Thank You!

I want to thank every one of the dealers who participated in our two grow boating events: Fun on the Foss and Boatstock. Their names are listed at the bottom of this page. Please take a bow for helping us grow boating in the Pacific Northwest.

Please bear with me while I put this “thank you” in perspective.

Our mission here is to do whatever we can as an association to try and grow recreational boating. As we all know, that is a big challenge. The zenith for retail boat sales in America was 1988. Since then, unit sales have fallen. Turning this around is going to be a huge task especially with the rising costs of new boats.

2006 saw the beginning of the national Grow Boating Initiative which, in my opinion, was long overdue. Here in the Northwest, we just finished three years of our own regional Grow Boating Program. Given the size of our challenge, who knows which of our efforts gives the best return on investment?

Is it our local TV campaign? Is it the national TV campaign? Is it promoting fishing opportunities with our Northwest Salmon Derby Series? Is it having a Discover Boating booth at the Seattle Home Show or the Seattle Auto Show? Is it the radio campaign we ran in May supporting opening day of boating season and encouraging non-boaters to get a boat and get out on the water this summer? Is it our two events that get people out on the water: Fun on the Foss and Boatstock?

This whole string of thoughts leads me to thank each and every one of our dealers who have taken the time and effort to bring boats to Boatstock for the past four years and to Fun on the Foss, our new event this year. Our Grow Boating Committee believes that getting people out on the water might just be our best strategy. The NMTA can not do that without dealers willing to buy gas and invest time, effort and money to participate.

Each of them has made an investment in growing boating that I hope will bear fruit for them in the near term AND all of us owe them a debt of gratitude for planting seeds that we all hope will bring people into boating in the years ahead.

I’ll finish with some numbers and then a few quotes from people who got out on the water this summer because of our grow boating efforts.

When you combine our Fun on the Foss and Boatstock events this year our dealers gave over 1,080 boat rides to more than 3,500 people. Here is what they had to say:

Family #1 – “The boat ride was a highlight for my family. We live right here and so seldom actually go out on the water – it did get us talking about buying a boat… someday.”

Family #2 – “My family and I liked the low pressure approach the boat sales people had and the excitement they showed being able to demonstrate their boats. The static displays at the traditional boat shows don’t do the boats justice.”

Family #3 – “The best thing was being able to test drive a boat I am interested in buying.”

One of my mentors told me years ago, “If you don’t know what to do, do something”. I am not sure any of us know exactly how to pass-on our love of boating to the next generation, but I feel good that lots of our dealers are going the extra mile to “do something.”

With warm regards,

Michael Campbell
President
michael@nmta.net