Stay with the in-crowd

"Okay... you got me, I finally signed up. This is the first website that I would ever have considered actually paying to view (well the other was the Naked Swedish Volleyball Team, but I didn't want that on my credit record). Your critics have some fair comments that a lot of the content on madforsailing.com is available elsewhere on the net, but your format, delivery, analysis and exclusive interviews makes the difference. Keep up the good work! I hope that I don't have to pay for everything I surf nowadays. Every news site that has gone subscription-based I have abandoned for a competitor (like scmp.com).

"I am a Canadian living in Hong Kong. I sail and race all over South East Asia as well as back home on the West Coast of North America. Hoping for a bit of coverage on these areas (I've seen some), although I know that you are based in the UK and that is your focus. Your reviews are also interesting and I would like to see more of them, although after racing in Cowes last year in August (707s), I can understand why you might not get our on the water that much during the colder months. Brrr! Let us know how the subscription drive is going next week."

The long and short of this is that all yachting websites, even the one man band operations which only post up raw press releases, are losing money as witnessed by the recent demise of SailSail and the more extravangant departure of Quokka last year. Advertising on the web is not yet a trusted medium and on-line shops are more costly to maintain than the revenue they generate. As a result madfor sailing is trying to ensure its future as a viable business and one that can be improved and developed, by way of a subscription that is half the price of an annual magazine sub. We believe many other consumer websites will be forced to turn this way in the near future or risk closure.

madfor sailing has been around for more than 18 months now, set up just prior to the Sydney Olympics and we hope we do our utmost to offer a premium service to our readers. In addition to the news you may read on other sites, we break stories like newspapers do. Readers of madfor sailing get comment from some of the top voices in the sailing world, from both journalists and competitors alike - no other yachting sites offer this to the degree we do.

To illustrate what is a highly pictorial sport we attempt to publish the most breathtaking images from the best photographers in the business and due to the format of our site we can publish them BIG (see below)! No magazine has the space to publish 40 photos showing the history and development of C-Class catamarans over the last decade for example.

This was recognised in January when madfor sailing became the first website to win the Sealine Media Prize at the British Nautical Awards.

Over the next months we will be bringing you news from the top dinghy and big boat events both in the UK and around the world, whether it is domestic national championships or Olympic classes, America's Cup, Around Alone, regattas such as Cowes Week and Cork, etc - all to the same high standard you have become used to on madfor sailing. We feel that £14.99 (or even £24.99 after Sunday night) is a small price to pay for this.

Be part of madfor sailing... sign up now ! Do so before Sunday night and you will get not only a £10 discount but will also stand a chance of winning some very cool-looking Murphy&Nye deck shoes in the process...

James Boyd
editor, madforsailing.com

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To see some examples of work which has appeared on madfor sailing over the last months:

America's Cup Jubilee - photo gallery of the J-class action
Ed Gorman's interview with Russell Coutts
Andy Rice's interview with Paul Cayard
60ft trimarans - Fujicolor dismasting
Flying 15 news - Gerald New's round up
Peter Bentley comment - What is an IMS 600?