As the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end. For me, that time is now. I’ll be 88 years old on July 1; Cruising Odyssey is well established (this is our 399th weekly edition) and in good hands. It’s time to say goodbye.
I’ve been a journalist all my adult life. My first job was as a reporter at a wire service in Chicago. I was in grad school at Northwestern (after Stanford) and had a half-tuition scholarship. To make the other half, I worked two or three days a week as a reporter for the City News Bureau; in my year-plus there, they sent me to cover every single police station in Chicago. I went to work with one pocket full of dimes, to call back to the office, and the other pocket filled with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch.
I would remember those days when I was flying low over the Mediterranean in a helicopter from the Nice airport to the Monte Carlo helipad to attend the Monaco Yacht Show. Things change.
My working life, such as it was, has pretty much covered the media landscape. I’ve been a writer, editor, correspondent, and publisher for newspapers, magazines, books, television and the internet. I’ve written cover stories for both Time and Newsweek, had bylines in The New York Times, and my picture in all three. I’ve been on the Sunday talk shows. After my first appearance on Face the Nation my older brother, my only sibling, called to say, “Don’t quit your day job.” Things improved, I think.
I’ve had breakfast with Tom Hayden in his house in Berkeley during an anti-war protest, lunch with the Village People in The New York Times corporate dining room, and dinner with Dennis Conner during an America’s Cup lay day in Perth, Australia. I’ve listened to Johnny Cash sing at the White House; much more fun than covering the politicians. Variety is…
My first job in the boating media was as editor-in-chief (later publisher as well) of Motor Boating & Sailing in 1982. I didn’t realize how much fun it would be to come to work every day. Over the years, I made lifetime friends there and in the broader boating industry. I traveled around the world, testing boats, writing stories, covering events. My life revolved around the annual U.S. boat shows, Newport, Annapolis, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Palm Beach.
I burnished my street cred by driving a 46-foot Fountain 160 mph, living year-round on my Grand Banks 36 at Norwalk Cove Marine in Connecticut, cruising the east coast from Key West to Gaspé, at the entrance to the St. Lawrence, and the west coast from San Diego to Juneau, Alaska. And I’d ask myself, They paid me to do this?
As the media landscape changed, I moved on as editorial director of Yachting and Motor Boating and then, not that long ago, it seems, co-founded Cruising Odyssey with George Day and Scott Akerman. (My friend, Richard Thiel, the longtime editor of Power & Motoryacht, was in on the early planning, but he passed away before we started.)
It’s been a good ride. I’m proud of the work we’ve done here, and of the friends we’ve made around the world. All this will continue under George’s more-than-capable hands. (His street cred is hard to beat; he’s sailed around the world.)
I know it’s a cliché, but for me it’s true. I do want to spend more time with my wife and our family. I now have two great-grandchildren; my youngest daughter is getting married in August; there are more memories to be made.
Meanwhile, thank you for reading. You can always reach me at peter@peterajanssen.com.
