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- r l 5 e 0 e - e e LAUNCH INDUSTRY NEWS DOMINION MARINE ANNOUNCES 2013 YACHTWORLD HEROES FINALISTS SEADEK PURCHASES NEW MANUFACTURING FACILITY Dominion Marine Media, the division of Dominion Enterprises that operates YachtWorld, Boat Trader and Boats.com, announced five finalists for its 2013 YachtWorld Heroes award. Now in its third year, the YachtWorld Heroes initiative recognizes individuals and their organizations that have leveraged their love and respect for boating in our oceans, rivers, lakes and streams into a higher consciousness. The five 2013 YachtWorld Heroes finalists are: Joel Aberbach, volunteer, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary District Seven Assistant Staff Officer, Sea Partners and America's Waterway Watch, http://cgaux.org, of Miami, Fla., has volunteered 25,000 hours over 40 years to educate the public about protecting and preserving our marine environment. Betsy Alison, Paralympic coach for the U.S. Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider, http://adaptive.ussailing.org, of Newport, R.I., was a 2011 U.S. Sailing Hall of Fame inductee and has been the recipient of numerous honors. She has dedicated her life to disabled sailing to build more understanding, inspiration and tolerance of the disabled in general. Her current focus is the development of national team athletes in three Paralympic sailing events in preparation for the 2016 Olympic Games. Dieter Paulmann, founder of Okeanos Foundation of the Sea and Pacific Voyagers,http://pacificvoyagers.com, of Germany, and his crew sailed 20,000 miles across the Pacific with their fleet of seven vaka moanas (oceangoing sailing canoes) to raise awareness of contemporary threats to the sea. David Rockefeller, Jr., founder, http://sailorsforthesea.org, of Newport, R.I., educates and encourages the boating community in the worldwide protection of the oceans. With offices in Newport, R.I.; San Francisco, Calif.; Japan and Portugal, their programs directly motivate boaters to fulfill their visions and offer steps boaters can take to reduce their environmental impact. Jeanne Socrates, sailor, http://svnereida.com, of the U.K., completed a singlehanded, nonstop circumnavigation mid-2013 at the age of 70, following two other near solo circumnavigations that involved beaching, loss of a boat, a knockdown off Cape Horn and major repairs that interrupted her first two attempts. The winner will be announced at the Miami Boat Show on Feb. 13, 2014. "It is an honor to recognize these remarkable people for their endeavors and share information about their organizations with boaters everywhere," said Jessica Muffett, founder of YachtWorld and YachtWorld Heroes. "They are addressing important issues for our blue planet, proving one person can make a difference." For more information on all the nominees and their endeavors, please visit YachtWorldHeroes.com and click on 2013 Nominees. SeaDek Marine Products announced the company will relocate its production operations, currently located in Rockledge, Fla., to a 72,000-square foot manufacturing facility in the same city. The move comes after years of growth and expansion that necessitated multiple off-site facilities to meet the growing need for machine space and material storage. The move will bring all operations under one roof and allow room for expansion in the years to come. The move will also allow SeaDek to continue to bring good manufacturing and technology jobs to the Brevard County area. "Prior to the recession we were just getting SeaDek off the ground and saw immediate and substantial growth. The economic down turn affected us just like everyone else in the industry but things have turned around and we are right back on track," said Co-Owner and VP of Marketing Jason Gardner. One of the first new uses for the additional floor space will be a drive-in custom factory installation service. Customers will drive their trailered boats into one of the facility's entrance ramps where trained SeaDek personnel will template, design and install custom non-skid kits. The added facility space will also allow SeaDek to expand their custom installer program. www.BoatingIndustry.com P08x11-BI14FEB-Launch.indd 11 U.S. CONSUMER CONFIDENCE REBOUNDS IN DECEMBER The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had decreased in November, rebounded in December. As of late December, the Index stood at 78.1 (1985=100), up from 72.0 in November. The Present Situation Index increased to 76.2 from 73.5. The Expectations Index increased to 79.4 from 71.1 last month. The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The cutoff date for the preliminary results was December 17. Said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board: "Consumer confidence rebounded in December and is now close to pre-government shutdown levels (September 2013, 80.2). Sentiment regarding current conditions increased to a 5-½ year high (April 2008, 81.9), with consumers attributing the improvement to more favorable economic and labor market conditions. Looking ahead, consumers expressed a greater degree of confidence in future economic and job prospects, but were moderately more pessimistic about their earning prospects. Despite the many challenges throughout 2013, consumers are in better spirits today than when the year began." February 2014 | Boating Industry | 11 1/8/14 12:00 PM