Last summer when COVID hit, demand for boats went through the roof, said Lee Gordon, a Vice President at Brunswick, noting that boating rose in popularity because it was an activity where people could safely social distance with their family and recreate at the same time. According to the Brunswick Corporation, the company that owns Mercury, Boston Whaler, Lund, Bayliner, Sea Ray, Lowe Boats, among other well-known brands, you can credit the pandemic for driving more people into boating in the past 18 months. usually synonymous with boating, but this summer, boat sales are off the charts and availability is scarce. Before their first summer season even began, they opened a second location with four more boats in Long Neck at Pot-Nets near Paradise Grill. They started with four boats split between the marinas at Irish Eyes and Riverside Park at the end of Pilottown Road. Rosella opened a Lewes franchise in 2018 with her husband Tom and nephew Josh. Nobody knew where it was going and what it was about they just wanted to get out and get out safely. ![]() By the time summer came around, they had had enough of this COVID thing. Everybody was just tired of being cooped up. People just wanted to get out, Rosella said. They also recorded more than 5,800 trips, a 180 percent increase over the 2,000 trips recorded in 2019. Locally, Rosella added 317 new memberships last year, a 166 percent increase. Now, theyre telling their friends how great it is.įreedom Boat Club is one part of a thriving boating industry that saw one of its most successful years ever in 2020. ![]() You have a bunch of people who were never out on the water before and theyre loving it, said Bev Rosella, co-owner of the local Freedom Boat Club franchise. When the people of Earth were told to stay away from one another in 2020, outdoor activities like boating and fishing became much more appealing. Waterfront Veteran Buys MarinaīRYAN EATON/Staff photoMike Goodridge, left, who owns TowboatUS and manages Freedom Boat, and his son, Jake, have bought Yankee Landing Marina on Merrimac Street in Newburyport.įreedom Boat Club Grows By Leaps And Bounds Its the kind of situation that went from great to even better. The market potential of this territory was really attractive, as we can grow it over time and bring to there all the resource capabilities of Freedom Boat Club as a parent company to potentially accelerate growth faster than the franchisee was able to do on its own, Cohn said. ![]() With access to Lake Michigan and a number of inland lakes and river in the suburbs, Chicago scores high on markets that Freedom Boat Club hopes to build out, plus allows the brand better access to expand into the Upper Midwest. The franchisee, who originally purchased the territory in late 2013, had grown the business to three locations in downtown Chicago and one in a Northwest suburb and he said ya know, I really enjoy building these things from scratch, but now its just scalingwould be interested in buying the clubs and territory back from me? Cohn recalled.Ĭecil Cohn, Freedom Boat Club network president įreedom Boat Cluba membership-based marine club requiring monthly dues in exchange for access to boats at any of its locationsentered into a definitive agreement in mid-March to acquire the Chicago units and territory, including the rights to build out new clubs in portions of Northern Illinois and Northwest Indiana.
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