About Boote

Boote

Boote is a monthly German motorboat magazine published by the Delius Klasing Verlag, with its editorial office in Hamburg. First issued in 1967, it is the leading German-language journal of motorboating, addressing motorboat owners, skippers and water-sports enthusiasts with boat tests, cruising reports, technique features and equipment coverage. The editor-in-chief is Torsten Moench, and the magazine carries the ISSN 0006-7636. Its official website is boote.de, the digital home of the German-speaking motorboating community's leading specialist magazine. Its sold circulation stood at 11,843 copies in the third quarter of 2025 (IVW). In December 2002, the magazine merged with its former competitor stander, consolidating the German motorboat press.

Overview

Boote appears twelve times a year and is sold at newsstands, in chandleries and by subscription throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It is part of the Delius Klasing Verlag's water-sports portfolio, which also includes the sailing magazine Yacht, the windsurfing magazine Surf, Boote Exclusiv and Yacht classic.

The magazine's concept covers the world of motorboating in all its forms: boat tests of new motorboats from small open boats to luxury motor yachts, cruising reports from inland waterways and coastal waters, technique features on seamanship, navigation and boat handling, equipment tests, and the practicalities of boat ownership — maintenance, winter storage, insurance and regulations. Each issue balances the dream of life on the water with the practical knowledge needed to realise it safely and affordably.

History

Boote was first published in 1967, in the decade when motorboating was becoming a mass leisure activity in West Germany. Rising incomes, growing leisure time and the development of affordable fibreglass boats brought motorboating within reach of a broad public, and the new magazine gave this growing community its own journal. The 1960s were the founding decade of modern recreational boating in Germany: marinas were built, waterways were developed for leisure traffic, and a new generation of boat owners took to the rivers, lakes and coasts.

Through the following decades, the magazine documented the evolution of motorboating: the development of boat design and construction, from wooden hulls to fibreglass to modern composites; the growth of the charter market; the expansion of inland and coastal cruising; the increasing sophistication of marine electronics, from simple echo sounders to integrated navigation systems; and the professionalisation of the boating industry. The magazine's test journalism — independent trials of new boats — became a trusted guide for buyers in a market of significant investments, where a wrong purchase decision could cost tens of thousands of euros.

A notable consolidation came in December 2002, when Boote merged with stander, its long-standing competitor in the German motorboat press. The merger united the two titles' readerships and ended decades of competition, giving the combined magazine an unchallenged position in the German motorboat segment. The stander brand's heritage and readership were folded into Boote's continuing publication, strengthening the title's market leadership at the start of the new millennium.

Content and Programming

Boote's content is built around the motorboater's world. Boat tests — the magazine's signature — put new motorboats through comprehensive trials, assessing performance, handling, fuel consumption, construction quality, accommodation and value. The tests cover the full range of the market, from trailerable day boats to flybridge cruisers and luxury motor yachts, giving buyers independent guidance on major investments.

Cruising reports take readers to the great motorboating waters: Germany's inland waterways — the Rhine, the Danube, the Mecklenburg lake district — the Baltic and North Sea coasts, the Mediterranean and beyond. Each report combines narrative with practical pilotage: routes, harbours, locks, fuel stops, regulations and costs.

Technique features address seamanship for motorboaters: boat handling, docking, navigation, weather, anchoring and heavy-weather tactics. Equipment tests assess engines, electronics, safety equipment and accessories. Ownership topics — maintenance, winterisation, insurance, financing and the legal framework of boating — serve the practical needs of boat owners. The magazine's service journalism extends to the regulatory landscape: driving licences for inland and coastal waters, registration requirements, environmental regulations and the rules of the waterways that every skipper must know.

The magazine also covers the boating lifestyle beyond the helm: harbour portraits, marina guides, waterside restaurants and destinations, and the community life of boating clubs. Its coverage of boat shows — from the boot Düsseldorf, the world's largest indoor boat show, to regional exhibitions — keeps readers informed about new models and industry trends.

Coverage and Audience

Boote is distributed throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland, sold at newsstands, in chandleries and by subscription. Its sold circulation of 11,843 copies (IVW Q3/2025) reaches an audience of motorboat owners and enthusiasts — predominantly male, with above-average income and substantial spending on boats, equipment, marinas, fuel and boating holidays. The magazine's readers are the core of the German-speaking motorboating community: owners who maintain their boats with care, cruise the waterways regularly and invest in the equipment and electronics that make modern boating safe and comfortable.

The German motorboating community is well-organised, with clubs and associations affiliated to the Deutscher Motoryachtverband. For advertisers in the boating, marine equipment, engine, electronics, tourism and financial sectors, Boote offers access to the core of this high-value audience — readers whose passion for life on the water translates into sustained spending across the boating economy. The magazine's boat tests give it unique authority with buyers, making it essential reading in the purchase decision.

Ownership

Boote is published by the Delius Klasing Verlag, with its editorial office in Hamburg. The Delius Klasing Verlag was founded in 1911 in Bielefeld and is one of Germany's leading special-interest publishers, with a portfolio spanning water sports, cycling, automotive and outdoor titles. Since September 2022, the publishing house has been part of the Mediengruppe Klambt. The Hamburg editorial office places the magazine at the heart of German boating — close to the coasts, the harbours and the boot Düsseldorf that define the industry's calendar.

The editor-in-chief Torsten Moench leads the editorial team. The magazine's sister titles within the Delius Klasing water-sports portfolio include Yacht (sailing), Surf (windsurfing), Boote Exclusiv and Yacht classic — a family of titles covering the full spectrum of water sports, from motorboats to sailing yachts to boardsports.

Digital Presence

The magazine's official website at boote.de serves as its digital home, presenting motorboating news, boat tests, cruising reports and service content between monthly issues. The site is a leading German-language motorboating portal, with news, test archives and practical information for boat owners.

Boote is present on social media, where it shares boating news, photography and video with the motorboating community. Digital editions of the magazine are available for screen reading. While the monthly print issue remains the title's core — its boat tests and photography are designed for the printed page — the digital channels extend its reach and provide timely coverage of boat shows, new models and events. In an era when boat buyers research online before visiting the showroom, the magazine's combination of print authority and digital reach serves the purchase journey across both media.

The website field in this profile reflects the title's official online home. First issued in 1967 and still published monthly from Hamburg by the Delius Klasing Verlag, Boote has accompanied German motorboating through nearly six decades — from the fibreglass revolution of the 1960s to today's sophisticated motor yachts, always with the skipper's practical needs at the centre of its journalism and the water as its element.