On the Water: News & Events

Philippe Cousteau and an ABC news crew went diving in Hazmat suits to see what was going on below the surface.  It’s an underwater look at what is already being called the worst oil disaster in US history. Quote: “I think this has got to ... …Read More

Philippe Cousteau and an ABC new crew went diving in Hazmat suits to see what was going on underwater.  It’s an underwater look at what is already being called the worst oil disaster in US history. …Read More

April is looking pretty good for sailboat brokers according to Yachtworld.com.  Yesterday I took a look at boating stats in general.  Today, I want to review brokerage sailboat sales for the month of April where once again the market looked good yea... …Read More

A $250 West Marine gift card goes to Capt. Chuck Cahill, who has two boats vying for their next upgrade. …Read More

The housing bubble popped, the economy crashed, and the boating industry still doesn’t seem to have a clue. I say that while admitting that I don’t have much of a clue myself when it comes to the business end of boats. But check out some snippets from the latest NMMA press release: -First quarter 2010 data shows a slowing in [...] …Read More

Boating market statistics released by the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) show a mixed bag of news. Here’s a quick peek into the latest official stats for all of us who are boaters.  And what does that boater profile look like?  Well, approximately 15% of us are sailors and 85% are power boaters.  75 percent of the powerboat market is made up of outboard boats and an estimated 50 percent of outboard boats are aluminum – probably under 20 feet.  Conclusion – there are very few sailboats and yachts out there and I’m not even talking about megayachts.  75 percent of boaters have a household income under $100,000 and 96 percent of powerboats on the water in 2009 were 26 feet or under.  In 2009, 65.9 million people went boating (what going boating means was not defined) while in 2008, 70 million of us went boating which is a decrease of 6 percent. Ok, so now we know roughly who we are and how we enjoy boating.  Now a cursory look at the industry.  An estimated $30.8 billion was generated in boating sales and services in 2009, a decrease of nine percent from 2008.  Primarily this is still a cottage industry with only a handful of companies generating annual revenues even hovering around the $1 billion mark – companies like West Marine and Garmin (and a large portion of Garmin sales are not from the marine market).  It’s a pretty fragmented market overall populated by small vendors – mostly family owned.  No surprise, consolidation is likely in a downturn and we saw that last week as FLIR gobbled up Raymarine.  The industry used to be dominated by two main giants, Brunswick and Genmar.  Genmar is no longer although it’s coming back to life under a new name and Brunswick is slowly recovering but has shed many boat brands in the past 24 months just to stay afloat.   So what did NMMA’s statistics tell us?  In 2009, the number of new boats sold decreased 19 percent to 572,500 units. The traditional powerboat segment declined 24 percent in units to 153,550; retail sales were down 25 percent to $5.7 billion. And finally, the reason everyone is finding it tough to get new customers - consumer credit is still tight and will probably not change much until the beginning of 2012.  So what’s the good news?  Well, sales of brokerage (used) boats are up in most length segments and that includes sailboats.  In fact, brokerage boat inventories are getting skinny which might (let me repeat – might) drive used boat prices slightly higher.  Sales of new aluminum powerboats in the 18 foot range increased 30 percent during the first quarter 2010 and that is the majority of the market so maybe there might be a change on the horizon.  And finally, consumer confidence was up in March and April.  Now let’s see what a tumbling stock market does to that.  In conclusion, there is very little to conclude.  Some stats are positive some negative and overall nothing will move until credit eases in this country.  The real battle will begin when the marine industry has to acclimate to, and survive in, whatever awaits us on the other side of this debacle.  There’s nothing to be done but to get out on the water as often as possible and try to get through these times as best as possible.  …Read More

What follows is a first time guest entry by regular Panbo commenter Adam Block, who is planning a 2011 Pacific crossing aboard his Nordhavn 47 Convexity.  Adam says "he had no idea what he was getting into when he started a recent electronics up... …Read More

© Paul Todd/OutsideImages.CO.NZ Aleph team skipper Bertrand Pacé wanted the left side and went for it in pre-start maneuvers against Francesco Bruni and Azzurra—generally in these situations, you assume that the bowman communicated to Pacé that he could go—but the evidence suggests that it was a bad idea. © Paul Todd/OutsideImages.CO.NZ The setting was La Maddalena, currently [...] …Read More

We haven’t heard much news from Si Tex lately, so it was nice to discover that they’re introducing a new line of chartplotter fishfinder units, the EC series. I haven’t laid my hands on one yet so I can’t give you a full-blown test report, but here are the basics: There are three models in the [...] …Read More

Yes, the photo is largely under exposed, but the point was to illustrate the relative brightness of the new Green Marine LED-backlit AWM-1900 monitor I checked out in the lab last week.  I think it would be usable in sunny conditions, and it's f... …Read More