“Differently from most people I know, my workload has actually increased since the beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic,” Steve Leicht, the President and CEO of McMichael Yacht Brokers, said. As most know, businesses both small and large across the country have been suffering as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Of course, due to the obvious tragedy of the situation, the potential positives remain mostly unspoken. One industry positively affected by the pandemic is the yachting industry. Despite the economic devastation as a result of Covid-19, sales of boats have been on the rise throughout this time period.

Although the pandemic has caused massive amounts of financial hardship for many Americans, it has also induced a notable increase in boat sales. As leisurely travel and tourism have declined throughout the past year, Americans have turned to boating as a safe alternative to their usual recreational activities. Statistics have shown a 19 percent increase in new boat sales between April 2019 and 2020. Since then, the numbers have continued to grow and the industry has thrived.

To gain perspective on the experience of the industry during this time, I interviewed Steve Leicht, the President and CEO of McMichael Yacht Brokers. This New York based company sells, repairs, and stores a variety of boats for their customers. Steve gave his perspective on how the pandemic has affected his business as well as the industry as a whole saying, “first there was a huge influx of families from the city moving out to the suburbs who were new to boating so we saw a lot of new customers getting into boating for the first time, and second, people who were not using their boats became much more active.” The opportunity this industry provides to be both outside and socially distant from others has clearly intrigued vast amounts of people during this time when recreational activities have been somewhat scarce. 

Steve added more about the positive effect this pandemic has had on his industry, saying “There’s also been an extension of the boating season. What we’ve found is that people kept their boats in the water later because it was a safe and socially distant activity. We’re finding that even now with Covid weaning a bit, the season’s beginning earlier. This has been very very healthy for boat sales, boat maintenance, boat storage. It’s actually a boom for the industry.”

Along with this, the industry was very minimally affected by the business restrictions during the beginning of this pandemic, since the marine industry was declared essential just two weeks after restrictions were put in place. Steve said, “after being shut down for two weeks, we were able to do fairly well. We had a few employees who were uncomfortable but I’d say 95 percent of our employees stayed with us through this and now we’re recruiting more.” He also provided some information on the adjustment of expenses during covid, saying “Covid has had nominal expenses. I would say there were more cleaning procedures that we of course used. There has been a minor increase in labor costs and cleaning. Some of the bigger costs have been in materials. What we’re seeing is that the supply chain has been disrupted so it takes longer and sometimes costs more to get some of the materials that we need.”

Despite these minor increases in necessary expenses, the industry has seen an overall positive change due to Covid-19. As this company specifically has experienced, people have turned to boating as a form of safe entertainment and excitement during these tough times. This thriving industry has been able to make the most of an otherwise disastrous situation facing the world right now. Steve ended the interview telling me that, “despite the minor disruptions, this pandemic has helped my business to thrive and encouraged people to get out on the water.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Photograph courtesy of McMichael Yacht Brokers https://www.mcmichaelyachtbrokers.com/