Time for a get-together!

By Dan Natchez*

Summer is here in many parts of the world, the water is beckoning and people, including myself, remain keen to get out on it. The recreational boating industry is also still enjoying fairly strong demand for new and used boats, and most are continuing the third year of a seller’s market. At the same time, many marinas are renovating, reconfiguring, and/ or expanding where possible to accommodate the changing trends in customers’ boating desires. This is great news for marinas and boaters alike.

But – there so often is a but –we must also remember that the industry has traditionally been cyclical and there are certainly expectations that the tightening of credit and other efforts to take some heat out of the economy will have an impact and there are some signs that this is starting to show up. So far, it seems to be showing up to a greater degree in the RV market, where inventories are building and sales mostly slowing.

There is also the reality that the recent boom years for recreational boating were driven by folks seeking to find an escape from the world of potential contagion to the relatively open and uncaged isolation offered by being out on the water. As described by one such escapee back in 2020, “The boat is like having my own private island, where I can go with my family and just forget about everything else”.

After years of being on that island, some have developed island fever and as the long shadow of

Covid-19 further fades, the good parts of ‘everything else’ have come back into view. Many people are in a mood to be social, to not be stranded on that island.

The good news, of course, is that when your island is your boat, you aren’t stuck, and as much as boating can be about getting away from it all, it also has a long history of camaraderie, of bringing people together.

So now just seems like a perfect time to emphasise that camaraderie, particularly as some folks may be a bit out of practice, and with so many new boaters not having had the chance to fully experience it.

It’s time for a get-together – or two, or three, or four – to help sustain and build upon the recent boating interest.

The most obvious get-together has got to be throwing a party. What boater doesn’t love a good party? Okay, there may be a few. What kind of party will depend greatly on your facility and what your customers would appreciate – and there’s no reason you can’t throw more than one to make everyone happy – or stage things to cater to kids and families earlier in the day and those without kids in the evening. Hosting a customer appreciation barbeque is a sure winner. We know of customers who have driven two hours to the marina to enjoy a free hamburger or hotdog! Or maybe a clambake is in order. These can be great ways to both thank your customers and, more importantly, give your customers the chance to be together with other boaters, exchange stories, ideas of where to cruise and so on, as well as relating to one another the latest gadgets to add to the outfitting of their boats.

The parties don’t necessarily have to be free or funded entirely by the marina. Don’t automatically dismiss the idea of organising a ‘potluck’. Maybe you can provide a band or some other form of entertainment and arrange for food trucks to come by. People never seem to be tired of food trucks and they are pretty used to paying for what they order at the events where you find them!

While it may not necessarily sound like a party, some marinas host or participate in a ‘blessing of the fleet’ at the beginning of or at some other point in the boating season. The tradition actually goes back centuries, though originally not geared to recreational boats, but often tied to a festival of some sort. These days, fleet blessings cover a full range from fairly low-key affairs to elaborate boat parades to full-scale festivals with the parade/ blessing as a major component. The Provincetown Portuguese Festival & Blessing of the Fleet in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, comes to mind as a good example of the latter.

Of course, you can have a boat parade or similar event without the blessing, often tied to a holiday and often with prizes for different categories. The creativity and length some boaters go to in dressing up their boats is mind-boggling and it’s a fun approach for the boaters, the spectators and all involved.

Participating in and/or sponsoring fishing tournaments, regattas and rafting or overnight ventures are additional ways of bringing people together and continuing the increased interest in boating in meaningful ways.

A coastal marina I’m familiar with recently decided to sponsor a fishing tournament and partnered with a local fishing club. They chose a date and posted some simple rules and a modest cash prize along with an entry fee, with the culmination being an awards ceremony at the marina at the end of the two-day tournament held over a weekend. They had anticipated up to 30 participants. They put it in their newsletter, posted a few flyers around town, and put it on the web. Word spread and it went a little viral. The marina got calls from numerous people who wanted to launch and haul and keep their boats at the marina for the tournament. Their transient dock was full and they made room wherever else they could. The fuel dock was busy and the ship’s store enjoyed many news customers. The event was so successful that the marina has now made it an annual event and has related that, in addition to the immediate benefits felt and ship’s store sales realised during the tournament, they have gained permanent new customers for dockage, storage and service.

Racing and regattas have long been mainstays in the yacht club world and definitely have served to recruit young sailors, keep people boating and inspire boat-owners to invest more time and money in their boat. These gatherings go a long way on the camaraderie front too. Races also serve to draw people into the boating world when captains go recruiting their friends,

Master Planning - In-Water and Upland Integration

Comprehensive Marina and Marina Resort Design Proficient Project Management

Functional Marine Services and Launching Facilities International in Scope Site Evaluation and Economic Analysis Cost Effective Solutions

Three Decades of Experience co-workers or maybe even random strangers for crew! Who knows how many boaters were motivated to get out on the water themselves by the sight of a fleet of sailboats with their spinnakers flying on the downwind leg of a race. There are many new boaters who really want to enjoy the boating experience, but a number are not quite sure how to. Rafting rendezvous for an afternoon or a destination overnight are great avenues for expanding the boating experience and, especially for new boaters, to make new friends and provide a comfort factor for using the boat around others. With a few raft-ups under their belt, some may well be ready to consider a longer group cruise, further building their knowledge, courage and confidence. Speaking of raft-ups, a small marina I know of started a movie night not long ago. They would set up a large screen in the middle of the marina where people could sit in their berthed boats or come and raft up in the fairways. It became an overnight (pun intended) sensation. It started as a lark for the owner’s daughter’s birthday celebration, but so many customers, non-customers and neighbours liked it and kept asking the marina to continue it that they now run it once every two weeks. It just took off. The marina’s out-of-pocket cost is less than $100 for each movie night. He now includes a popcorn machine and he says he has to either get a faster or bigger one or another one as the demand is overwhelming. He also has the popcorn popping in the ship’s store during the weekends – the popcorn and coffee are free, and his soft drink sales have increased dramatically. The owner tells me that his increased sales from the snack bar and ship’s store more than cover his costs and he has gained new customers. Nearby deli’s, restaurants and the ice cream parlour applaud the events as they too are experiencing additional business.

On a different note, another facility partners with a local environmental group and the town to bring people together on ‘Earth Day’ for a waterfront cleanup. It too has grown and the facility, which has also enhanced its own green marina activities, now has a community-wide reputation for being environmentally-conscious and an advocate for clean water. That kind of goodwill is pretty priceless.

The bottom line with most of these gatherings comes down to the fact that the more that boaters are engaged, the more actively they will boat and promote boating to others, and the more likely they will continue to choose boating over everything else. During the depths of the pandemic the relative isolation that boating can offer was clearly a major strength, but barring the rise of some new more miserable variant, most people seem to have had quite enough alone time. It’s time for some togetherness. As the old children’s song goes, perhaps made most famous by Raffi, “The more we get together, the happier we’ll be”.

*DanNatchez,CMP,isPresidentof DanielS.NatchezandAssociatesInc, aleadinginternationalenvironmental waterfrontdesignconsulting companyspecialisinginthedesign of marinas and marina resorts throughouttheworld.Yourcomments andenquiriesareinvitedonTel:+1914 6985678,byFax:+19146987321,by E-mail:dan.n@dsnainc.comoronhis Website: www.dsnainc.com