Marinas19 Session to Address Increasing Female Participation in Boating

The Marinas19 International Conference and Trade Exhibition will feature a session to address the challenge of increasing female participation in boating and in boat buying. The event held May 27 to 28 on Australia’s Gold Coast, will be chaired by Nicky Vaux, dealer principal at Empire Boat Sales in Sydney, Australia. According to Vaux, “it’s the details and little changes to what we offer in our marina environment that can make all the difference in engaging women further in boating. We all know how important the female is in the decision of buying a boat so how do we market to women directly? Modern marketing techniques and engagement with women on social and traditional media will be explored as part of the way forward.”

Sailor Lisa Blair, another featured panellist, will share her first-hand experiences as a female in the marine industry and discuss initiatives and strategies that marinas can implement to further encourage women in boating.

“In 2017, I led the first all-female crew to race the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race in 16 years. We received more than 130 applications to crew from around the world. During our application process we asked if women had faced gender challenges as females in the sailing industry and 95 percent said yes. They said they combatted this through working harder to prove themselves against their male counterparts and by keeping a smile on their face while doing so. The sad fact is that there is a gender gap but the gap is closing,” Blair said.

She added, “forums like this are a great way to create initiatives and strategies to further close that gap. I am excited to be a part of the panel discussion to further empower marina operators to support women in boating.”

For more information and to register for Marinas19 click here.