Fraser Valley ( with files from Josh Olund BCIT Radio A&E. CNW) – As the long weekend is fast approaching, many people are looking to anywhere with water as a place to visit that’s close to home during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has made people turn to get boats right now and dealers are already running low on their stocks.
Bruce Hayne, executive director of the Boating BC Association says the demand had begun going up last year, which is understandable because of the COVID-19 pandemic.“They’re looking for ways to get outdoors, recreate with their family safely in isolation, and boating is the perfect way to do that,” Hayne said.
According to Hayne, demand for all sorts of boats,including kayaks, paddleboats, and even pleaure crafts like sailboats and yachts have continued to go up, even though the supply chains have taken a hit.
“There are dealers that have pre-sold all their inventory that’s coming in, for at least the first part of the year and perhaps the whole year, depending on the lines that they’re carrying,” Hayne said. So, people are turning to the used boat market, which Hayne says is increasing prices for second-hand vessels.“It indicates that people want to be outdoors. They realize that they’re probably not going to Europe or Disneyland in the foreseeable future,” he explained.
Meanwhile, North American Safe Boating Awareness Week will take place across Canada from May 22nd to May 28th, 2021. The purpose of this initiative, managed by the CSBC (Canadian Safe Boating Council) and its partners, is to promote safe and responsible boating practices.
In Canada, 16 million people enjoy recreational boating. That number is going up, some say by large double-digit percentage increases (20, 30 even 40 %), driven the past and this coming year by Covid-19. Social distancing and restricted travel have been keeping people closer to home. Marine dealers across North America have reported empty shelves of boating safety gear and exhausted inventories of new and used boats as many people new to boating have made purchases and are taking to the water for the first time.
Although this ‘new’ to boating group has made boating safety information more critical than ever before, prior to COVID, boating safety was still an important communication by boating safety educators and advocates to make boaters more aware of their roles and responsibilities to themselves, their passengers, other boaters and those on shore.
There are five key boating safety messages directed towards the most common boating related accidents. They include:
- Wear a lifejacket
- Boat sober.
- Be prepared. Both you and your boat.
- Take a boating course
- Be aware of cold water risks.
