Safe Boating Week Ends, Boating Season Begins

Weekend on the Water: Memorial Day, Fleet Week, WaterFest, and a few Boat Shows

All across the United States a summer of fun on the water begins around this time each year. In fact, so many boats are typically launched for Memorial Day that it makes perfect sense to have Safe Boating Week just before the holiday weekend to serve as a reminder to rusty boaters that:

• life jackets need to be worn by everyone, 
and
• drinking needs to be avoided by the vessel operator.

Are you launching for the first time this season? Visit our boating safety page for a few more tips and resources.

With the holiday weekend and so many boaters actually out on the water, there are not a lot of boat shows... but there are a few big events related to boating.

BoatFlorida.com is celebrating a new tradition with its second annual WaterFest at Port Canaveral's Ski Island on Sunday, May 30th. The event, which is being called a celebration of Florida's boating lifestyle, will feature tons of family-friendly activities and a raffle for a new car and up to 1,000 gallons of fuel.

And then there's Fleet Week in NY. This kicked off Wednesday with a spectacular parade of military ships on the Hudson River, and features events all week.

Finally, the boat shows. In the US there seems to be only one, and that's the St. Augustine Nautical Festival and Boat Show in Florida. Internationally, there is the Morocco International Boat Show, which would be a nice place to visit for a boat show. Maybe next year!

More details and links to more info about these events and more are in our boating event calendar.

Boat safely and Happy Memorial Day.

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