Make the women boater's in your life happy, yeah!!!

Boating

boatguy Ed Donlin

These few statistics are hard to ignore if you are a boating guy. First, 75% of the choice about which boat to buy is made by the women of the family! Second, 90% of the choice to get out of boating is made by women! Let me explain, you see the first statistic deals with the final choice between several models of boats. The female partner in the deal usually has the final choice in the brand, color scheme and equipment. That is a lot of power to have but it’s okay with me!The fact that it is a fishing boat had to be established earlier.
The second statistic has to do with the reason that families get out of boating. “If Mama ain’t happy, nobodies happy,” my gray haired daddy used to say! Getting woman on the water isn’t a chore because they usually like boats but they don’t like to be uncomfortable unless they are sailor, sailors! We should plan our outings with their comfort firmly planted in our brains. We should consider any tendencies to be mildly sea sick, easily sunburned or totally 'not into fishing' as well as any other problem that might turn them off to someone's favorite pastime.
If we accept these stats to be fact and I think they are correct because they come from a manufacturers organization, then why don’t those boat makers advertise to this large and powerful group? You don’t have to study their brochures very hard to realize that they are aiming at the twenty something male crowd. The glossy pages are adorned with svelte models on the boats displayed therein.
There aren’t many pictures of kids either in those brochures. Normal sized men and women along with kids and the family dog are the customers they should seek! I don’t know what Madison Avenue advertising firm puts these campaigns together but they totally ignore reality. And where are the depictions of the fun of boating? A beached boat and a picnic is a good start. Or a beautiful boat tied up along side of a nice waterfront restaurant and happy diners enjoying a sun filled outing?
These are the activities that appeal to women and kids and dogs. Although it is harder to find seclude beaches that allow dogs or open fires or beached boats. And some waterfront restaurants never allow dogs. As far as kids go I guess they’d tolerate them but you very rarely see kids in their advertisements either. Still these are the activities that women like about boating and they make a lot of important decisions.
What will happen to boating if all the women decide that the money could be better spent on other recreational activity. “Lets Go RV-ing” is a campaign aimed at families and they are stealing boaters right and left. Their brochures are full of picnics and families and fun for normal people. Why is boating missing the mark? Mostly because the industry is dominated by middle-aged white men who crossed over from the car business and we all know how the car business treats women!
So it is a good old boys network at the boat dealership just like at the car dealership. The only group more ignored by the boating industry is minorities but they are being considered in future advertising. Yeah right!
How can this threat to your boating happiness be overcome? It’s simple because we have an ally that is just waiting to relieve us of our burden and they are the waterfront restaurants. They stand ever ready to do an instant boating makeover on your female boating partner. Ask her who is the person she would most like to impress and then invite them to boat with you to a great waterfront place.
A little practice docking will really make the day because a confident skipper makes a boating day a lot more fun for everyone. Your lady will be joyously thankful and will remember the day when the yearly boating budget comes up for discussion!

Boat safe and treat the ladies right and you'll have a lot more fun! Send questions and comments to boatguiEd@aol.com. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The End of a Fort Myers Beach Circus Connection!

Image
         When 91 year old Kel Egony passed away recently in Lee Memorial Hospital not many of his fellow Danes would ever have guessed that would be the place he would draw his final breathe. In his youth in Denmark, 14 year old Kel wanted to be an airplane mechanic but when the Germans invaded, his family insisted he change apprenticeships to became a mason.           Kel Jorgensen was too young to be conscripted by the Nazi's but old enough to work for the underground. Their jobs were especially difficult since the occupying German soldiers spoke fluent Danish after growing up in Denmark because of food shortages in Germany after the first World War. Still, his unit smuggled 3,000 Jews to neutral Sweden through enemy held territory before the war ended.            After the war, Kel and his brother Jorgen Jorgensen started a death defying circus act involving spinning around 75 feet in th...
Read more

Boating; Captain Manny Lee and Corazon Frisbee!

Image
  In response to a recent blog/column, I received a picture of the new 'Corazon Frisbee', the one year old queen of Cap'n Manny Lee's Marshall sloop sailboat named after her ; Captain Manny Lee and Corazon Frisbee are living large in the Florida Keys @ Bone Island Bob's private marina in Islamorada, Florida, mile marker 74.5. Private Charters aboard his boat from one to five passengers. Throwing the Frisbee for 'Sweetie Corazon' is no charge but remember she never quits just like her predecessor. For her birthday she received a new coconut (husk and all) along with a few other treats. The coconut husk is great dental floss. On your way through the Keys stop and say hello to Manny and Corazon. http://www.mannylee.com/index.html CAPTAIN McCLUSKY SAILING CHARTERS | 74540 Overseas Highway, Islamorada, FL 33036 | 281-508-7174
Read more

Remembering The Split Rail Restaurant?

Image
Does Anyone Else Remember The Split Rail Restaurant? It was once a favorite place for beach ppl for breakfast and lunch. Us younger members of the “Dead End Canal Yacht Club” could pull our small boats up to the rickety dock and have a beer and a few chicken wings in the late afternoon. I'm sure you've guessed that I write of a long ago era before happy hours became the rage. Circa 1990! My wife, Marion and I lived at the Boardwalk Caper which was a boater's paradise but not on the DEC. We ate breakfast often at the Split Rail and I attribute much of my heart problems to those delicious heart cloggers. Me, myself and I ate there three mornings a week for a solid 15 years because my office was on the beach. I'm not sure how many Greek immigrants began washing dishes so they could learn to bus tables then run the fryer and fry the eggs before becoming the owner but I remember a half dozen. It used to be a great way to chain migrate to America but all good...
Read more