Sail-World.com expands in North America with U.S. Editor David Schmidt

by Jeni Bone MarineBusiness-World.com on 7 Jun 2010 Sail-World.com expands in North America with U.S. Editor David Schmidt

The Sail-World network of sailing news sites worldwide continues to strengthen with the appointment of Seattle based, Sail-World USA Editor, David Schmidt.

Announcing Schmidt’s appointment today, Rob Kothe Publisher of Sail-World and Managing Director of the TetraMedia Marine Group, said ‘We have been keen to bring David Schmidt on board for quite some time. He has been widely published on the sailing scene over the last decade and he has made major contributions with SAIL magazine as Senior Editor and Editor at Large and we will continue to read his SAIL articles with interest.

'Sailors have voted with their mouses and the Internet is now the primary delivery method for breaking marine news internationally.

'Our strength has been the ability of our international network to deliver breaking news from events worldwide. Our event specific newsletters, which are now going to over 100,000 readers per edition are delivering in-depth content and our major industry sector features will start over the coming months.

‘Our monthly unique visitor numbers are up 50% year on last year and we are expecting to hit 225,000 monthly readers early in 2011.’

With David Schmidt coming on board, Richard Gladwell who has a large following world-wide with his incisive commentary of the America’s Cup scene, is expanding his special event role. Richard has agreed to fulfil an Editor at Large role across all our international sites. He will expand our Volvo Ocean Race and Olympic class coverage, as well as continuing his role as Sail-World New Zealand editor.

Last fall Australia’s TetraMedia Marine Group, publishers of Sail-World.com, Powerboat-World.com and MarineBusiness-World.com announced a strategic alliance with major North American magazine publishers, Toronto based Kerrwil Publications who launched Sail-World Canada, which joins Sail-World USA, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe and UK, along with the Sail-World Cruising sites, Powerboat-World and MarineBusiness-World.

Guy Perrin, Managing Editor of Sail-World Canada said today 'We are delighted that David Schmidt has joined Sail-World USA as Editor. He brings a unique combination of sailing and publishing DNA to our North American team and we are confident that this newly- appointed position will result in a greater breadth and depth of coverage of sailing events here.'

Schmidt said ‘What is unique about the Sail-World network is that the news baton is constantly passed around the world. It gives Sail-World tremendous depth. I look forward to having my hands on the helm of the U.S. site and working hard to help further build the American newsletter and the U.S.-focused website, while ensuring U.S. sailing news gets to the very large international audience.

‘As an offshore sailor, (I did my first offshore race at age eight), as well as a buoy racer, Sail-World is interesting editorially as they offer a great blend of inshore and offshore news coverage.’

Rob Kothe also announced that Miami and San Diego sailor and writer Lynn Fitzpatrick, who has been working alongside the Sail-World team for some years, will also take on an expanded role in Sail-World’s event coverage and will become a regular Sail-World contributor.