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The International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA) has published an amended Global Conformity Guidelines for construction standards: No. 7 Capacity Labels.

The purpose of ICOMIA’s Guidelines is to assist boat builders who comply with either American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) or ISO, but are looking to start exporting to countries using the opposite system. ABYC and ISO standards’ systems have different requirements for the construction of boats, and are based on separate calculations and criteria.

The marine electronics industry is evolving, necessitating a more streamlined and focused approach to the various segments of CMC Electronics' business. CMC’s new management structure is designed to put a more concentrated effort on sales, service, products, and major projects. CMC foresees excellent opportunities in the coming years and needs to be positioned to maximize a share of those opportunities.

In the continued interest of growth the following changes will take effect immediately.

It is said that time passes softly on a sailboat, and that is certainly true for Ron Schute, owner of Advantage Boating, as he celebrates twenty successful years teaching Ottawa-area sailors and boaters.   Advantage Boating (formerly Ottawa Sailing School) got its start in 1992 by offering a single course with a single instructor on the mighty Ottawa River.  Today, the school offers a wide range of educational programs provided by over 30 instructors in Ottawa, Kingston, and the Caribbean, and boasts thousands of satisfied and skilled alumni.

As Ron puts it, “The past twenty years have been a blur.

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia's Class Afloat has established the Class Afloat ‘Young Sailor Scholarship’ to assist two students – endorsed by their sailing school, sail training program or yacht club – to participate in an extraordinary educational experience — attending high school while ocean sailing aboard a majestic square-rigged tall ship.

Class Afloat offers young people a unique journey of education and personal discovery.  For nine months, students live, study and sail aboard The Sørlandet, a fully restored 210 foot 1927 Class ‘A’ square-rigged tall ship.

The National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA) is pleased to announce its 2013 Education Training Schedule.

The NMEA strives to promote the technical marine electronics dealer through education, communication, training and certification, strengthen the industry’s reputation in the marketplace through industry standards and recognition of excellence, promote good business management and fair business practices among its members, encourage the industry to hire highly skilled and qualified technical service personnel and educate the boating public through publications and seminars to promote the safe and proper use of marine electronic equipment.

Funding for the National Marine Manufacturers Association Canada (NMMA) in Bolton will help create good jobs, growth, and greater long-term prosperity for hard-working Canadians, MP says. David Tilson, Member of Parliament for Dufferin-Caledon, today announced that the National Marine Manufacturers Association Canada (NMMA)  received $64,000 to help industry members expand their footprint abroad, bring in new investment, and attract top talent.  “Our Government is committed to growing our economy and creating good, new, high-value jobs for hard-working Canadians,” said International Trade Minister Ed Fast.  “That is why we are helping our world-class marine sector expand and succeed abroad as a key part of our plan to open new markets around the world for our exporters.  The funding we are providing today will help with these efforts.”

Boating Ontario's video newsletter of November 23rd is worth a second look before you head off to the 2012 Boating Ontario Conference this week.  The Conference runs from Dec 2 – 4 at the London Convention Centre in London, Ontario.
 
Highlights of this year's conference address issues of concern including sessions on Great Lakes water levels and waterfront property taxes.  John Peterson, President of Marlow-Hunter Sailboats and Byron Bolton, CEO of Westwinn Group, will be presenting as guest speakers.

Each year the Pittman Awards for Innovation recognize the most innovative and interesting products on the boating market.  Pindell Enginneering has developed a method for packaging their drying media in ways that are useful on boats.  

The H2OUT system features perforated metal housings that allow for efficient air ventilation and easy visual inspection.  When the drying media, which is infinitely reusable, changes from blue to pink it is time to dry it out again. The units range from being toolbox size to units large enough to dry out large living spaces.  They can also be used for preventing a freezer from icing up.  

The 6th and 7th generation of Dawsons in the marine industry have taken over ownership and publishing of the Outboard Motor Dealer Blue Book.  Glen Dawson, of Dawson Enterprises, purchased the business from Computer Boat Values this year.  Glen will continue working for Computer Boat Values producing the Boat Value Book and will be publishing the Outboard Motor Dealers Blue Book through Dawson Enterprises with the help of his daughter, Kaitlyn.

The Outboard Motor Dealers Blue Book has over 300 pages of pricing and specifications on major lines of outboard motors sold in Canada from 2012 to 1994.

Sea Ray is pleased to announce that 26 of its North American dealers were recognized by Boating Industry magazine when it released the 2012 list of Top 100 Dealers in North America recently.

Among the notable achievements by Sea Ray dealers this year: Boating Industry noted that Port Harbor Marine of South Portland, Maine, was chosen as the “Best Place to Work” and Sail & Ski Center of Austin, Texas, was honored for “Best Boat Show Strategy.”

At an awards lunch on Wednesday during the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo, Courtney Chalmers of Boat Trader and Mike Davin of Boating Industry magazine presented Bob Pappajohn of M&P Mercury Sales with the award for the Best Idea of the year.

Pappajohn's Burnaby, British Columbia-based dealership won for its efforts to sell to non-traditional boater populations. This included outreach to the Chinese community through interpreters, ambassadors and advertising written in their native language.

Following a squally beginning the 53rd annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show wrapped up on a high note with sunshine and pleasant temperatures following inclement weather the first two days of the five-day event.  Despite the weather, exhibitors reported serious buyers, qualified leads and closed deals during the first two days, while the weekend attracted near record-breaking attendance.  "After being down 30 percent during the first two days because of Hurricane Sandy, attendance was very strong the last three days and finished down just 2 percent over last year for the show overall," said Efrem "Skip" Zimbalist III, CEO of Show Management, the company that manages and produces the show. "The number of boats in the water was up 10 percent … as were brokerage boats over 126 feet, which were 15 percent ahead of last year."

The latest annual statistics book from ICOMIA (International Council of Marine Industry Associations) is now available, providing the recreational marine industry with reliable global boating statistics.  Representing the global marine industry since 1967, today ICOMIA has 35 marine industry association members (MIAs), estimated to represent more than 90% of the global boating business, making it well positioned to provide an international compilation of data covering the industry’s varied segments.

The ICOMIA Statistics Book is the foremost annual tool the industry has to sum up international activity and, for the first time, this year’s edition includes invaluable market data from China.

Randy Caruana has been promoted to vice president of sales and marketing at Mercury Marine.

Caruana, who has spent his entire career in the marine industry, has held a variety of executive positions during the 10 years he has worked at Mercury Marine, most recently vice president of sales for the Americas. Prior to that, he was director of outboard marketing, director of the large outboard product line and director of sales and marketing for Mercury Marine Canada.

The Maine Marine Trades Association has extended an invitation to Canadians to attend their  Dec. 17 – 19, 2012 ABYC Composite Boat Builder Certification couse held by the MMTA, 2 Main St. Biddeford, ME.

The classes will run   8:30 am – 4:30 pm and the cost is  $525.00 ABYC/MMTA Members,  $810.00 – non-members.
 
This composites course is designed for boat builders and manufacturers. The curriculum includes marine composite construction, production and advanced manufacturing processes, structural details and hardware installation, quality assurance, and safety and environmental compliance.

The University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario) announced in early November the the official opening of the Fraunhofer Project Centre (FPC) for Composites Research, a 12,000 ft2 (1,115m2). applied research facility located at the university’s Advanced Manufacturing Park. The FPC is a collaboration between the university and the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (Pfinztal, Germany), an institute that is part of the largest applied research organizations in Europe.

John Pfeifer has been named vice president of global operations for Mercury Marine.

In his most recent role, Pfeifer managed Brunswick’s global marine businesses as president of Brunswick Marine in EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) and president of the Brunswick Asia Pacific Group. Prior to joining Brunswick in 2006, Pfeifer, held executive positions with ITT Corporation and Milacron, Inc. He holds a bachelor’s degree with dual majors in Economics and Japanese from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Don’t miss the opportunity to be part of the Boating Ontario Conference & Trade Show.  The event is only two weeks away on December 2nd to the 4th at the London Convention Centre.  Here are some brief highlights of the agenda.  For more information visit conference.boatingontario.ca

On Sunday December 2nd it’s ‘Safe Lifting Awareness- A Roadmap to MOL Compliance‘ and later, an evening of NETWORKING! Join the group for dinner and a fun night of game shows.

BoatUS has estimated that Hurricane Sandy caused more than US$650m in damages to boats across the US. The US boater association also expects that more than 65,000 recreational boats were damaged or lost as a result of the storm.

"We've never seen anything like it,” said Scott Croft, BoatUS AVP of Public Affairs, in a statement. “The scope of the damage to boats is unprecedented, affecting large areas from the Atlantic seaboard as far inland as the Great Lakes, with the majority of damage in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.