Blue Sheets was founded in 2000 after a gap was seen in the marine publications market for a good quality marine directory that was free to pick up. Originally, it mainly serviced the South Coast but, due to popular demand, quickly expanded to cover Southern England followed by Northern England and Wales with circulation of 30,000 copies.
Blue Sheets was purchased by the present owner, James Stone, in 2004 who set about increasing the circulation to 40,000 copies and creating an online version of the directory.
In 2005 the Blue Sheets website was expanded to include news, reports, weather and a whole host of other useful features for the boat owner.
Blue Sheets also exhibited at the Southampton Boat Show as well as a number of other shows around the country.
Expansion continued during 2006 and 2007 with a larger, more functional website and more retail outlets for the publication. Tide tables, conversions and articles were also included in the printed publication.
At the 2006 Southampton Boat Show, we came up with the idea of sending our RNLI bear on a worldwide adventure to raise awareness for the RNLI. He currently hold two world records and has circumnavigated the globe four times.
Blue Sheets sponsered a Zapcat racing team in the UK championships to raise the brand image and profile. We also held the inaugural Blue Sheets Poker Run which proved sucessful with over 15 boats attending.
In late 2007, Blue Sheets teamed up with Sailing Networks with the goal of producing the largest, most versatile online marine directory on the web.
2008 saw the full directory listings being used in the printed directory for the first time, making Blue Sheets even more useful. The directory coverage also increased to the whole of the UK and Ireland including the Channel Islands.
Our race team sponsorhsip expanded to include 2 Zapcat race teams as well as support for 2XS, a Sigma 38, as well as Hannah White in her Class 40.
The online directory is still expanding and is the most functional free online directory available to marine businesses.
Companies can add extra information (news, events, products, images, etc.) at any time, free of charge.