Tampa, Florida. October 13, 2025 – The Sea Tow Foundation’s Boating Safety Advisory Council recognized Hammer and Nail Marketing with a “National Boater Safety Award” on October 8 at the International Boatbuilders’ Exhibition & Conference (IBEX) in Tampa, Florida. 

The IBEX show is annually heralded as the largest marine industry trade show, with well over 700 exhibitors. Since 2019, the Sea Tow Foundation, along with its Boating Safety Advisory Council, has awarded the top for-profit companies that demonstrate “exceptional efforts in promoting safe practices on the water.” The Sea Tow Foundation recognized Hammer and Nail Marketing for its “Boater Safety Is Good Business” campaign, which ran throughout the spring of 2025 in newsletters, on the website, and through social media. 

The “Boater Safety Is Good Business” campaign asserted that all good business starts with creating a safe environment for your boaters, and provided deep dives on four specific areas where marina managers can prevent the majority of the approximately 4,000 boater accidents that occur each year. These core focuses were hosting a CPR class, empowering sober boating, enabling life jacket compliance, and encouraging boater education.

Founder and Lead Strategist of Hammer and Nail Marketing, Sam Claitor, was in Tampa to receive the award. Companies that also received a 2025 National Boater Safety Award included Freedom Boat Club (Community Boating and Education Program Award), Garmin (Gear, Equipment & Accessories Manufacturer Award), Pursuit Boats (Marine Manufacturers Award), Strong’s Marine (Marine Retailers Award), the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA)(Marine Trade Association Award), Bob’s No Wake Zone Boating Radio Show (Media Outlet Award), and BoatClass (Social Media Influencer Award). 

We’re grateful to the Sea Tow Foundation and the Boating Safety Advisory Council for recognizing Hammer and Nail for this campaign. Congratulations to everyone who won and to every entity that dedicated time in 2025 to strengthening boater safety awareness. 

For marina managers, you can read through the entirety of the campaign on Hammer and Nail’s Boater Safety Is Good Business page, which lives permanently on our website for managers working to strengthen boater safety at their marinas. We encourage readers to reach out with questions or comments at .

Article by Hammer and Nail Marketing

WHAT IS HAMMER & NAIL?

Hammer and Nail Marketing is a boutique marketing firm that helps small to mid-sized marinas get noticed by boaters. If you’d like to focus on operating your marina without the additional responsibility of marketing, get in touch with us.

We’re boaters ourselves from a background of operating a family-run marina. From a group of experts who know the water, let Hammer and Nail Marketing help you be the waterfront your local boaters see every time they cast off.