaller church than these days though not that much, remember dinghy championships were regularly field much bigger fleets than is the norm these days.
The sport in the UK is in danger of going to the dogs. Some clubs are fighting a brave rear-guard action others including our National Body seem to have given up.
The reports may have been full of good well structured English even as a teenager one was aware that we were a much smaller church than these days though not that much, remember dinghy championships were regularly field much bigger fleets than is the norm these days.
The sport in the UK is in danger of going to the dogs. Some clubs are fighting a brave rear-guard action others including our National Body seem to have given up.
Simples.
Re: DSM....RIP!
Whilst I can only agree with what has been said so far, I wonder if perhaps we should move foreward and perhaps ensure that we ourselves post full reports to Y&Y whenever the opportunity arises...
GBR74 ex custodian of
GBR384 Mickey Finnale (Taylor,wood)
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FD GBR350 Supercalifragalisticexpialidocious
GBR384 Mickey Finnale (Taylor,wood)
GBR455 Rubber Duck (Taylor, grp)
FD GBR350 Supercalifragalisticexpialidocious
Re: DSM....RIP!
With well structured English...
As soon as Notts has been run, I shall be sending in an early season round up and push for Oulton and the Nationals to go in the magazine, and a separate push for BB and Thames (unless Ben is doing this?) for the web, as publishing dates will be missed for these in the printed mag.
Probebly in English - possibly well structured...
As soon as Notts has been run, I shall be sending in an early season round up and push for Oulton and the Nationals to go in the magazine, and a separate push for BB and Thames (unless Ben is doing this?) for the web, as publishing dates will be missed for these in the printed mag.
Probebly in English - possibly well structured...
Rupert
Re: DSM....RIP!
Rupert et al,
I am still awaiting to hear my fate. As you know, I'm stuck firmly on the dinghy side of things, worser, I'm tied to the older/ Traditional dinghies. Will I get to write on these subjects for Y&Y? I hope so, for this is, to me at least, still 'where the sport is at'.
In the meantime, I'll be putting a lot more focus onto my own web pages...and who knows. A while back (when I was keeping the bearfacemedia site up and current) I was getting more hits than the DSM site. Okay, that doesn't say a lot for the DSM site 'as was' (this was before I turned my attentions to it) but it still gets a lot of traffic in from 'all over'. So, Rupert, Brooksey and any others, if you have a report then let me have it and I'll upload it to the site - for sure you won't have any word count limitations there and I can post a number of pics.
For everything else...watch this space.
D
I am still awaiting to hear my fate. As you know, I'm stuck firmly on the dinghy side of things, worser, I'm tied to the older/ Traditional dinghies. Will I get to write on these subjects for Y&Y? I hope so, for this is, to me at least, still 'where the sport is at'.
In the meantime, I'll be putting a lot more focus onto my own web pages...and who knows. A while back (when I was keeping the bearfacemedia site up and current) I was getting more hits than the DSM site. Okay, that doesn't say a lot for the DSM site 'as was' (this was before I turned my attentions to it) but it still gets a lot of traffic in from 'all over'. So, Rupert, Brooksey and any others, if you have a report then let me have it and I'll upload it to the site - for sure you won't have any word count limitations there and I can post a number of pics.
For everything else...watch this space.
D
David H