Cruising World and Sailing World magazines, the sailing brands of Bonnier Corp.’s marine group, released their annual State of the Sailing Market report at the Miami International Boat Show on February 14th, 2014. Over 100 sailing industry leaders gathered to hear publisher Sally Helme present key North American sailing industry statistics for last year. 2013 was a positive year across the board for the sailing market based on data collected from over 200 sailboat builders, importers and bareboat charter companies.
Bareboat charters booked out of the North American market were up 15% over 2012 to 21,495 weeks, with strong gains for popular sailing destinations in the Caribbean and overseas. Sailboat imports into North America saw a significant increase last year, up 55% for boats over 20 feet in length compared to 2012. Domestic production of sailboats over 20’ also grew, up 7% versus the previous year. Multihulls comprised 38% of imported sailboats and 20% of all sailboats built in North America. Small sailboats under 20’ were the only category which was off, losing 16% in terms of units produced in the US.
For the first time the State of the Sailing Market report also included data on the sales of brokerage sailboats in the US, based on data supplied by Dominion Marine Media’s YachtWorld. YachtWorld’s member brokerages reported through SoldBoats.com that unit sales of brokerage sailboats were up 5% in 2013 vs. 2012.
Click here to read the complete PDF of the State of the Sailing Industry Report.
