CBF just wrapped up some time on the road and, as we like to do, it’s time to give credit to three inspirational, no-nonsense leaders who are not asking for credit or praise about promoting clean boating. This selflessness only drives us more to give them credit and praise. 

 

As Anheuser-Busch liked to say, “Dave Atwater, Lauren Bivens, and Shane McCall, this Bud’s for you.” First, Dave Atwater, the regional manager of West Marine, dreamed up the idea to have a Clean Boating Symposium in Anacortes last Friday. He took it upon himself to find a host site, publicize the event around the community and within his store, prepare schwag-bags for attendees and probably a ton of other stuff that CBF won’t ever know about. We parachuted in, shared the stage with some other all-stars and were able to spread the CBF gospel to some new faces. 

 

Not to be outdone, and totally unrelated to Dave’s event, Lauren Bivens of Harbor Marine hosted us at his site the following day (June 8). Again, we shared the stage with some Clean Boating stalwarts and were able to spread the gospel with boating leaders (in this case marine surveyors). And again, Lauren called in CBF without any cajoling. Heck, we didn’t even have to broach the subject with these guys about having events at their respective sites. 

 

The other person we want to salute remains a fixture in our powerpoint slides (I saw that. Just because I use the word “powerpoint” does not mean that you need to yawn.) and you may have read about him in a previous blog on this site (My favorite quote from Ben’s interview with Shane McCall: “Aluminum anodes work just as good, if not better than traditional zincs.”) Shane’s part of Emerald City Diving and has gone out of his way to go on record about aluminum anodes. “Big deal,” you might be saying. As I like to say, unless your last name is “zinc” or “cadmium”, why would you be using traditional, toxic zinc anodes? The beautiful thing that Shane has done is to provide first-hand evidence that actually probably hurts his business. Think about it: the more boaters switch to aluminum anodes (which last longer), the less business he will have changing them out. 

 

Gentlemen, this Bud’s for you three.