Do We Really Need This OnBoard?

OnBoard is onboard with boaters all over the country like these guys on the volunteer dredging team at Newport. Read their story here.

March 12, 2026

YES is the short answer and here’s why. Twice every month this OnBoard newsletter covers almost 100% Canadian-only boat stories – power, sail, electric, antique and classic, and everything else that floats. Canadian designs and boats built here or sold here. Anything that happens in the waters of this country – lakes, rivers, canals, all the seawater ports.  We cover marinas, clubs, and organizations like BoatCan (formerly the Power and Sail Squadrons), Sail Canada, and Shellbacks. We visit ports, dockside restaurants and sunsets from St John’s to Victoria and they all get prominence.

We’re at boat shows, fundraisers, celebrations, regattas – you get the drift.  We hear regularly from groups all over the country. In this issue, for example, we have some interesting thoughts on volunteerism from Newport Yacht Club.  We have information on low cost courses to upgrade skills for rookie and experienced boaters from BoatCan. We have a look at a cool electric boat built in Quebec and introduced to our pages by the editor of Plugboats, a Canadian publication that is well respected around the world. We publish DIY info from home-grown authors who know where the local chandlery is and what is stocked at Canadian Tire. This is stuff you won’t find anywhere else; international writers may be smart but they don’t take into account Canadian relevance, availability, or pricing.

In our Sailing in Canada section this time, we cover Canadian sailors from both coasts while they were sown south at the Heineken Regatta in Sint Maarten and probably gave the only coverage anywhere to our SailGP entry, Northstar.  All this activity is world class but gets lost in the overwhelming firehose of international boating reporting.

Here’s some good news – we are getting bigger in the next months and covering more, as we see a big increase in circulation in the west, as well as a multitude of new technical and how-to stuff from CanBoat.

You’re already subscribed but your homework is to share with friends. Our subscription is free, so why not have everybody involved! There’s guaranteed to be some content in every issue that Canadian boaters will enjoy.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch – this is your publication!

John Morris
Online Editor
john@opmediagroup.ca

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