The National Boating Industry Safety Awards recognizes the best boating safety work in the for-profit section of the recreational boating industry. Sponsored for the second year by KICKER Marine Audio, the six top contest winners were announced December 8th during the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas national Dealer Week. The National Boating Industry Safety Awards are in their 3rd year having started in 2019. The awards are judged by members of the Sea Tow Foundation’s Boating Safety Advisory Council.

Top awards were given in the following categories:

POWERBOAT MANUFACTURER – Sea Ray Boats

Winning for the third year, Sea Ray went above and beyond with their boating safety effort this year bringing aboard a TV star to be featured in their videos with topics like docking, safety drills and communication. In addition, Sea Ray hosted a life jacket giveaway on social media in advance of Labor Day weekend to end the summer on a safe note and create additional buzz for boating safety!

GEAR AND EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER – Garmin International

Garmin has established itself as a true leader in enhanced situational awareness by making the boating environment safer through their Navionics app, g3 cartography, inReach satellite communication capability, AIS and VHF systems, and GPS systems. In addition, they launched a social media campaign over National Safe Boating Week with their primary goal being to help educate the wave of new boaters that have joined the boating community in the last two years.

MARINE RETAILER with up to 3 locations – Emerald Coast Marine Group

Headquartered in Northwest Florida, Emerald Coast Marine Group created a new series of boating safety videos, including a custom video during National Boating Safety Week that featured every member of the dealership team wearing life jackets. The dealership also underwrites the cost and promotes in-person boating safety classes in partnership with the USCG Auxiliary.

MARINE RETAILER with 4 or more locations – MarineMax

MarineMax takes the honor for the third year by utilizing multiple methods of outreach including face-to-face opportunities in their locations, printed flyers, social media, emailed newsletters, YouTube, podcasts, and their website to promote boating safety. MarineMax also celebrated National Safe Boating Week and specifically mentioned the importance of life jacket wear and designating a sober skipper in its social media posts that week. 

MARINE MEDIA OUTLET – Lafferty Media Partners

Lafferty Media Partners was contracted to work with the U.S. Power Squadrons, also now known as America’s Boating Club. Their efforts resulted in the development of America’s Boating Channel. They produced a video educations series, offering a very broad set of relevant topics that will continue to grow as the library is built. Lafferty Media Partners even adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic and showcased content specifically focused on how to help boaters through these tough times.

MARINE MARKETING & OUTREACH – Kenton Smith Marketing

The Kenton Smith Marketing team were contracted to work with The Water Sports Foundation. Their work entailed building content for the newly launched “National Boating Safety Media Resource Center,” which is a one-stop online hub for journalists seeking content, imagery, video and expert resources on boating safety. In addition, the Team produced press releases resulting in 490 print, online and TV stories that delivered more than 600 million media impressions in just a 5 month period and, during that same time, the website attracted 8,500 visitors. 

For more information about the Sea Tow Foundation Boating Safety Advisory Council and the National Boating Industry Safety Awards, please visit www.boatingsafety.com/awards. Again, congratulations to all the winners of the 2021 National Boating Industry Safety Awards!