SAILING: What a journey

The team at SAILING Magazine is celebrating their 55th anniversary… here’s the announcement:

Volume 1, Number 1, April 1966

SAILING Magazine was launched in 1966 from an office on the shore of Lake Michigan. Bill Schanen Jr. wanted to bring the beauty of sail to life on oversized pages similar to LIFE Magazine.

For about two decades the magazine was printed and mailed from the SAILING Magazine headquarters in Port Washington, Wisconsin, where the publication’s parent company Port Publications also printed a weekly newspaper along with several other publications.

Within a few years of the publishing the first issue, the magazine had grown in popularity, covering the sport around the United States and beyond in a way no other publication had, and it outgrew the printing capacity at its Port Washington, Wisconsin, headquarters. In all that time, it never ceased publication, making it the oldest continuously published sailing magazine in the United States.

A lot has changed over the years. Many of our readers now enjoy reading SAILING Magazine on tablets, although plenty would never dream of giving up their printed copy to add to their collection. And it’s a bit smaller these days than it was back in 1966. But much more remains the same.

SAILING’s headquarters still overlook Lake Michigan even though the magazine covers the best sailing the world over. And it’s still owned by the family that founded it, allowing the magazine to be free of influence from media conglomerate overlords (we jest, a little). But most of all SAILING continues to be a magazine for sailors, by sailors.

Much like an extended ocean crossing, we’ve weathered storms, recessions and now even a worldwide pandemic, and we’ve celebrated glory days, the equivalent of a great downwind run with the sun shining on the cresting waves in the wake.

And we’re thrilled to be celebrating our 55th year of bringing readers the prettiest and, we think, the best sailing magazine out there. We look forward to celebrating with you.