Ocean Paddler

[Mark R]

My copy of the first issue has arrived.

Congratulations to all involved. It looks like a 'real' high quality magazine, and I suspect will read like one, too.

[andreadawn]

Mmm, I wasn't expecting something quite so upmarket. I wanted something to read in the bath, but this looks almost too good to risk getting it wet!

I remember the last attempt to get a sea kayaking mag going in the UK. It wasn't quite up to this standard. Are you really going to be able to keep this up monthly? I certainly hope so. Then I can finally cancel my subscription to Sea Kayaker.

Congratulations. It looks great.

Andrea.

[Mike Marshall]

Mine arrived too!!!
A quality magazine with quality content, very collectable actually as the binding is very up market as H says!!!
I can see a rack of these over the years neatly in a bookcase somewhere for reference :-)

Nice one Bertie and the team

MikeM

[runswick2000]

I've just discovered that the posh looking shiney surface is actually cunningly designed so that the kids dinner can be wiped off it! Thanks, not many other publishers are this considerate.......

[matt_ttuk]

Just received my copy of the magazine and it has exceeded my expectations. The quality of the content is excellent and the cover’s not bad either. It has more pages dedicated to sea kayaking than most kayaking magazines have altogether.

Well done to all the team involved and I wish you all the best in the future.

Matt

[Dave Thomas]

Hope mine comes tomorrow!!

[spinning-plates]

Mine arrived today. I am also very impressed by the quality of the cover and very interesting articles.
At the subscription price it is an absolute bargain. Many thanks to all those involved. If you haven’t got a subscription I would suggest you get one now.

[Daveymuz]

Got my copy today - good design, very handsome cover and very classy to go black on the back. The production quality is very impressive, someone's spent a lot of money making it look so good - hope enough people subscribe to keep up the standard. I was going to be rude about there being too high a level of assumed knowledge on the first feature - the interview with Jeff Allen - until I got to the Additional Information page at the end, and all was revealed. Good start, pleased I've subscribed.

[waltfos]

There was a link earlier on the forum but cant locate it to subscribe to mag.

Has anyone got it

tnx

Walt

[Simon Willis]

Here. And with £4.99 cover price, the subscription rate £2.08 an issue, is a bargain. Especially when compared to ther mags.

[waltfos]

Tnx

Simon

[keefmac]

oh shut up, the lot of you!

I've ended up spending a week at the in-laws and I know my copy's sitting on the doormat at home - stop rubbing it in!!!

:-(

[GillD]

Excellent mag, far better than I expected.

I hope you can keep it up for our subscription (it is very low), especially with postage costaing 98p.

I showed some at the club tonight & they couldn't believe sea kayakers did what they did (they see it as a soft sport compared to river running).

[Cornholio]

Got mine through the post- looks top quality, scared to open it fully in case I damage the spine!
At last a dedicated mag- well done!

[Simon Willis]

Bertie just pointed on my blog there's just 13 days to subscribe at the bargain price of £2.00 an issue.

Deduct the 98p postage and that's £1.10 per issue. Bertie indicates they don't make a profit at that price but it does get the money coming in so they can invest in improvements like maps which are missing from the first issue.
S

[Mark R]

I would imagine they want as many subscribers as possible so they can sell advertising, which is what really pays for the mag.

I was sorry to see that the list of kayaking shops stocking the mag wasn't exactly comprehensive - hopefully this will change.

[Phillipo]

Just bought a copy - excellent magazine.

Have a look at the article on Expedition planning. In the opening photograph there are two tents inside four kayaks.In the bottom left of the photo,just outside the kayak-courtyard is a big patch of yellow snow.....

[PippaHarris]

Yes I just bought a copy too and think it's a really great publication,hope it lasts

[Dave Thomas]

It's come! Looks great, from a superficial skim through. Looking forward to getting properly stuck into it later. Well done to all concerned.

[Mark R]

http://southwestseakayaking.co.uk/2007/ ... -magazine/
I hope I did their work due justice.


(PS how many books from my 'SW shelf' behind can you recognise?)

[SteveA]

Mine arrived today too. Haven't done more than browse through it yet but it looks a really slick production for a couple of quid. Excellent.

[ChrisS]

Sounds good, I think I'll subscribe. Is it any relation to this earlier "Ocean Paddler"?

[Bertie..]

Hi All,

Thanks for all of your comments, it's all been really appreciated by Rich & I, and I'm glad that you all like the magazine.

The subscription price at the moment is a steal, but it's a time-limited deal to get people motivated into parting with cash early, and it hasn't got long left to run.

Producing a magazine of this nature relies on four elements; advertising, subscriptions, contributors & distribution and in reality, it's a team effort. If the UK sea kayaking community wants a decent magazine, then everyone from manufacturers, to canoe shops, to readers need to do their bit.

So far, noises from the advertisers have been very supportive - it seems they want a UK sea kayaking mag.

Clearly, there's support for it amongst the paddlers demonstrated by the early subcriptions we've recieved. We've lined up a number of contributors, but we're always open to more ideas/articles etc (read this first though).

As for distribution, without serious amounts of cash up front by ourselves, and a considerable number of purchases by readers, we're never going to get it into the likes of WH Smith etc. To give you an idea - we've been told by a number of the UK distributors that we'd need to be running a major marketing campaign (approx. £20k - £30k in cost), and be looking to sell 20-30,000 copies per month to get the interest of the major retailers, whereas a lot of specialist niche magazines like ours sell a lot less than that. Hence our approach of selling direct to the specialist kayaking shops out there - but, even then, not all of them are interested in stocking it.

Rich and I are putting everything we can into making this a valued resource for the sea kayaking community, and for us it's all about givng you all a top quality sea kayaking magazine which does justice to what we all get out of sea kayaking.

So, if you want to support our efforts, then.

1. subscribe!
2. get your friends and paddling partners to subscribe!
3. go and check out your local kayaking store and hassle them if they are not stocking it - there's a certain south west/south coast chain I can think of ;-)

We aren't related to the earlier attempt at a sea kayaking magazine entitled 'Ocean Paddler' - it's just that we loved the name, it works so well, and we checked out the legal status of re-using it and found there was no problem.

Oh, and PhilipO, we could have airbrushed it out - but we wanted to show all sides of sea kayaking ;-)

[NeilG]

Count me in. Subscription taken.

[soundoftheseagull]

Saw a copy yesterday, thought I was in a BUPA waiting room!
Great quality I have just subscribed....."next, coming doctor"

[gizmo]

Just subscribed - Look forward to receiving it.

[Mark R]

Just read Douglas Wilcox's article on photography ... great, thanks Douglas. Pretty much the clear outline of what's involved in taking good pics that I've been hoping you'd get around to writing.

[NeilG]

Count me in. Subscription taken.

Next day delivery! I get home from paddling the River Beaulieu and a difficult sea with the F5 wind over tide at Lepe. What is waiting for me, my spanking first copy of Ocean Paddler. Top quality finish - more like a book than a glossy mag.

Great to see you've got your admin together guys. All the best for the future. I look forward to the next one, and the next, and the next...

[Big Baz]

Bertie

I think one word sums up your publication. 'Quality!'

Best of luck!

[thames kayak]

Well if I had a coffee table this would be on it! Christ I have been waiting for this for the last 2000 years and its arived. Rich and Bertie you are the twins of GOD!