Great Lakes Popular with Boaters
CLEVELAND – Though the winters are cold and waters sometimes freeze over, the majority of boats in the United States are located right here in the Great Lakes region.
The eight-state area consisting of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin has about 3.7 million registered recreational boats, about a third of the nation's total (there are just over 12 million registered boats nationwide).
The Great Lakes border five of the top ten boating states in the nation when determined by the number of registered boats. Michigan ranks second (California is first) with just under 1 million registered boats; Minnesota is fourth, Wisconsin is sixth, Ohio is eighth, and Illinois is tenth.
The lakes may be popular with boaters because they are lined with major cities on both the United States and Canadian sides. The large fresh-water basins are versatile and can be used for fishing and traveling on both a recreational scale and a commercial scale.
“The popularity of Great Lakes boating is understandable,” says former Cleveland Boat & Waterfront Lifestyle Expo manager Norm Schultz, “Having lived in New York, Boston, Chicago and now Cleveland, I’ve experienced the fervency with which boaters in the Great Lakes embrace boating. Being an avid boater myself, I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather spend the summer on the water.”
The boating lifestyle – cruising, sailing and fishing – will be celebrated at the 51st annual Cleveland Boat & Waterfront Lifestyle Expo, January 11-20 at the I-X Center. It is one of the biggest indoor boat shows in the country and draws in visitors from across the Midwest.
For complete information, visit www.clevelandboatshow.com.