The Sea Tow Foundation is showcasing the winners of the 2023 National Boating Safety Awards via individualized blog posts that answer specific questions posted to each winning company.

Garmin won the 2023 National Boating Safety Award in the category of Top Gear & Equipment Manufacturer.

1. What inspired your company to promote boating safety?
   
   Many people think that safe boating just means wearing a life jacket (which is important), but there are so many additional ways to ensure you have an enjoyable – and safe – day out on the water. Garmin’s mission is to create products that are an essential part of our customers’ lives, which includes boating and fishing. From up-to-date mapping to sonar technology, marine radars, AIS and VHF equipment to inReach satellite communicators, Garmin products can help make the difference between a good and bad day on the water, and we’re passionate about ensuring our customers know how to use their electronics so they can make the most out of doing what we all love so much – enjoying the water.
   
   
2. What partnerships, media coverage and/or opportunities have you received as a result of winning the award?
   
   Since collaborating with The Qualified Captain to raise awareness for boating safety last year, we have continued to strengthen our partnership with them and their platform. What started as a place to highlight on-the-water incidents that could have been avoided has turned into a platform for boating safety education and we are proud to continue collaborating with them to expose more people to tips on how to make the most of their time spent on the water.

It was also great to see many consumer and trade media outlets cover the awards program, which hopefully generates more boating safety content and commentary on their various news platforms.

3. What was a key takeaway you received as a result of working on this project or campaign?
   
   It’s rewarding to see the interest and engagement in safe boating content increase from year to year – it means we’re reaching more boaters and anglers and hopefully making our waters safer for everyone. We were also thrilled to learn that the Sea Tow Foundation received a record-breaking number of entries to their Safety Awards program in 2023 – the more people promoting boating safety, the better! It’s great to see so many companies and brands from all facets of the industry coming together to raise awareness of something that will impact generations of boaters for years to come.
   
   
4. Is your company working on any future boating safety projects or campaigns? If so, is there anything you can share about what you’re planning to do?
   
   

We recently issued a report outlining Garmin inReach SOS data from 2023, which showed that boating was the fourth highest activity people were doing when they triggered an SOS. The top reasons Garmin customers are triggering an SOS is for injury or an accident, which validates our efforts to promote safer boating practices for anyone leaving the dock. As we look ahead, we remain committed to creating purposeful, informative content, media outreach, education and more for a stronger and safer community of boaters.