Participation rates in Scotland for boating and watersports activities surged in 2013 according to research released today by a consortium of marine organisations ahead of a National Watersports Month in May.
A total of 187,000 adults living in Scotland (4.5% of adult population) took to the water across a number of activities, with small sail boat racing, canoeing and motor boating/cruising proving particularly popular. This reflects an increase of 40,000 people (27%) in the number of participants from 2012.
Meanwhile, 729,000 adults in Scotland, just over one in six of the local population (17.4%), took part in the wider group of boating, watersports and coastal related activities which include cliff climbing, spending time at the beach and outdoor swimming.
The figures form part of a UK-wide picture which saw 3.5 million adults (7.1% of the population) take to the water in core boating activities. This reflects an increase of 23% in the number of participants from 2012 when 2.8 million adults (5.8% of the population) took part in at least one of the activities.
The age group 55+)have also swelled numbers, growing by over 50% since 2002 to 650,000.