Anchors Aweigh

As you’ll hear me say in this conversation, chartering a catamaran through the virgin islands or on the med has been a dream trip for me for as long as I can remember. So it was really fun speaking with Renee Sawyer, owner of Out of the Blue Yacht Charters. Renee has been a General Manager of select service and full-service hotels as well as boutique hotels for 25 years. Renee’s passions are many pertaining to the Caribbean however, sailing, underwater photography, interacting with all types of wild life and marine life are at the top of the list. After living her dream of sailing the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, she has set a goal of helping others to realize their dreams of a fully arranged yacht charter vacation. We spoke about her early days fishing, her time as a crew on a yacht charter, and how a broker can help make sure your charter vacation goes smoothly. Enjoy!

I really enjoy meeting and speaking with people who have made boating a big part of their lifestyle, especially people like Steve Payne, who went from knowing next to nothing about boats to living and traveling through Europe on one. Steve has been able to use his skills as a photographer, creator, and community builder to live the boating lifestyle and share it with the world. His youtube channel, Jaywalking the World, recently surpassed 100 episodes. He has sent out thousands of Friendly Flags in an effort to foster a communal spirit among like minded boaters. His photography skills will be showcased on marina websites around the world. And he is just a blast to chat with. Enjoy!

It is always exciting speaking to and learning from others who are advancing the subscription and membership boating model, especially seeing all of the different market segments who are finding value in this way of boating. One such leader has found traction in the premium luxury subscription segment and I had a great time speaking with First Mariners Club founder, Kevin Dorry. Kevin is an entrepreneur and adventurer with a successful track record as the founder of a web development firm and co-founder of RewardJet, a program boasting over 300,000 members. Beyond the corporate world, he is an Ironman triathlete, marathoner, licensed pilot, 200GRT boat captain, and master scuba diver. We discussed his first job in boating on the Circle Line cruise boats, how First Mariners Club began and their amazing fleet, and about the many benefits of the subscription boating model. We are both strong advocates for the membership boating lifestyle, but provide it in a very different way. If you spend a lot of time in Sout

  I had the great pleasure of speaking with Adam Gamble, writer, publisher, and avid fisherman. Adam conceived, wrote or cowrote, and supervised the production of three hundred titles in the Good Night Books series for pre-schoolers, which currently has more than nine million copies sold worldwide, including many to my family. Adam recently wrote and published The Power of Positive Fishing alongside Michael J. Tougias,New York Times bestselling author and coauthor of thirty books for adults and six books for young adults. He is best known for his nonfiction narratives of survival and rescue stories including The Finest Hours which was made into a movie starring Chris Pine and Casey Affleck The Power of Positive Fishing is an emotional journey interspersed with humor on how two individuals finally began tapping their full potentials, while hooking some great fish along the way. Adam and I discussed how he got started in fishing, what makes a great fishing companion, learning from mistakes and much more. Enjoy!

Diversity is not something that is often associated with boating and the boating industry. Many people have a stereotypical boater in mind, and I’m guessing as you read this you do too. One of the biggest obstacles to expanding the reach of boating is that so often, the way someone gets into boating in the first place is being exposed by family or close friends. If no one in your orbit is boating, you are much less likely to try it and pass it on to others. However, there are many people doing great work in bringing recreational boating, and the boating industry as a career, to new audiences. Willard Franklin, along with his wife, son and daughter, are working hard to help make boating and fishing more diverse, inclusive, and safe. As members of the Four W's Fishing Team, they work to build communities that support water health, fish, safety, and the joy of boating and fishing. The Four W's Fishing Team promotes the outdoors to elementary, middle school, high school, & college students preparing them for

The boating industry has welcomed over 800,000 new boaters into the fold in the last couple of years and is hard at work reaching new, more diverse audiences to continue growing boating. As more and more people experience boating and boat ownership for the first time, it is incumbent on marine businesses to make sure that the boating experience is as headache-free as possible. One aspect of boat ownership that can be frustrating is not just the expense of service and maintenance, but the challenge in finding good service providers. One company looking to change that dynamic is SHIPSHAPE.PRO.   I got to speak with Merrill Charette, founder and CEO of SHIPSHAPE.PRO. While living on his sailboat the last 5 years, Merrill has launched several marine industry focused businesses, products, and even a podcast! Merrill’s Marine Industry Digital Agency helps marine businesses optimize their presence on the web. On the Shipshape podcast Merrill interviews top boating journalists, experts, and liveaboards exploring the

I love to mix in guests who may not be ‘in’ the boating industry but rather demonstrate to us what boating can enable. Stephen Ladd is an author and adventurer who certainly pushes the limits on where a boat can take you. In is mid-30s, Steve designed and built a 12-foot boat named Squeak and rowed and sailed her over 6500 miles over a three year journey, chronicling it in his book Three Years in a 12-Foot Boat. Nearly two decades later, Steve teamed up with his now-wife, Ginny, to spend five years on a 21-foot boat, traveling from Florida down through the Western Caribbean, navigating the river systems of South America, having a baby in Brazil and every kind of adventure you can imagine in between. They covered over 18,000 miles via sail, rowing, and motor in some of the later stages and visited almost 20 countries. Please Enjoy as Steve and I discuss his vessel, his journey, and the book it inspired, The Five-Year Voyage.

If you have seen a boat rising out of the water as it gets on plane and seemingly gliding above it, you have seen hydrofoiling in effect! Hydrofoils have been used in high technology applications like the Americas Cup races for years and have recently been applied to recreational craft including smaller runabouts and even surfboards! I have been interested in learning more about foiling on the water, why they are used, what benefits they provide, and how they work. Luckily, I had a chance to speak with Tom Ward, founder of Epoch Boats. Epoch Boats is helping usher in a new era in boating by building accessible hydrofoiling boats that are efficient, eco-friendly, and high performance. Their first class of boats is a skiff series that will be introduced in the middle of 2022. Tom broke into the marine industry as an engineer for SeaStar Solutions where he rose to Director of Engineering and managed a fleet of test boats. He transitioned to Lippert Components where he also held the role of Director of Engineerin

Think about your typical vehicle buying experience, whether it be car or boat. You research online, head to the showroom either eager to interact with a salesperson armed with all of your knowledge or dreading the back and forth, let me ask my manager negotiation. Some showrooms may stand out to you – well decorated, nice waiting room, great coffee, for me – an area to wait with kids toys. But the experience can often be….unremarkable. And when it comes to boats, something you are buying for the fun of it, the experience should be remarkable! Boats by George, located on our home lake in upstate NY, Lake George, is turning this typical shopping experience on its head and innovating the whole boat buying process. Boats By George is celebrating its 40th anniversary and represents esteemed brands like Cobalt, which they are a top 10 global dealer for, Chris Craft, Malibu, Axis, and Barletta Pontoons. With the recent purchase of a 50,000 square foot former event space, Boats By George is creating an immersive and

Making boating easier. Frictionless operation. Lowering the barrier to entry. Reducing the average age of the new boater. These are all goals that are being accomplished through the development and introduction of new and exciting on-board technologies. Connectivity is a major part of some of the largest marine companies in the world including Yamaha and Brunswick. We are all so used to living connected lives and expect that the things we use will ‘play along’. Our cars, our security systems, our fridges, all of these and other IoT enabled devices that make our lives easier are ubiquitous at home and at work….and soon on the water. Siren Marine has been providing boaters with peace of mind by connecting the boater to their boat with real-time monitoring. They want you to spend less time worrying about your boat and more time enjoying it. I recently spoke with Alex Puskar, the National Sales Director for Siren. We have started experimenting with Siren on some of our Freedom Boat Club boats and Alex has been a

It is an incredibly exciting time in the boating industry. We have seen two years of record sales, dealers are selling production slots because they can’t get inventory fast enough, more Americans than ever are enjoying time on the water with family and friends, and the pace of innovation continues to accelerate which is providing a better and more frictionless boating experience. Within the innovation category, electric propulsion is experiencing an influx of investment, and new motor options are steadily hitting the market. General Motors recently invested $150 million into Pure Watercraft. ePropulsion just announced a Series B raise in the tens of millions of dollars. Arc electric boats has raised over $30 million with investors including actor Will Smith, music mogul Sean Combs, and NBA superstar Kevin Durant. Torqeedo continues to impress, recently winning METSTRADE’s Boat Builders Award in collaboration with Groupe Beneteau’s Excess brand and mobility technology company ZF. I enjoyed speaking recently w

We have seen technological advancements drive tremendous change in the boating world. Most prominently, these new technologies have improved the boats themselves – more on-board electronics and capabilities, better boat building processes and materials, connected apps and more. But outside the boats, technology is helping the businesses who enable boating – marinas! One such area is marina management software. What was once (and still, often, is) done with pen and paper and endless file folders can now be streamlined in a do-it-all marina software suite. Slip reservations, service work orders, inventory management, invoicing, and more are available at the tips of our fingers. This improves the efficiency of the business, surely. But is also improves the boating experience for the customer with easier tracking of billing, online payments and reservations, and the ability to quickly pull up a service history on a boat. I recently spoke with Lucas Isola, founder of Molo (disclosure: we use Molo as our marina man

There have been some extremely exciting developments in the electric boating space in the past year. PURE Watercraft raised over $37million to continue their expansion. Vision Marine had a successful IPO. Torqeedo delivered its 100,000th motor. And a variety of smaller companies are making strong plays as the space grows. While the momentum is exciting, it is clear there is still a long way to go to make electric a widely adopt way to power a boat. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Graham Balch, Managing Broker of Green Yacht Sales. Graham is an avid sailor and joined the boating industry after stints as a consultant, educator, getting his MBA and then shifting course and starting in the brokerage business before launching his own venture. Before striking off on his own, Graham distinguished himself in the brokerage world with a variety of performance awards, including Highest number of sailboat sales out of 300 sales reps nationwide. Green Yachts began in 2019 and is dedicated to supporting the

In the five years I have spent as part of the boating industry, I have often tried to put into words how impactful boating can be for creating memories, sharing experiences, and just spending quality time with family and friends enjoying the beauty of being on the water. In that time, I don’t think I have ever done it as effectively as Jesse Simpkins does day in and day out. Jesse is the Director of Marketing for St. Croix Rods and was recently named the Chairman of the Board of the American Sportfishing Association. You can tell even from this short conversation that Jesse eats, sleeps and breathes fishing, and loves sharing it with others. From conservation efforts to ensure strong fisheries, to improving rod technology making the experience more enjoyable, access to fishing is a major focus for Jesse in both his product and advocacy roles. We discussed Jesse’s first fishing experiences on a farm pond, his evolution into the serious angler he is today, great products coming out of St. Croix (and what goes i

I had a great conversation with Derek Horner, content manager at ANGLR. ANGLR is a fishing intelligence platform built for anglers by anglers that consists of a free fishing logbook, app that syncs across mobile and web devices, optional tracking accessories and community of anglers who are passionate about growing and helping others grow. ANGLRs goal is to empower anglers through measurement, learning, and collaboration using both data and technology, elevating their fishing experience. The app helps plan, record, and relive their fishing successes, and failures, to improve their ability to catch more fish the next time out.   After Derek made the jump from hobby angler to serious angler, he started tournament fishing which led him to Penn State University where he was the Captain of the fishing team. Soon after graduating, he ‘hooked up’ with the ANGLR founders and helped grow the fledgling company to where it is today. We talked about the resources he used to go from amateur to tournament winner, how techn

It has been a very interesting time to be in the boating industry. Right when we would normally be ramping up and commissioning boats for the spring, doing the boat show rounds, and seeding future sales, Covid-19 hit and we were shut down. Soon after, the term ‘social distancing’ became part of our lives and it became more and more clear that outdoor activities, away from other people, were the safest ways to have fun this summer. Boating quickly saw a surge in interest like we have never seen before and we have had our busiest summer yet! From initially thinking we may lose an entire season of boating, to setting sales records, it has been a roller coaster ride but we are thrilled to see so many new people getting hooked on boating. I recently spent some time chatting with Skip Sorenson with this as a backdrop. Skip started his career as a fourth-generation shipbuilder and since has achieved proven value creation results for both public and private equity companies. He has been involved in multiple restructu

Boating to the Rescue Boating has long been thought of as a great way to enjoy nature, spend quality time together with loved ones, and disconnect from our busy lives to get away from it all. Now, more than ever, those qualities of boating are the reason it is positioned to be the perfect social distancing activity in our Covid-19 world. We, like many, have been homebound for a month plus. All social engagements and activities for our kids have been cancelled. Cabin fever is real. And now, with warm weather approaching, along comes boating! We know that boating is going to look different – for example we won’t be inviting anyone outside our immediate family on board any time soon – but it remains the number one thing we are looking forward to doing over the next several months. And, we are happy that marinas have been considered essential so that we can work to provide the same relief to others! In this context, I was able to speak with David Gee, Editor-in-Chief of Boating Industry Magazine, to discuss his l

Bringing Generations Together With the Waketoon What do you get when you combine two of the fastest growing segments in boating? The Avalon Waketoon! Combining all the elements that made pontoons popular – space, comfort, increased power, and extra amenities – with the ability to surf behind the boat led to an NMMA Innovation Award at the recent Minneapolis Boat Show and lots of headlines after. The waketoon does not use ballast to accomplish its surf wake, providing many benefits including time savings and limiting the transportation of invasive species. Jim Wolf is the President and CEO of Avalon & Tahoe Manufacturing. Jim grew up boating on lakes big and small throughout Michigan and still enjoys many of those same bodies of water today. Jim has grown Avalon from 70 employees to over 400 while increasing sales revenue almost 20x since purchasing the company in 2002. Jim and I spoke about growing up as a boater, how he ended up at Avalon, and some of the key engineering innovations behind the waketoon.

From Shark Fishing to Shark Tank   We talk about technology in boating a lot, and will only continue to do so more and more. The genius in Vance Zahorski’s invention is that he saw people with thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in electronic technology designed to aid them in catching fish, and when they got them on the boat or to shore, they were fumbling with nail clippers or knives or you name it to cut the line. He thought there had to be a better way and went out and created it.   Line Cutterz are sleek, adjustable rings with a double-sided blade perfect for quick and efficient cutting of mono-filament and braided fishing line and they can now be mounted to virtually any smooth, flat surface. Line Cutterz can cut light and heavy fishing lines used in most types of freshwater and saltwater fishing. They can also be mounted to fishing rods, boat rails, and even kayak seat posts. Vance got his big break after appearing on prime time hit show Shark Tank. He has now expanded the product line and grown

Amazon, Google, Facebook….Brunswick. What do all these companies have in common you might ask? All will be exhibiting at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. While you don’t often see marine brands lumped in with these technology titans, Brunswick has made innovation a key focus as technology becomes a bigger and bigger part of boating. From launching an innovation lab in partnership with the University of Illinois, to leading the way in connected boating with Nautic-On, Brunswick has recognized that in order to continue growing boating participation, technology must play an important role. Lee Gordon has been able to combine his passion for the boating lifestyle with his skills as a communicator and storyteller honed from years as a journalist to take on the role of Director of Marine Public Relations and Communications for Brunswick Corporation. Lee Manages global public relations, communications and media activities to support all marine brands under the Brunswick portfolio including Mercury Marine, B