Boating event planners want to make sure that everyone is enjoying themselves but with the go-fast boating market at an all-time high right now, there have been new challenges when planning events. To make events run more smoothly for all boaters, Stu Jones has recently announced that Florida Powerboat Club is going to be hosting some events on Friday. Continue reading why this change was decided and the new opportunities it will bring.
An adult slice of administrative hell—that’s what organizing a go-fast boating event looks like to me. Nailing down permits, dockage and event insurance. Securing safety assets. Managing registration. Booking hotel room-blocks, figuring out meals from lunch stops to post-run dinners for hundreds of hungry people.
Does any of that appeal to you? I didn’t think so. And you already have my take.
Stu Jones of the Florida Powerboat Club does it for a living. And lately he has seen his role as an organizer get a lot more challenging thanks to explosive growth in the recreational boating world.
In just two years—2020 and 2021—the COVID 19 pandemic did for powerboating what marine industry marketing types have been trying to do for decades. It brought new blood to the market.
That you have to wait two years for most new performance boats is in part a byproduct of broken supply chains. But mostly, it’s about the kind of product demand that the marine industry has never seen. Even before current supply chain nightmares took hold, the wait for most new performance boats was about a year-and-a-half.
New boaters discovered what you already knew. For small groups, boating is the ultimate form of enjoyable, social distancing. That, plus significant migration to Florida—particularly Southwest Florida—in the past couple of years, has translated to more people on the water in the Sunshine State.
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“Going forward in 2023 and beyond, you’re going to see a lot more Friday poker runs in a reversal of what’s been the norm,” Jones said. “Saturdays will be more-casual fun days. Of course, Saturday night will still be the big blowout party but that works well because it’s a land-based event and that’s the easy stuff when it comes to organizing boating events.”
“It’s all about creating the best experience we can for our club members,” he added. “And that means adapting to a changing set of circumstances on the water.”
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Original article published on speedonthewater.com