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Boating and Watersports Participation

Boating and Watersports Participation 

British Marine is a founding and leading member of a consortium of marine organisations that funds and manages research measuring the state of participation in boating and watersports in the UK. Since 2002 this research has been conducted by Arkenford, a specialist market research agency, in close collaboration with British Marine's Market Research and Statistics team, which leads the research on behalf of the consortium. Drawing from a sample of over 12,000 consumers, the annual Watersports Participation survey provides members with time-series data on participation, frequency of participation and boat ownership across 12 key boating categories, with data broken down by age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic group, life stage and geographic region. To see the latest executive summary report, click here. The boating activities covered in this study include:

  • Small sail boat racing;
  • Other small sail boat activities;
  • Yacht racing;
  • Yacht cruising;
  • Power boating;
  • General motor boating/cruising;
  • Canal boating;
  • Canoeing;
  • Rowing/Skulling;
  • Windsurfing, surfing and paddle boarding;
  • Water skiing and wakeboarding; and 
  • Using personal watercraft.