Anchors Aweigh

Welcome to the Anchors Aweigh podcast blog. This is a space where I recap our great conversations about boating and distill them into usable, linkable information. Each episode will feature a conversation with a boating expert. Many people can be intimidated to get started on the water but as we learn in each conversation, learning to boat is half the fun. I want beginners to come away with some tips and tools to get started, and experienced boaters to continue learning and growing their boating skills. There are common threads across boaters of all walks, most notably the joy being out on the water brings them and their families. I hope the boating life brings the same joy to you.

Planning the Charter Vacation of Your Dreams with Renee Sawyer 04/15/2024

Jaywalking the World with Stephen Payne 03/19/2024

Live the Life You Dream About With First Mariners Club Founder Kevin Dorry 03/12/2024

The Power of Positive Fishing; Adam Gamble, Author, Publisher, Angler 02/08/2024

Promoting Diversity, Inclusion, Safety, Conservation and Careers 01/18/2023

Reducing Boat Ownership Friction 12/06/2022

The Five-Year Voyage 06/03/2022

Ready For Liftoff with Epoch Boats 03/17/2022

Reimagining the Boat Buying Experience 01/17/2022

Connected Boating - Your Vessel and the IoT 12/21/2021

Raising the Horsepower Bar for Electric Outboards 12/07/2021

Raising the Horsepower Bar for Electric Outboards 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 with Ben Sorkin, founder of . Ben grew up boating on our home lake in upstate NY, Lake George, which has me even more excited about what he is doing. Ben has been able to merge his passion for boating with his passion for tinkering into an exciting start up career. After stints interning at Tesla and working full time designing electric systems at Navatek, plus a decade of planning and researching electric motors on his own, Ben co-founded Flux Marine with the goal of revolutionizing electric propulsion in the marine environment. It was a great time to catch up with Ben as he and his team recently took home two big awards at the Newport boat show, Best Green Product and the Best New Boating Operation, Maintenance or Safety Product. Ben and I discussed how he got his boating and fix-it start, the benefits and challenges of electric boating, we got into the weeds a bit about battery technology and talked about the power their outboards will be brining to the market. Full disclosure, I am an investor in Flux marine and will be purchasing one of their motors to use in our Freedom Boat Club fleet this coming year. Enjoy the conversation! /episode/index/show/anchorsaweigh/id/21408977

Simplifying Marina Management and Boat Ownership 03/10/2021

Finding Success With Electric Sailing 01/16/2021

Giving Anglers the Upper Hand 11/25/2020

Becoming a Better ANGLR 10/16/2020

Investing in the Growth of Boating 09/03/2020

Investing in the Growth of Boating 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 restructuring and process improvement initiatives as both a CEO and CFO. Sorenson has been involved in a multitude of M&A transactions during his career, selling and purchasing both private and public companies. He was awarded "CFO of the Year" by DCEO Magazine in 2011. Skip launched in 2013. Anchors Aweigh Capital is a boutique investment banking firm formed to pursue the buying and selling of maritime related businesses, including shipping, tankers, and ship and boat building companies, as well as industrial, alternative energy, and technology companies. Since the founding of the firm, AAC has investigated and facilitated multiple boat and shipbuilding transactions, including the facilitation of the acquisition of Intrepid Powerboats, a major, center console boat brand. The firm has recently been hard at work acquiring notable boating companies, including and Vanquish Boats. Skip is also hard at work building membership in the business, making luxury yacht charters more accessible through fractional charters. Skip and I discussed growing up in a boatbuilding family, the recent M&A push in the boating industry, how the pandemic has affected boaters and boat companies, the impact technology is having on boating, and more, enjoy! /episode/index/show/anchorsaweigh/id/15875525

Boating to the Rescue! 04/20/2020

Bringing Generations Together - The Waketoon! 02/10/2020

From Shark Fishing to Shark Tank 12/22/2019

Innovation and Inspiration on the Water 12/17/2019

Innovation and Inspiration on the Water Amazon, Google, Facebook….. 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 in partnership with the University of Illinois, to leading the way in connected boating with , 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, Brunswick's boat group and Business Acceleration division. Lee is in charge of communications for, it is safe to say, one of the largest marine companies in the world. Lee had a 15 year career as an Emmy nominated TV news/sports anchor for CBS and FOX, winning 25 Associated Press awards while covering some of the world's biggest events such as Hurricane Katrina, 9/11 and various Super Bowls. All the while, he took every opportunity he could to get out on boats after having great boating experiences growing up in Chicago. I recently had an opportunity to meet Lee, and to see him present, at our franchise conference as Brunswick purchased Freedom Boat Club this year, and after seeing him present I knew I had to have him on the show. He did not disappoint, as we talked about what got him into boating initially and the positive impact it has had on his life, fun stories from the boating industry life, some of the key Brunswick initiatives including presenting at the Consumer Electronics show, and more! /episode/index/show/anchorsaweigh/id/12427961

Electric Boating From the Ground Up 09/27/2019

River Queens - Saucy Boat, Stout Mates, Spotted Dog, America 08/13/2019

River Queens - Saucy Boat, Stout Mates, Spotted Dog, America Alexander Watson is an entrepreneur, adventurer, and lately, an author. With his wedded partner Dale Harris, Alexander rescued his family business, a furniture studio, built a portfolio of rental properties, and then sold it all to restore a vintage motor yacht and travel ‘The Rivah’. Watson’s , River Queens – Saucy Boat, Stout Mates, Spotted Dog, America tells of their escape from the urban jungle and passage through the nation’s midsection. It is full of stories from the finding of the boat, to the characters they met along the way, to the challenges presented on the river. Their boat, , A forty-five-foot wooden motor yacht built in the height of the Korean War is hardly an extravagance; it is an obscenity. Promoted as part of Chris Craft’s "Freedom Fleet" for 1955, it had all the conveniences of a well-appointed home at twice the cost. She had fitted carpets, polished mahogany paneling, an en-suite for the owners, and quarters for the crew. The journey starts with an over-the-road transport from , the impounded Red River on the Texas/Oklahoma border, to on the Arkansas River, one hundred miles south of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The journey ends at Cincinnati, Ohio on Labor Day Weekend 2009. Alexander is primarily the deckhand. He is better able to shinny down docks and throw lines. He swabs the decks and shines the brass. He is also the painter, plumber, and carpenter. His upbringing in the world of fine furniture and interior design gives him intrinsic understanding of fine joinery and finishing. We discuss how Alexander got into boating, and specifically how he and Dale decided to take this journey. The book is full of colorful characters and vivid experiences from their time on the river and though you will get a sense of it from our conversation, we very specifically left a lot of the book in the book so that you can pick it up and give it a read. Enjoy! /episode/index/show/anchorsaweigh/id/10872583

Making Sailing More Portable, Affordable, and Accessible 07/02/2019

From Sick to Smiling, Transforming the Boating Experience 01/03/2019

From Sick to Smiling, Transforming the Boating Experience Kelsey Albina is currently the Communications Manager for Seakeeper, Inc. is the global leader in marine stabilization. Seakeeper’s innovative technology changes the boating experience by eliminating up to 95% of all boat roll, the rocking motion that causes seasickness, fatigue and anxiety. Kelsey is responsible for all internal and external communications for Seakeeper including: Public Relations, social media, email, their ambassador program, corporate communications, and corporate responsibility. Prior to Seakeeper, Kelsey worked at as the Marketing Manager of the Fishing Group. Kelsey grew up on and around the water and always knew she wanted to find a career that harnesses that passion. In fact, she has enjoyed boating trips with three generations of family members aboard so she never really had much of a choice! Kelsey’s mother grew up boating in the Bahamas and passed that passion right down. Kelsey was racing sailboats with her mother at a young age, became scuba certified and still enjoys big diving trips. She currently has a boat of her own with her fiancé, and truly lives the boating lifestyle. We discussed her days spent on the water as a child, great boating and diving trips she’s had, the incredible innovations happening at Seakeeper that are allowing more people to enjoy boating, and more! Enjoy! Growing up Boating..... I’ve been on the water longer than I can actually remember. The first thing that really comes to mind was when I was five years old and my mom had a and we were going camping off one of the little islands where I grew up. This was Easter weekend and I was devastated that the Easter bunny wasn’t going to be able to find me. She assured me that the Easter bunny has a canoe and I have nothing to worry about and of course I woke up that morning and the Easter bunny had found me on the island and the basket was waiting for me! Learning Boating Skills..... My mom has a passion for boating as well, she grew up in the Bahamas so it’s been something that’s been a part of my life for my entire life. I did sailing lessons when I was little. We’ve always had boats. We started out in sailing then became traitors and got into power boats. She’s the one who taught me everything pretty much. We became this well-oiled machine of me crewing for her on our own boats. By the time I got old enough to do it myself, I knew what I was doing. Boating in the Bahamas..... We went to Freeport, Nassau, and growing up and more recently she took me to the Abacos and we rented a boat over there and did some snorkeling and saw the . It’s a big boating and fishing club on Green Turtle Quay. Her mom and dad ran it for over a year. Life Below the Water..... My favorite thing is scuba diving. I now have my advanced open water certification and try to plan a trip every year. This past year my fiance and I went to Belize to do the which is just about the depths of recreational diving limits. It’s this big sink hole where when you get down to the right depth there’s these big stalagtites that hang down and stalagmites and you can swing among them and then maybe 20 feet below you there’s sharks circling this giant black pit. It was a little bit scary but exhilarating. There's something called the which you can do in the keys. You go from the upper keys to the lower keys and they stop at all the different wrecks on the reefs there. Favorite Places to Boat and Dive..... Diving it would be Belize, there's just so so much life there. My favorite place to boat is in my home waters. Somewhere where you know what the weather has done to the landscape, and you can predict when a storm is coming through and you just know the area. That’s the easiest and most comfortable place for me to boat so just being home on my boat is my favorite place. Current Boating Lifestyle..... We have a 15’ . We adopted it from my mom. She upgraded from the Whaler and has a 25’ which is a more Northern Trawler style boat so she can spend the weekends on the boats. I think the people who live on their boats are so, so awesome. Having the ability to just go out whenever you want and all your stuff fits in this compact place. I think that lifestyle, even if it is just for a short period of time, would be such a challenge and you learn so much about boating and yourself, I think it sounds awesome. Seakeeper's Role in the Boating Experience..... Seakeeper is the global leader in marine stabilization. It takes all the side to side roll out of your boating trip at rest or under way. It is a gyroscopic stabilizer so it has no external appendages. We can stabilize boats as small as 27 feet up to over 200 feet. It has an active computer control so it can automatically detect the sea conditions and react instantaneously, there’s nothing you have to set. Seakeeper's Growth..... The growth is booming. It’s hard to keep up with how fast we are growing. In February we launched the and that’s our smallest Seakeeper to date for boats 27-32 feet. We launched the which is our heavy duty model mostly for commercial and military applications in July. We expanded the factory and added twelve new assembly lines. We opened an office in Italy and grew out of our headquarters in Maryland and got a larger office there. And have had a couple of OEM manufacturers that have standardized Seakeeper. Bertram standardized across their entire fleet and Scout standardized on some of their models as well. Our goal is to get down to about 21 feet. We want to make the water accessible for as many people as possible and make Seakeeper a reality for the average boater. We even have somebody on the Keys who is going to be one of our Ambassadors this year. He has a 23 foot Sailfish and he has a Seakeeper on it. The lengths are a guideline but if you have the space that thing will work on a smaller boat. Seakeeper's Corporate Responsibility..... We’re going to have two different areas that we want to give back to. One of them will be the more environmental organizations that are making sure that our waterways are around for future generations so that everyone can continue to enjoy them. The second factor will be focusing on the ways that we can give access to everybody and making sure that their time is enjoyable on the water. How to Join the Lifestyle..... For a lot of people, and I speak from a woman’s perspective - just start small. You don’t have to go out and buy a brand new 27 ft center console and launch it by yourself the first day. There are so many ways you can start small. Whether that’s getting a kayak or canoe or something you can manage yourself, or something like joining a boating club where you have help and assistance and somebody to do some of the work so you can get used to being on the water. Inevitably when you start small, you’re going to want to get bigger and bigger as you learn more. You’re going to want to go farther and stay out later and break those boundaries and that’s when you get the confidence to take the next step. /episode/index/show/anchorsaweigh/id/8116847

You Bought a Boat, Now Where do You Put It? 12/15/2018

You Bought a Boat, Now Where do You Put It? Matt Putnam is a founding partner and Managing Director of the . He specializes in the sale of marina, golf and leisure properties throughout the United States and Canada. Prior to becoming a broker, he served as the financial analyst and marketing coordinator for the National Golf and Resort Properties Group for two years. Matt has held an active real estate license since 2006 and been in the Leisure Properties industry since 2009. In addition to investment sales, Matt and his team focus on building advisory relationships with clients and routinely provide market research, financial analysis and management best practices at every point through the property ownership life cycle. Matt has served a wide range of clientele from single property owner-users to $100B pension funds and everything in between. Matt has been a part of transacting more than 40 leisure properties since 2011. Matt served as the national marina director at and was an integral part of launching and building the marina division there. Matt grew up in Florida on and around the water starting boating and fishing from a young age with his grandparents. Matt’s had lots of experience owning his own boat and as a Freedom Boat Club member and still gets out on the water and makes it a big part of his family’s life with his wife and his daughter. Matt and I talked about his experience growing up around the water, how he got into leisure properties, some really great insight into what’s going on in the marina ownership world, and most importantly for boaters, advice on how to pick a marina and what to look for when you’re deciding on where to keep your boat. Growing up in Florida….. I am in Tampa and I’ve lived my whole life in Florida. I grew up in , on the water on the west coast. I grew up with an appreciation for the water. My grandparents grew up in Englewood and we did a lot of fishing and boating and developed an appreciation for the water early on. As far back as I can remember I was fishing at the dock at my grandparent’s house. My grandpa had two boats so we would go fishing regularly and if I wasn’t on the boat I was on the dock or the seawall fishing. They also had a home up on and we spent a lot of summer time there in the water and on the water. I didn’t start fishing in the area I live until early high school when some of my friends started to have access to parents’ boats so I’ve been fishing in this area about 20 years. Learning to drive the boat….. We had a couple experiences here and there from a pretty young age but it didn’t always go well. My grandparents lived in a canal and there was always the prospect of turning a boat around in a tight space. I remember trying to help my grandpa do that on a couple occasions that always ended with him taking the wheel and setting the boat back in the right direction. Owning a boat….. My first experience with my own boat was once I moved back here from the Panhandle. I tease my wife, we had dated for quite a while and I bought my first boat before I bought her engagement ring so that was the tone that I set and she always teases me about that. We had a flats boat that we spent a lot of time fishing here locally and trailering down to the Keys for lobster season and to fish and dive down there. The family boating lifestyle….. My wife didn’t grow up boating in the capacity that I did but she took to it from early on in our relationship. She loves being on the water. We’ve got a four-year-old little girl that now has the same affinity for being on the water whether it’s fishing or just cruising out to an island and spending time in and around the water. And our dog is the same, he loves to be on the boat as well. Joining Freedom Boat Club….. We sold our boat when we were pregnant. It was a flats boat, very low to the water gunwales and we didn’t want a toddler moving around on a boat that didn’t offer a whole lot of protection. We sold it with the idea that we would get a bigger boat and life got in the way. Earlier this year we finally said - we're sick of not being on the water in the capacity that we're used to and we love doing - so we joined and we’ve gotten a heck of a lot of use out of it, both personally and I’ve gotten to use it for business. A typical day on the water….. Our day out on the water consists of fishing for a couple of hours, probably boating to a restaurant to grab lunch, and then spending time on our here. I’ve got a friend of mine who owns a charter fishing business down here so the more serious fishing is done with him. We go offshore so we’re typically targeting grouper or snapper and every once in awhile we'll catch a cobia or kingfish. Current state of the ‘hot’ marina market….. These generational assets that have been in families for multiple generations and for whatever reason the next generation doesn’t have the interest, passion, or desire to take over the family business, we see that a lot. And there are a couple of big groups that are very well capitalized buying marinas in scale trying to execute on a business plan. You’ve got this top down consolidation, two or three big groups out there actively acquiring marinas. And it’s just like anything else. Once people see these big firms going after a product type, it becomes more desirable to them as well. At the end of the day, worst case scenario in a lot of cases, you end up with waterfront property! Helping marina owners….. We are a true full-service real estate firm. That means we’ve got folks that focus solely on debt and equity, we’ve got a valuation team that does appraisals, project management, all the way through the gauntlet of an ownership period. We’ve tried to position ourselves to add value through that whole period. Marina industry trends….. I see the marina space trying to transition to more of a country club type atmosphere. People don’t want to just show up, get on their boat and never interact with anybody. A lot of times it’s folks bringing clients to the marina and they want that high level of service, they want their boat to be gassed up, they want ice, they want the dockhand to know their name. Beyond that, having other service lines gives somebody a reason to store their boat at a particular location. Investors often times are looking at a marina and thinking – what else can I do here? Marina owners are looking at how they can get more potential boaters to their property. Helping boaters choose a marina….. You want to look at the age and condition of the facility. If you're going into a dry stack, age and condition of the forklift. You don’t want an old beat up fork lift that could scratch and ding your boat. Same thing goes for wet slip marinas. Old beat up docks can beat up your boat pretty quick. And then it's just, how is it staffed, what is the level of service. Those things are pretty easy to tell just walking in, talking to people behind the desk. Then it's - what comes with storing my boat here, when you pull it out of the water, are you going to flush the engine and hose it down. What hours are you available to put my boat in and take it out. Advice for boaters or aspiring boaters….. The best piece of advice that I’ve ever received is just take it slow. Boats don’t have brakes so trying to do anything too quickly generally works out pretty poorly. And be open to constructive criticism. The people that I see pick it up the quickest and become the safest boaters are the ones who are willing to learn and take advice from people who have been doing it a long time. /episode/index/show/anchorsaweigh/id/7926206

You Bought a Boat, Now Where do You Put It? 12/15/2018

Have More Fun! 06/05/2018

Have More Fun! Matt Sellhorst is the founder and CEO of and the creator of the SPLASH System guaranteed to help select dealers sell more boats, make more money and have more fun. Matt is the sales and marketing columnist for , host of the Boat Dealer Profits podcast and Boat Dealer Profits TV where he shares tips, tricks and tactics to boost profitability in any dealership willing to implement the ideas. Sellhorst has also been featured in the Movers and Shakers edition of Boating Industry and has spoken multiple times at the Marine Dealer Conference and Expo, Marine Retail University, dealer and manufacturer events and other industry conferences. His journey from a 'no-boat-selling-son-of-a-gun' to a top producer at a 6 location dealership to sought after coach and consultant to dealers around the world mean all of his strategies are based on real world, nose-to-nose, toes-to-toes experience that have been proven to work in today's changing boat sales environment. Matt grew up boating and still has a great love for being out on the water with family and friends. We talked about podcasting, how to have fun working in the boating industry (hint, it's not really work), the positive feeling of putting families in the right boat to start making memories of their own, and more. Enjoy! On his boating start......As a kid I remember it vividly. I was five years old, I had an older brother and a younger sister and my uncle talked my parents into getting into boating. I remember climbing up on the wheelwell, it was a 16’ tri-hull, and I’m barely seeing over into the boat and from that day forward the Sellhorst family was boaters and I thought I was in Heaven. From that day forward its been a part of our family. Growing up in Nebraska, I went to little tiny lakes. Day one, I learned how to ski. My brother learned right away and I started on a little sled that you would pull behind and stand up on. My brother and I taught ourselves how to barefoot when we were about eighteen. It’s always revolved for us around family and friends. On his current boating lifestyle.....We have a lake place on the where we have a 22’ tritoon that we go out on all the time and we have a 32’ bowrider. If you’ve ever been on the Lake of the Ozarks, it can get pretty rough so that’s the cruising boat if you want to go explore. I’ve been going down there since I was five years old and I bet I haven’t been on a third of the Lake. It’s still my favorite place to be on the water. On fitting your boat to your lifestyle.....I’ve got two little girls and for me, it’s a tritoon. I can’t even believe I’m saying a pontoon is the way to go but just a 25-footer with the big outboards, that’s perfect for my lifestyle right now. I remember when I was actively selling and we could take the boats out and there would be a 28’ or 30’ cruiser out and I would pick the pontoon or the tritoon. Don’t get me wrong. Getting in the bowrider and putting the hammer down and hearing that thru-hull exhaust and those twins rumbling, that’s fun too but 90% of the time, it’s the pontoons. On getting into the boating industry.....When I was in college I worked at a local marina and it didn't feel like work. I got into finance and went through an IPO and started my own mortgage company. Everything was going great until the financial crisis hit and I had to make the hard decision to close the business. After struggling with that I decided I wanted to go to the Lake to work and do something I really love. My first year was nothing to write home about but the second year, there was a conversation I remember with Jeff Hall, he said you have to ask for the sale. You have to help them buy a boat. You have to actively ask them to take the next step of getting them involved with the lifestyle otherwise you are doing your client a disservice. On feeling good about putting clients in boats.....That vision of me at 5 years old and all the memories I made. Having all my college buddies coming out on the boat with my parents and my brother and sister, I mean who is hanging out with their family that much when they’re twenty years old? If you’re a boater, you probably do. If you know in your heart of hearts this is the right match for them, and they are capable and financially able to buy the boat, it’s your duty to get them to do it. It’s your job to get them through that fear so that they can have those memories. On the importance of having fun at 'work'.....There are a lot of ways to make money and with running a business, there’s challenge after challenge. Too often, all of the drudgery and wearing seventeen different hats, sometimes you’ve gotta step back and say, 'we don’t sit in a cubicle. We get to go to the lake and ride on boats and help people get involved in the boating lifestyle.' That’s pretty darn fun. It's so much fun to talk about how can we get this industry to grow, how can we get more people involved. There’s somebody that’s gonna make a memory that’s gonna stick for decades. On boat safety.....When we were at the lake, you wear your lifejacket from the time you leave the cabin and you take it off when you walk in the cabin and you’re ready to go to sleep. If you’re a kid and you’re at the lake, you’re wearing your lifejacket. It’s a non-negotiable rule. Several of things with kids, they know if it’s negotiable. When the boat’s moving, you’re sitting down. It’s what I would teach my clients when I did deliveries. Mom and Dad, whoever is handling the boat, you make the rules and you make the rules for all guests and all kids on the boats. Here is what I recommend – life jackets, always sitting, don’t reach your hand outside the boat when you’re coming to a dock. Just little things that you have to set the rules for your boat and your boating environment. Matt has an incredible enthusiasm for the boating lifestyle and for spreading that love of boating to others. If you're a dealer, check out his site and find out how he can help grow your business. If you're a boater, find a salesperson whether you are buying a boat, joining a boat club, or any other way of joining the lifestyle who cares as much as Matt does about finding the right match for your lifestyle. /episode/index/show/anchorsaweigh/id/6669055

It Makes a Difference in the World 04/10/2018

It Makes a Difference in the World Claude Beaulac is the VP of Sales and Marketing for the . I spoke with Claude just before it was announced that the CEBC was awarded the ‘’ award at Quebec’s annual Marina Industry Gala. The Canadian Electric Boat Company manufactures a line of 100% electric boats that do not produce any pollution or emissions. Powered by a lithium battery, CEBC boats can provide eight to twelve hours of use on a single charge. They are completely noiseless, handcrafted with high quality materials, and they even boast in their line the fastest electric boat in the world, the . Claude has boated around the world throughout his career and currently enjoys his personal boating on a beautiful lake in Canada in a private preserve. We spoke about the boat building process, upcoming shows, how he got involved with the CEBC and more. Enjoy! On boat show strategies.....We want to show the world we can build something different than what is already out there so we bring out the Volt 180 with several different possibilities of power options. We’re really proud of showing it and when we’ve showed it, everybody was impressed and looking forward to trying one. That’s the key to electric boats. People like the idea but didn’t know it existed so they are discovering the idea that it is there today, not just coming in the future. We’ll be at Newport Beach at the end of this month. We have a boat rental business there, the eboat rental. That’s a great location to test and try out all the things that we develop because seasons are better there than here in Montreal. So far we have been the novelty at all the shows. On the electric boat experience.....Everybody gets very surprised because when we get started they feel like we’re drifting. You don’t feel anything or hear anything. It’s a comforting feeling once you’re on the water and know that you have control of the boat and you’re going at the proper speed, and you don’t hear any noise but the water flapping on the boat, and the wind. On hurdles to electric boat adoption.....The first barrier is that people don’t even know that it can be done. That’s 90% of the people that come to us at a boat show. The next one is ‘what’s the autonomy?’. They’ve seen things in electric cars and think that cars need to be charged a lot and they think of the extreme. People think they’re going to be on the water all day and wonder if it is going to last. We tell them it’s going to last eight to twelve hours depending on the speed you run with it and they are flabbergasted. It’s a matter of educating people. On the CEBC product line.....The Quietude and the Fantail are the biggest sellers. In the last four years we’ve seen some Bruce being sold and now we’ve got the Bruce T Version with . The Volt just came out and we’ve sold three so far and are expecting quite a few more as we work with cities who have eco-recreational programs. On boating around the world.....I've traveled quite a bit and got to boat in different cities in Switzerland, Greece, Australia, and China. In my family there were no boats but we had friends with boats, and my first wife had a sailboat we went on quite a bit. Now we have a cottage and have a small boat that we go fishing with. It’s a reserve so it’s a protected area. There’s moose, there’s deer, there’s bears, there’s all sorts of things walking around. We catch a lot of Trout and Pike. On his favorite boating destination.....The Caribbean is a great place to go, when you can see the bottom and all the fish swimming around. Up by our cottage, the water is clear and when the sun is in the right direction, you can see the bottom of the lake in a lot of places. I like to boat in those areas where you can see the marine life underneath you. On his mission at CEBC.....It makes a difference in the world and that was one of my criteria. I want to work for a business that’s going to make a difference in the world. This was a perfect mix. It’s a big challenge which is always what I’ve been looking for in life. We have a plan and we’re acting our plan on a daily basis. On improving standards for eboating.....We’ve met with the people at the and to make sure that they put a category for leisure electric boats into their system and that they have rules and regulations to apply to manufacturers so that there are no accidents that happen with electric boats. We want this to be safe. We’re a bunch of people who are concerned about the environment and the safety of people. On what draws people to the water.....I think it’s the pleasure and the freedom that you feel when you are out on the water. You are completely in a different element. When you get onto the water it’s that good feeling that you’re floating and it’s effortless. There are many ways to do it and you have to pick what you feel best with and think about your real need. We hear all the horror stories of people who say 'I loved the boat when I bought it and I loved it when I sold it' because they didn’t buy the right boat for their need. A lot of people buy the lifestyle but never live it. Think about what you’re going to do with it and try it before you buy it. I have enjoyed learning about electric boating through my conversation with Claude and previous conversation with Steve Trkla of Torqeedo. It is exciting to watch the developments in this segment of the industry and the possibilities of environmentally friendly boating continuing to grow will help make our natural waterways cleaner for generations to come! /episode/index/show/anchorsaweigh/id/6464472

Living In The Moment, Why I Go Boating 03/26/2018

Living In The Moment, Why I Go Boating Niels Kisling is in charge of Marine Sales and Marketing at , a company with a huge range of products for sailors and powerboaters. Many of you boaters and especially sailors are probably using or have used Davis products and may not even know it. In 2017, Neils accepted the Miami International Boat Show in the Category of Boat Care and Maintenance for their Snap Tool Multi-Key. Niels has spent his entire life boating and sailing, on boats his father hand made! From a rowboat to a 20’ catamaran, Captain Kisling provided Niels a variety of ways to enjoy the water from a young age. Niels grew up boating on Long Island but moved to the West Coast in elementary school and continued pursuing his love of boating off of Capitola, California. It is here that one of the most harrowing events one can imagine occurred in Niels life. Sailing in a race from Santa Cruz to Santa Barbara, Niels and his two boatmates got caught in bad weather, hit by a freak wave, and capsized. Sadly, both of Niels friends succumbed to exposure, but Niels persevered. After almost 24 hours at sea, through the sheer power of will, he stayed with it until a tanker saw him a half mile away and maneuvered to rescue him. The power of Niels spirit continues to shine through to this day as he chooses to live his life to the fullest, helping people enjoy the water and spreading the word about safe boating. While we did not get into details about this event, we did have a great discussion about how he got started in boating, navigating at sea, Davis products for everyday boaters, a unique partnership with the O’Neill Sea Odyssey, and more. Enjoy! On his current boating life.....I’m about five miles away from the harbor. We have a boat that was built in Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz was the leader of the light boat design concept back in the 70’s. It’s a Wilderness 40, designed by and it was built by Wilderness Boatworks just about eight miles from where I live. On boating as a child.....I was born in Long Island, NY. My folks moved us out here when I was nine years old. In Long Island we were boating but it was a much different kind of boating. My dad built all our boats and our biggest boat was a 20’ catamaran. We lived on the Bay and the boating was very serene, the wind didn’t blow very hard. Our smallest boat was a little rowboat my dad made me when I was three years old. It was five feet long with four foot oars and I used to be able to take that out by myself any time I wanted to. On boating in his blood.....My dad called himself Captain Kisling, that’s where I got my handle Captain Niels. He went to sea when he was sixteen years old. This was back in 1922. He didn’t have much interest in school so he left home and went to sea on a Danish trading schooner that sailed between Denmark and England. Then he became a third mate and became a radio operator on ships sailing between Denmark and the Far East and Denmark and the Caribbean. On learning to boat.....I think I learned by osmosis, or learned by watching my dad. We used to go sailing and he would ask me to do tasks and I would do it. It was always very relaxed, I never got yelled at. He would encourage us to do things and if we did it right he would praise us. I think that rubbed off. When I take people sailing today we are very casual. There's no yelling or screaming, just a lot of explaining. On teaching kids to boat.....I think one of the biggest things that parents can do wrong is to expect that their children are going to enjoy the same boating lifestyle that they do, and some parents can put a lot of pressure on that. I've taken my boys out on the sailboat ever since they were six weeks old. This morning I was talking about what my son's earliest memory might be and Christian told me his earliest memory was laying in the bean bag in the cockpit looking up at the sails. I thought that was pretty cool. On the Davis product line.....If you're a sailor, you know our wind vane. We have been the North American manufacturer and distributor for going on forty years. Most people with a sailboat look up at their masthead and see your Windex up there. It was designed really well back in the 60’s and still works really well to this day. The next most popular product is . We sell a bunch of it to the US Navy. You’ve got Happy Troller which is great for fishermen trying to slow down their motors. You’ve got Queaz-Away wrist bands which keep you from getting seasick. The whole company was founded on plastic sextants and navigation tools. On the importance of learning navigation skills.....People are losing the ability to put an X on the chart to locate their position. I’m still a believer in paper charts. I encourage my kids when we sail to plot their position on a chart. You can do that with a GPS if you do it on a regular basis. If the GPS ever goes out you only have to go back an hour or two and you know where you were. I think it’s a pretty important thing. One of the coolest things that Davis has experienced lately is that the US Navy has made it mandatory to have a sextant on board and to have two people who know how to use it. For a long time the US Navy discontinued celestial navigation because GPS is so bulletproof but about ten years ago somebody got smart and realized that our electronic navigation can shut down any time and all of a sudden you have Navy ships out there that don’t know where they are. navigation being in demand on Navy ships has increased demand for home hobbyists and boaters. On the O'Neill Sea Odyssey program.....Jack O’Neill founded this program with Tim O’Neill. They had the concept that they’d like to give back to the community so they made a foundation called the where they take schoolchildren out in their sixty foot catamaran for free but in order to be taken out your school has to perform ten hours of community service. It’s a two part program where they take you out on the boat and collect plankton, do navigation with our compasses, and have a little program about the environment and effects of pollution on the ocean, then they go up to the classroom and have a one or two hour program to back up what they do on the water. Right now they are at 995,000 kids they have taken out and this summer they are going to have their one millionth kid on the water. On the most important item to bring boating.....My kids and I always wear our inflatable lifejackets. We really like our inflatable life vests because you don’t even know you have them on but if you fall in the water they’re a huge benefit. Now I realize that all I have to do is slip or fall in the water or hit my head and it’d be very stupid not to have a life jacket on, or have it down below. I think that’s probably the single most important piece of equipment we go boating with. On the best piece of boating advice received.....I was always bothered by sailing downwind. I was always afraid of by accident. My seventh-grade school teacher who built a boat with me taught me the simplest piece of advice that I’ve passed on to thousands of people - 'If you’re afraid you’re close to a jibe, push the tiller towards the boom'. When you do that, the boat comes up into the wind and you get further away from a jibe situation. General boating advice, I think somebody told me a long time ago to go out there and have a good time. Boating gets you to live in the moment. When you’re out there boating it’s all about what you're doing right this second in time. It's not about what bills you have to pay or what appointments you have back on land. Living in the moment is why I go boating. /episode/index/show/anchorsaweigh/id/6406907

Anchors Aweigh

TOPICS