I was talking with friends recently about the simple pleasure of sailing a Sunfish. My first encounter with the boat was sitting dead on the water on a small lake. I knew nothing about sailing then and my friend, who owned the boat, seemed to know even less. I’ve since learned a bit. But that casual dinner conversation about boats got me thinking about the sailing industry and the initiative to boost participation in the sport. (Read More…)

The National Marine Manufacturers Association is giving pretty high marks to the industry’s Grow Boating Initiative so far. After only the first year of the advertising campaign, consumer awareness of Discover Boating rose from 1 in 20, to 1 in 4. There also was a surge in traffic to the re-designed DiscoverBoating.com Web site, with a 250 percent increase at the fiscal year close on Sept. 30, compared to the previous year. (Read More…)

Today, March 1^st, marks the kick-off of the 2007 Discover Boating campaign.  For the next thirteen weeks, ads will run nationally on cable television and in popular lifestyle magazines.  Online advertising will run for the rest of the year. (Read More…)

Ask the Average Joe walking down the street if he can afford to buy a boat and he’s likely to say, “No.” Boats, he may say, are a luxury item only to be enjoyed by the rich and famous, not the average, middle-class American. (Read More…)

The biggest challenge for the upcoming year and years to come centers around growing boating and the lifestyle.  I think as an industry we need to allocate as much time and as many resources in keeping the boaters we do have versus focusing too heavily on bringing new individuals into boating.  (Read More…)