From the Helm
Dear MRA Members and Friends;
As we head into October, we are on the doorstep of San Diego. I am so excited for this conference for a number of reasons. Foremost, I will get to spend time with many of you, which is the best part of the conference for me. In our busy and geographically separated lives, it is the one time during the year where we socialize, discuss the ups and downs of the industry, and learn new ownership/management ideas along the way. In addition, it is in one of the best parts of the State - San Diego. While I have come to love the Channel Islands Harbor, San Diego is San Diego! Lastly, it gives me a chance to get out of "the office" and relax - a little. I hope you are planning to attend. There is still time to register, and in my case try to improve my golf game.
Another facet about the annual conference is the changing of the guard on the Board. You probably do not know, but the MRA presidency changes hands immediately after the annual conference, and I will be handing the gavel to Scott Robertson during the Board meeting immediately following the close of the conference. As is the progression in the by-laws, I have served for two years as the vice president, whose primary duty is planning the annual conference, and two years as the president. There is a lot of work involved, but it has been very enjoyable. I know Scott will do a great job, and I am so ready to take a step backwards into my role as immediate past president. That is an active position, so I will definitely stay engaged.
One of the areas I want to focus on in the next two years is the Division of Boating and Waterways. We as an Association have for many years fought to protect the boating funds, which we as an industry generate, from raids for non-boating purposes. This fight dates back to Governor Wilson. Unfortunately, the funds are drying up, and it is imperative that the industry stay involved to protect the valuable programs these funds provide.
It has been a pleasure serving as your president, and I want to stress, as I have throughout my presidency, the membership in our Association has a role in keeping the MRA as a first-class organization. While we have a fantastic Board, with a wealth of knowledge and a diversity of experience, your input is invaluable. Never hesitate to let the Board know what education you want to see, what industry problems you are experiencing, or what governmental regulations or programs you are struggling with or benefitting from, and it is very possible your Marine Recreation Association can be of assistance.
Finally, I want to thank the Board and Mariann Timms. It is a comfort as the President knowing that you have such a professional Board behind you, and nothing happens in this Association without the knowledge, dedication and hard work of Mariann, the glue that holds it all together.
As always, may you have great navigating into the future.
Mark
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The Power of WE - Growing and Investing in our Most Valuable Resources . . .
Growth in the marine industry manifests itself not only through investing in properties, marketing, and enhanced business practices, but also through our investment of time, training, and capital in our people assets.
The MRA Conference & Trade Show has always focused on strategies for improving customer service and satisfaction by enhancing employee performance, and this year's 48th annual Conference will continue that important focus on employee development.
 Brad Alesi, Chief Marketing Officer, Safe Harbor Marinas, will present a seminar session on Tuesday, October 22nd, at 2:15 PM, covering Safe Harbor Marinas' focus and active strategy for investing in their employees as a key component of their company's growth. The organization's innovative perspective on growth manifests itself in the belief that their people are their most valuable asset, and Brad will cover some of the key initiatives implemented to enhance a company culture that actively supports employee development, career advancement, and compensation growth for all employees.
Safe Harbor Marinas is both the world's largest owner and operator of marinas and an industry trailblazer in their approach to fundamental business practices, and this seminar will provide some thought-provoking insight into employee training, development, and motivation.
The 2019, 48th Annual MRA Educational Conference & Trade Show will run for three days (October 21 - 23) with more than thirty educational seminars and special presentations focused on meeting the new challenges and potential facing the industry today. Strategies for enhancing guest services and customer satisfaction, improving operations and regulatory compliance, and optimizing fiscal results, will be featured in Conference seminars, and an expansive Trade Show featuring more than fifty industry vendors and services will provide additional information focused on innovation, growth, and profitability . . . all taking place at the beautiful Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines Hotel Conference Center in sunny San Diego.
Register Today At
www.marina.org/2019conference |
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Support USMCA, Support American Boat Building
Congress is back to work and they have an opportunity to ensure free and fair trade in North America continues. Let's make sure they do just that. Tell Congress it's time to approve the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
The continued success of the recreational boating industry depends on our critical North American partnerships - 40% of annual U.S. boat and engine exports go to Canada and Mexico, and nearly 20% of U.S. boat and engine imports come from those two countries.
USMCA is good for boating because it:
- Maintains rules of origin for boats and engines;
- Reduces burdensome regulations;
- Protects intellectual property and extends copyright terms;
- Ensures long-term stability for business planning;
- And more.
You are the boating industry's best advocate. And with your help, we can get this vital trade deal across the finish line.
Contact your members of Congress today and tell them to support USMCA.
Boating United is the grassroots platform of the recreational boating industry. It is comprised of boating manufacturers, businesses and supporters who share the common goal of protecting and promoting the industry. Take action, learn about the issues and more at http://boatingunited.com/
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Take the 2019 Annual Marina/Boatyard Industry Survey
Have you taken the Annual Marina Industry Trends Survey?
We want to know how 2019 was for your business. What were your occupancy rates, revenues, expenses, and did you have a profitable year? Please take a few minutes to contribute to these important industry statistics.
The results will appear in the MDA December 2019 and the January / February 2020 issues.
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Construction Corner
New State of the Art Match-Cast Platform, Home of the USCG Hawksbill
United States Coast Guard Station, Monterey
 The United States Coast Guard recently updated a portion of their floating dock system at USCG Station Monterey. The dock will serve as the home of the HAWKSBILL, an 87' patrol boat designed for search and rescue, law enforcement, and fisheries patrols, as well as drug interdiction, illegal alien interdiction duties and homeland security duties up to 200 miles off shore.
Bellingham Marine supplied and installed their state-of-the-art concrete floating dock system. The new dock, measuring over 100' in length, utilized match-cast, post-tensioned floating concrete technology.
Match-cast refers to the process of casting one float and then casting its neighbor utilizing the side of the adjacent float as a form. Low-profile shear keys are cast into the concrete. Much like Legos®, the keys interlock when the platform is assembled. These keys provide perfect alignment and tremendous torsional strength. The result is impressive: all gaps are closed tight and everything fits with precision. Once assembled, the match-cast platform is essentially a single structural unit.
Eric Noegel, Bellingham Marine Manager of Project Development, SW Division, said "For versatility, it's hard to beat match-cast technology. It is the foundation of Bellingham's modern floating platforms. These are the most technologically advanced floating structures you can build in terms of stability, strength and longevity".
One of the more unique aspects of this project was the need for a marine grade aluminum mammal barrier. The floating dock system at USCG Station, Monterey resides in Monterey Bay. This area is renowned for its abundant marine mammal wildlife including California Sea Lions, Harbor Seals and Elephant Seals. These animals, though a fun site for observing tourists, can be a considerable nuisance for dock owners. Sea Lions and seals are notorious for impeding operations and causing damage to floating infrastructure. Additionally, the Marine Mammal Protection Act only allows port captains and harbormasters to "safely deter marine mammals, as long as such acts of deterrence do not result in the injury or mortality of a marine mammal." As such, the 4' 2" tall aluminum barrier is a viable solution to reduce extreme loads of gathering mammals.
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Trade Member Highlight
Scribble Software Releases New Cloud-Based Point-of-Sale Solution
Award Winning Marina Management Solution Provider Introduces New Cloud-Based POS Solution
ScribbleSoftwareInc. , a leading provider of business management solutions for the marina industry, announced the release of MARINAGOOfficePoint-of-Sale(POS) , the next phase of the MARINAGO Office next-generation cloud-based management solution for the marina industry. As a cloud-based platform utilizing a SaaS model, MARINAGO Office Point-of-Sale leverages the latest cloud technology and user interface (UI) techniques revolutionizing marina and property management.
Decades of experience and thousands of customers using Scribble Software's solutions have provided the knowledge and experience necessary to envision future needs and requirements for the marina industry. This solid foundation in marina management operations has provided the necessary experience to expand the features and functionality of the MARINAGO Office Suite to include a state-of-the-art full featured point-of-sale solution.
The MARINAGO Office Suite is a multi-phase project designed to completely manage all aspects of marinas. The new release expands the feature set to include a cloud-based touch-screen friendly point-of-sale module for marina operations offering a ships store, fuel dock, gift shop or other retail related environment. An enterprise level approach was taken, meeting the needs of all size properties including the smallest family owned marina to the corporate conglomerate operating numerous locations. Each property can be individually managed and operated while remaining within the central corporate company entity. This allows the use of a centralized customer and vessel list within the company where individual customers and vessels may be linked and used at specific company-owned properties.
The MARINAGO Office Point-of-Sale fully embraces cloud-based technology by utilizing the Star cloudPRNT technology that allows the printing of sales receipts from anywhere and from any device. Scribble Software and Star Micronics worked closely together to fulfill the goal for the MARINAGO Office Point-of-Sale to produce fully cloud-based receipt printing technology.
"We have continued to develop and expand the functionality of the MARINAGO Office Suite to include a full-featured point-of-sale module and are excited to release it to our customers," says Vance Young, Director of Technology at Scribble Software. "The release of the MARINAGO Office Point-of-Sale exemplifies our core philosophy of providing comprehensive solutions for the marina industry."
"We are thrilled that Scribble Software has chosen Star for their new MARINAGO Office Point-of-Sale solution," says Christophe Naasz, Director of Business Development for Star Micronics. "Scribble has been a long-time partner of Star Micronics and they continue to provide innovative and modern solutions to solve all the needs of their customers. With our CloudPRNT technology and mC-Print3, we are confident that MARINAGO Office Point-of-Sale will help marinas to operate with more efficiency."
Key features of the MARINAGO Office Point-of-Sale include:
- 100% cloud-based
- Multiple property support
- Touchscreen user interface
- Highly configurable
- Bar code scanner support
- House account ticket charges
- Print and email receipts
- Print receipts from any device with Star cloudPRNT
- Auto opening cash drawer
- Customized payment methods
- Integrated PCI / EMV credit card processing
- Multi-currency support
The new MARINAGO Office Point-of-Sale is poised to take marina and other rental property operations into the next generation of management solutions. Additional information may be obtained at the MARINAGO website, https://www.marinago.com.
About Scribble Software Inc.
Scribble Software Inc. is a leading management solution provider for the marina industry and is located in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Scribble Software produces and markets the MarinaOffice Suite of Solutions, a leading marina management software solution used throughout the globe, as well as a growing array of both cloud-based and mobile solutions. Scribble has risen as a leader in providing management solutions for the marina industry with the focus on providing solutions for all areas and departments of marinas. Scribble Software takes great pride in developing end-to-end enterprise level solutions backed by a support team second to none. For more information, visit www.scribblesoftware.com.
About Star Micronics
Star Micronics, one of the world's largest POS providers, has designated a portfolio of printing, secure cash management, and customer engagement solutions for any retail or hospitality establishment in POS and mPOS environments. Embracing the mobility wave, Star's complimentary SDKs allow users to utilize Star printers in tandem with Android™, iOS iPad®, and iPhone® devices to generate receipts for all of its printers. Always leading, and always innovating, Star Micronics enables web-based printing solutions including remote cloud printing, wireless cash drawer solutions, proximity-based printing, and secure cash management. For more information, visit www.starmicronics.com.
Contact Information
Kenny Mass
Scribble Software Inc. http://www.scribblesoftware.com
804-427-8100
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Golden Boat Lifts Appoints CFO/COO
 Following an extensive search, Golden Boat Lifts has appointed Jeff Wagner as its Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer. Bill Golden, CEO and president, made the announcement.
Wagner brings nearly three decades of manufacturing operations and plant management expertise to Golden Boat Lifts. Most recently, he served as operations manager at Munters Corporation, a global leader in energy-efficient air treatment and climate solutions. Prior, he was the senior program manager at UK-based Cabham plc, one of the largest defense firms in the world. He has a bachelor's degree in business and economics from Lakeland University and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
"Jeff's broad and extensive experience will serve Golden Boat Lifts and our customers well," said Golden. "He has a proven track record in business and manufacturing process improvement and brings the leadership, analytical and financial skills that will keep us on a strong growth trajectory."
For over 30 years, Golden Boat Lifts has engineered and built a wide range of safe, reliable and easy-to-operate lifts for vessels up to 240,000 lbs. It is the only aluminum frame boat lift manufacturer to hold quality management system-centric ISO 9001:2015 accreditation.
Contact Golden Boat Lifts, 17611 East St, North Fort Myers, FL 33917. 888-909-5438 or 239-337-4141. sales@goldenboatlifts.com; www.goldenboatlifts.com.
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Welcome New Members
With Marine Recreation Association being the largest professional organization of marina, boatyard, hospitality, and other marine industry owners and operators located throughout the western United States with additional members in Canada, Mexico, and Australia, our mission is to provide a united voice in representing the interests of the boating industry, and to help educate and inform in all areas of recreational boating. MRA would like to welcome the following companies to our association:
2Way Supply
Aecorel
Jabba Communications
Marina Electrical Equipment
Oceanmax
Pine Flat Lake Marina
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 The Last Word
To all of our MRA Members and Future Members
September has come to an end and Fall is finally here! I hope to see you next month in San Diego for the
48th Annual MRA Educational Conference & Trade Show that will be held at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines on October 21 - 23, 2019. Imagine the possibilities and potential for your marine operations and business as the marine industry continues to evolve in today's rapidly changing world.
One of the new things at this year's Conference is the move to our New Conference App. The APP will replace the 200 plus page programs that have been used in the past saving almost 45,000 pages of printing, all the while providing functionality and opportunities that wouldn't otherwise be available both during and after the Conference. Build a personalized schedule, find exhibitors and sessions and other events with an interactive map, schedule meetings, view and download speaker presentations and exhibitor collateral, digital surveys, leads generation with QR scanning, direct messaging and more!
The three day Conference will focus on meeting the new challenges and potential facing the industry today. Strategies for enhancing guest services and customer satisfaction, improving operations and regulatory compliance, and optimizing fiscal results, will be featured in Conference seminars and roundtable discussions covering key marine industry management, operations, and marketing concerns. An extensive Trade Show exhibiting the latest technology, products, and services from industry vendors and contractors will provide additional information focused on innovation, growth, and profitability.
Information is available on our website at http://www.marina.org/2019conference/.
To our trade members, please send me your press releases on new products or services you might have. The Trade Member Highlight section is a free opportunity to advertise them! I am reaching out to all of you and asking you to send me a press release when you have a new product or service that you would like for us to highlight. There will be one each month and will be placed according to submission date. This is one more way for us to promote your support and dedication to the association. We would also like to be included in your list of press release recipients.
As the association continues to grow, we will be welcoming our new members who join in each issue. If you know any of the new members listed in this issue, please welcome them aboard!
Many times the contact name for membership changes during the year and unless it is around renewal time, we may not be aware of the change. Please take a look at your profile and make sure to let us know if there are any changes in contact names, addresses, phone and fax numbers or email addresses so we can have the most up-to-date information for you. Also, if you do not have at least 1 logo and 1 photo (of your marina or product) please email them to mra@marina.org so they can be uploaded. You can now also add a YouTube video if you have one.
Thank you,
Mariann Timms
Operations Administrator
Email: timms@marina.org
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