Over the years we’ve seen Waterski Magazine’s annual Boat Buyer’s Guide go from a valuable resource for boat shoppers, to a marketing piece for the manufacturers, and finally this year, to nothing more than a reprint of each manufacturer’s brochure. In the past the editor’s of Waterski Mag used to at least drive the boats, this year though they’ve made no attempt to hide that fact that every piece of data and media was supplied directly by the boat manufacturers. We all know it can’t be cheap for the boat companies to get their products listed, so that leads to the question of what exactly are they getting for all that money?
The Glory Years
When I first started reading the annual issue that compared all of the models from every major manufacturer it was apparent that Waterski spent enough time in each boat to really get a feeling for what they were all about. Additionally, they weren’t afraid to tell their readers about the things they didn’t like, from performance, to design and comfort, pros as well as cons were clearly listed. From performance data to an objective analysis of wake quality, handling and general performance, Waterski Mag used empirical data along with their professional opinions to honestly rate the boats they reviewed.
The Dark Years
In recent years less and less energy has been put into actually testing the boats from an unbiased perspective. One can only assume that pressure to appease the manufacturer’s that support the magazine with their advertising has forced the publication to sacrifice some of their objectiveness. Unfortunately the reader, and ultimately the industry as a whole, loose out by the censoring of content.
The 2007 Edition
For many yeawaterskiski and wakeboard enthusiasts have eagerly anticipated the arrival of the annual Boat Buyer’s Guide in late December. This year those loyal readers were let down especially hard when the magazine arrived in the mail. For the first time Waterski Magazine didn’t even test the boats themselves. The editors didn’t even drive all of the models they reviewed. That’s why you won’t see any performance information on the 2007 models. That’s also why all of the images Waterski featured this year are the same ones you’ll find in each manufacturer’s marketing material. Waterski didn’t take their own shots, they used media provided by the manufacturer.
This is a huge loss for wakeboard boat consumers everywhere. Rather than provide valuable feedback to the manufacturers about how to improve their products, Waterski Magazine has chosen to sing the praises of every manufacturer’s product. The result is an almost worthless marketing piece that provides almost no valuable or unique information to boat shoppers. An impartial, unbiased source in the industry is a huge asset for anyonne in the market for a new boat, and something that will be dearly missed.
