Last week, the 2018 Speed On The Water Year In Review print issue started shipping to advertisers and buyers around the country. Folks in the Midwest actually received their issues before co-publisher Jason Johnson and I—we both live in Northern California—got ours. It’s no accident we chose a printer in Minnesota for our fourth annual issue rather than on one coast or the other. Shipping from (roughly) the center of the country is more efficient and cost-effective.

If you participated in any major go-fast boating event last year, there’s a good chance your boat is in the 2018 Speed On The Water Year In Review print edition. Photos courtesy Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Though it’s just getting started, the response has been overwhelming and rewarding. Most of all, it’s been humbling. The Speed On The Water Year In Review is the magazine that we—as lifelong magazine lovers lucky enough to make it in this profession—always dreamed about creating. If I told you how many people scoffed at the idea and told us it would fail, you’d be shocked. For reasons I’ll never understand and don’t really want to, there will always be people who get perverse pleasure out of telling you why your dreams are flawed and destined to fail.

Don’t listen to them. Ever. Follow your passion, work your ass off and immerse yourself in what you produce. The rest will take care of itself.

In 2015, the Year In Review issue was 132 pages. It jumped to 164 pages the following year and 196 pages—the size of the most recent edition as well—in 2017. (If we go bigger, it becomes prohibitively expensive to ship.) So much for failure.

From the 2018 Cigarette Owners Rendezvous.

The most common question we get when the issue comes out each January?

“Is my boat in it?”

To list all the boat owner and passenger names in every caption—we’re talking somewhere between 1,000 to 1,500 names—would provide the answer. But it also would take a lot more time and a little more energy than I have.

Here’s the quick answer:

If you participated in any major go-fast boating event in 2018—and they’re all included in the Year In Review issue—there’s an excellent chance your boat made it in the issue. If you finished on the podium in an Offshore Powerboat Association or Super Boat International race, there’s a good chance your boat is in it.

From the 2018 OPA St. Clair River Classic.

So roll the dice—if you haven’t already—and order one. At $30 for an oversized, photo-rich 196-page coffee table magazine chronicling an entire year of action, it’s the least expensive investment you’ll ever make in the high-performance powerboating world.

Worst case, you don’t find your boat in there but do you see plenty of familiar catamarans, V-bottom sportboats and center consoles owned by people you know and love. And you end up with a visually stunning collectible magazine celebrating the very best of your hobby.

Whether or not you find yourself in the 2018 Speed On The Water Year In Review issue, you can’t lose.