Editorial

Congratulations to Bluewater Bay Marina in Niceville, Florida, this year’s winner of the Marina Dock Age photo contest, winner for the second year in a row. We get so many amazing photos each year, which highlight the marina lifestyle, the community at the waterfront, the hard work and the fun. Thank you to everyone that sent in photos, and remember to keep taking photos all year for the 2019 contest. Anything taken after the June 11 deadline is eligible. We also have a huge selection of other photos in this issue. See pages 26 and 27 and 52 and 53.

We get a lot of spectacular photos that could never win the contest because they are not large enough or don’t fit the vertical crop of our cover. Print publication, especially a large cover shot, requires high resolution photos. If you have questions about photo quality or other photography questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

Thank you also to everyone that submitted proposals for education at The Docks Expo in Nashville this December. It was overwhelming, not only the quantity of proposals but the quality of the topics. We take our job as industry educators seriously, and we love the opportunity to bring the magazine’s instructional focus to life. Look for more information about the full schedule in the next few months. We hope to see you there.

For our marketing theme this issue, I spent some more time talking with one of our Marina of the Year winners, Roxanne Rockvam from Rockvam Boatyards. If you don’t believe in marketing, or the power of social media and technology, you need to read this article.

We also have a new topic for our editorial calendar called Innovative Profit Ideas. I talked with a number of facilities about creative profit centers, business practices or innovative ideas – anything that boosts revenues, creates new customers, helps retain old customers, saves money or makes the business more efficient. Slips, storage and service will always be the bread and butter of this industry, but there’s so much more that goes with the boating lifestyle. That means more that your marina could be offering boaters and more profits you could be making. We have a small selection of creative amenities and operational tips that you can start if it suits your facility. The possibilities are endless. If you have other creative profit ideas, we’d love to hear them. Let’s share; let’s educate the industry; let’s learn together.