Boating Industry Canada - February 2011

driving off headed for Rice Lake. “The market is small because there’s no one for them to speak to,” Jeff tells me, admitting that Don Valley North’s language list is still just a wish list for Legend.

But – and this is an exciting but – Legend has this year hired – as far as I could discover – the country’s first Vietnamese-Canadian salesperson and for a rookie, he is setting the showroom on fire. Henry Nguyen, born in Toronto to parents who arrived from Viet Nam shortly before his birth, has sold almost 100 units totaling $1.2 million this year Jeff told me with pride.

Soon to be poster boy for the Canadian industry, Henry’s family moved to Orillia and as a student he pursued his fishing enthusiasm to a job at Trombly’s Tackle Box. His sales experience there made it an easy jump to Legend where Asian customers of any background gravitate to him as a person with whom they have an affinity. It seems simple enough and is inspiring Duhammel to add a Cantonese speaking sales person.

Henry is a huge ambassador and is out on the water endlessly – he’s even had some success on the tournament circuit. He explains that when an immigrant family arrives, recreation is the last thing they have on their mind. But as they become settled, the Canadian reality kicks in and the fishing urge becomes a fishing boat. Then that boat becomes a family outing platform and several generations can take the boat out together.

There is no question that this attractive advertisement directed to the Asian community offers a gateway to boating in Canada.

He agrees that it could be a logical step from an aluminum fishing boat to a small express cruiser and beyond. Hey – isn’t that the Discover Boating story?

But with those few exceptions, so far anyhow, it doesn’t seem to be the reality. Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay marinas don’t house too many minority families but you might think that in the multicul-tural heartland of Toronto, you’d find some. “Nope,” Rob Walters, the manager of 600 boat Outer Harbour Marina tells me. “I can count the number of minority boaters on one hand,” he tells me. “And that includes a couple of Israelis.” The minority demographic wave hasn’t yet hit. “It’s not much different than Crates (where Walters worked prior to OHM), although we have a few more gay boaters.” I’m not sure how he can tell, but it’s probably a good idea – dual income

Out under sail in Toronto Harbour, new Canadian boaters enjoy a great day out yachting with their peers in an environment that is a convenient and comfortable distance from home.

and no kids equals lots of disposable income – the generally accepted observation on that demographic.

As of winter 2010, the Canadian boating industry is still not doing much to improve its outreach to boaters who are not white boomers, although the Toronto Boat Show has taken some steps to assist in selling beyond the box, according to Linda Waddell, TIBS’ show director. The show has brought in help to educate exhibitors in the tastes and expectations of Asian-Canadian purchasers and for the past few years has partnered with Sing Tao and more recently with Epoch Times to bring its message to the Chinese Canadians.

One tiny ray comes from Charley Zhou’s Ahoy Captain Yachting Services, a club for immigrants to go boating. The company’s slogan “Enjoy Canada…from its water!” describes its aim of helping newcomers join in the larger social world of this country via boating. Zhou, who came to Canada from Shanghai in 1988 worked in the travel industry and while here, fell for sailing himself. This spring when he toured some yacht club open houses, he was struck that he was the only Asian on the dock and undertook to provide an entrée for would-be boaters of Chinese, South Asians and other backgrounds that don’t have the made-in-Canada connection to boaters. His organization has already arranged outings and flotilla cruises for its so-far 23 members and is planning a charter to St. Vincent.

If the traditional boating market isn’t spending what we’d like right now, it’s increasingly clear that there’s a huge market on the horizon that sooner or later is going to be available to boaters. Many in the industry would love it to be sooner, but are not quite sure how to accelerate the process. As Bernadette Pickles acknowledges as we discussed this market potential, “whoever figures out the answer is going to really cash in!” ;