Leisure Boating staff members dust off the cobwebs of issues gone by, and look at the THEN and NOW of South Africa’s top-selling powerboat magazine…
NOW
THEN
Our recent August 2011 edition is the seventh magazine in volume 12, and we’re still going strong! We’ve grown our subscription-b ase considerably, and we still su pport all forms of powerboating! Unfortunately, financial times have changed, and a full years’ subscription costs R280 now (11 issues) — still something of a bargain for a years’ worth of everything powerboatin g!
Appropriately, the first-ever Leisure Boating magazine was launched at the turn of the millennium: January 2000. With the main focus to support powerboating in South Africa, the magazine started off on a very interesting footing by generating a subscriber base from our sister publications! Our first official subscriber was Pieter Dysel from KwaZulu-Natal and a full years’ subscription (10 issues) cost a mere R80!
EDITOR
NOW
THEN
Current editor-in-chief Dean Castle has been at the helm of Leisure Boating for the past 3•-years and has been involved with this magazine and other sister publications for more than 10 years. Although still young, Dean is a petrol-head with lots of knowledge about boats! He has a tendency to push any vehicle to its limits and his passion for the magazine and boats is unrelenting.
Then Editor-in-Chief Geoff Dekenah was instrumental in starting Leisure Boating from scratch. For years, he was the editor of Power Boat and Ski until it was liquidated and publisher Godfrey Castle decided to buy it out and start Leisure Boating. Geoff had a wealth of boating knowledge and was considered as one of the “founding fathers” of our magazine.
NOW
THEN
Established in 1988, the Trans Agulhas has been gracing our coastal waters for the past 23 years, and Leisure Boating has never missed a single moment covering this gruelling 800 km endurance race! This year, we reported the end of a era for the dominant duo of Dave Barnett and Tjaart Oosthuizen (who won the Trans Agulhas a record-breaking seven consecutive times!) and the dawning of a new age for current champs Wimpie Ackermann and Whitey Louw!
Issue #01’s first major story was the 2000 Trans Agulhas, the world’s toughest inflatable challenge. Back then, it was Boating Dynamix owner Ludolph Toerien who broke all the Trans Agulhas records and together with partner Ryan van Huyssteen, they won all the 2000 Trans Agulhas including all three sub-categories!
