Boating-Industry Insider » Growth

Spring launch arrives in northern U.S.

Contributing Blogger — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:17:13 +0000

Spring launch is finally here for the northern half of the United States.

Scouting out a bright path for our industry

Liz Walz — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:11:33 +0000

While I was a Brownie for a year or two in elementary school, it wasn’t my path to a love of the outdoors. I didn’t realize what an incredible impact Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts can have on kids until later in life. In my 20s, when I was dating my husband, I had a chance to attend quite a few Boy Scout ceremonies to cheer on his younger brother, Chad, who would eventually go on to achieve Eagle Scout. Over the years, I learned a lot about what was involved, from wilderness trips and fundraisers to the earning of patches of all colors, shapes and sizes. Most of all, I was impressed with how the program exposed kids to all kinds of experiences they wouldn’t otherwise have had. Read more >>

New boats for a new economy

Liz Walz — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:31:13 +0000

I was driving in the car yesterday when a story came on National Public Radio about Columbia, Ky.-based houseboat builder Majestic Yachts. It’s no surprise in this economy that it was a sad story, at least at first. The article began by profiling Faye Womack, a former employee. She was part of a 27-person boat production team until orders stopped coming in last summer and CEO Jim Hadley was forced to lay off every single employee. He and the two other owners spent the winter trying to find odd jobs to pay the factory’s bills, according to NPR. Read more >>

It’s time to stop “duckin’ bullets”

Contributing Blogger — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:20:05 +0000

By Peter Granata, President, Granata Design and the Marine Design Resource Alliance — There’s a new bandwagon pulling into town, and if you’re too busy ducking bullets you may not notice it. If you hang around the boating industry long enough, you’re bound to experience a cyclical downturn. This most recent version has to be the worst since 1980, and many agree that this one is the worst, period. Nonetheless, the point is that it is cyclical. The industry will come back, although it’s probably going to look different than it was. Read more >>

Give (boating) and you shall receive

Liz Walz — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:39:45 +0000

I’ve never been to Seattle, but it’s pretty high up on my list of places to visit. My favorite cities are those where you can be in the thick of what makes them so appealing – the museums, restaurants, shops and marketplaces – and you can look up and see the evidence of the natural world, the water and the mountains, just beyond. But even more attractive is the city’s large and progressive boating business community. Just look at the Northwest Marine Trade Association’s (NMTA) Grow Boating Initiative and particularly its most recent promotion, unveiled yesterday. Read more >>