Diversity (Not THAT Diversity)

Vancouver International Boat Show

Jan 23, 2025

This is an expansive country and no matter what else you think about it you cannot avoid the stunning range of vastly different boats, boating venues and activities between St. John’s and Victoria. As you progress across the wildly assorted terrains and sideroads, you find any kind of boating you might think of in handy proximity to each other. Does both a cruiser or a ski boat appeal or an aluminum fishing platform – no problem, we have it all. Why not pick all three!

Our boat shows reflect our many-faceted interests with all manner of boats on the same show floor, but that’s not true everywhere. If you were to head to Dusseldorf for the Boot show, you’d find a series of different halls each with a particular range of boats – a building entirely filled with open runabouts the  a separate hall filled with cruising catamarans and this huge building is filled with Monaco-dock size mega yachts. In Annapolis, Sail and Power shows are different weeks.  But in Toronto or Vancouver it’s a giant merging of diverse boat types. The Canadian mosaic on the water.

Geography in a country with endless lakes, rivers and coastal areas. Boating in various parts and corners of this giant country is far from homogeneous. I am working on a story about pocket-sized Aylesford Lake in Nova Scotia where the biggest sailing vessel is 17-feet while just 100 km away in Chester NS you’ll see some of the biggest boats ever. That’s equally true in BC – Okanogan Lake is not very far distance wise, but the boating is completely unlike what you’ll find in the Straits of Georgia. Compare Georgian Bay with Lake Muskoka. Boggling!  Completely different boating on waters that are geographically adjacent.

It becomes dramatically apparent at the Canadian boat shows where the range of boats on offer ranges so widely from paddle boards, so sailing dinghies, to PWCs to ski boats, to cruisers to etc etc. Take a moment to digest that all these boats are in one big room from smallest.to largest and everyone gets to choose and even mix and match.

John Morris, Online Editor

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