This issue marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of Small Boats in September 2014. With this September issue, the number of articles published has risen to around 1,000, all of them available to subscribers under “Issues” in the menu bar above. This ever-growing resource for our community is both for our readers and from our readers. Almost without exception, the articles are written by boaters who have some hands-on experience or knowledge that they have been moved to share with our community. A majority of our contributors have never before written for publication. Their sense of shared purpose, at the heart of what we call Small Boats Nation, has allowed this publication to thrive over the past 10 years. Your participation is as welcome as it is essential for guiding Small Boats through the decades to come. All it takes is an email.

A Change of Watch

In February 2014, I received an email from Matt Murphy, the editor of WoodenBoat. The subject line read: “If asked, would you serve?” I had an answer even before I opened the email—WoodenBoat had been my favorite magazine since I built my first boat in 1977. “For some time now,” Matt wrote, “I’ve been thinking of how WB might adapt our print annual Small Boats content into a digital magazine–a monthly, perhaps. The idea is gaining traction here.” He provided a brief outline of the content of the new publication and asked if I was interested in being its editor. I was already quite proud to have had several articles published by WoodenBoat and to have been an instructor at WoodenBoat School. Working for WoodenBoat as an editor focusing on small boats was beyond what I’d ever dreamed of. And Matt’s use of the word “serve” struck home. By accepting, I’d be taking on not just a new job but an opportunity to be a part of something I believed in and admired.

Matt had emailed his invitation shortly after I’d launched my last issue as the editor of Sea Kayaker magazine. That job had also started with an invitation from an editor. That one came in a phone call in 1989 from John Dowd, Sea Kayaker’s founding editor, asking me to take over the magazine, then in its fifth year. I’d only written one article for Sea Kayaker, and I knew nothing about editing or publishing, but John had evidently been impressed with the editing I’d done of my own work. I took the chance and then stayed on for almost 25 years, until Sea Kayaker ceased publication in 2014.

As much as I’ve enjoyed my somewhat accidental 35-year-long career as an editor, at the age of 71, I’m now ready to spend a little less time at my desk and more time in my shop, aboard my boats, and with loved ones. But I have so valued working with the WoodenBoat crew, my connections to Small Boats readers and contributors, and the broader community of designers, builders, and users of small boats that I’ll remain on board as Editor-at-Large and continue to write articles.

Jenny Bennett, who has been the managing editor of Small Boats since 2022, will be taking over as editor. She has been an editor with Classic Boat, The Boatman, Maritime Life and Traditions, and WoodenBoat. She grew up sailing small boats and taught sailing in England, Greece, and at WoodenBoat School. Now living on an island on the Maine coast, she owns an 8′ skiff, an 11′ sailing dinghy, and an old 16′ gaff sloop. Small Boats will continue on a steady course with Jenny at the helm.