Publish or Perish: Why picking up your favorite sailing magazine is important.

"Be published or perish." This, a familiar phrase from my professors in University. At the time, was heavy in the sciences and all my mentors where active in their field of study. The school I attended was adamant their staff be contributing leaders in their area of expertise and one way to secure this position was having their research published in scientific journals.

What does any of this have to do with sailing?

How do the top boat designers, professional sailors and photographers make their work and accomplishments known to the world? It's typically published in one of the many sailing magazines. As contributors and readers, we breeze through clips on the web. However, it's when the story or image makes it to print, the real satisfaction of success is felt.

The virtual world has improved tremendously with rich content that is easy to find. It's a mixing pot of professionals and hobbyist. The combination providing a unique base of information from those who are paid to contribute and those with a passion.

Where am I going with all this?

I always wanted to be published. In print. Granted, as a young girl in University, the hope was to be first author in one of the many scientific journals I collected. Later, it would be to see my name in an American based Sailing Magazine I grew up reading alongside my father on our family cruiser. As an adult, a hardcover book protecting the pages of a great tale crafted from the many adventures experienced from chasing dreams.

The virtual world is my office. It's an amazing view. However, want makes it to print sticks around longer. We can go to the library and look up all the work on famous boat designers of the America's Cup and relieve the history of around the world racing. This may all be done on their computer database, however, because it made it to print in one of the recognized publications, its earned the place to be archived and therefore remembered for all time.

Remembered for all time. That's my point.

Will always send a shout-out to all the mentors and friends holding down virtual sailing news sites (too many to name and would not want to leave any out!) They work very hard to keep us in-the-know, in real-time. I've spent some years on that same goal - you don't sleep much!

However, for sailing to grow and leave a mark: the stories and images must be published or perish. So please, whether it's the digital version or quick grab at the new-stand, on your way through the airport; remember that every-time you do buy a sailing magazine, you are contributing to its future being told to our grandchildren.

Now, of course my hope is it'll be Seahorse's, but I am where I am today because of them all. Enjoy some Summer reading this season!

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Note: I chose to work for Seahorse because their content is a mix of quality you find in a scientific publication and the light reading of news from the highest level of sailing. You learn a lot from the contributors without the clutter of ad/sales because they have streamlined their business process to efficiently publish content. It's not an easy magazine to acquire in North America, here's a free digital sample of April's issue: