When I was little I was always told to share everything that I played with, we all were right? Other children I had never met before would approach me and ask (usually very politely) if they could play with me. Often this would mean that we would end up playing for hours, and we would become great friends.

My partner once said to her son, “You have all these toys you never play with… today we are going to pack them all up and give them away to children that do not have toys to play with”. Her son thought it was a great idea!

Sharing is in our blood.

Technology has improved, allowing us to communicate like never before. So why do studies in the US show that 40 per cent of people say they’re lonely? This figure has doubled in the past 30 years. If our children say they are lonely, we tell them to go introduce themselves to other children and see if they want to play. They do, and then they are no longer lonely. As adults, we don’t do this. Instead, we continue to think about how sad it is that we are lonely and how much fun everyone else is having but we do nothing about it.

Technology can multiply this bad feeling because it increases our exposure to what we want. However, there are many services on the internet which encourage communication and sharing. Couchsurfing.org has changed the world with their unique concept.

Using their site, you can find a person anywhere in the world who will let you stay at their house. They share their house with you. I personally know of many people who have travelled the world this way. Not only was it inexpensive, they met some amazing people and had experiences they definitely would not have had if they just stayed in hotels.

So, if we are happy to share our home, why don’t we share our boats?

There are currently over 850,000 registered boats in Australia. It is estimated that 5 million people go boating every year in Australia but those with boats on average don’t even go out once a month. In New Zealand, boaties are lucky to get out once every two months!

To reference www.marinenews.com:

“One of the biggest problems for boat owners today is finding enough people to crew boats for sailing, fishing or cruising.

This is why on weekends you see so many boats on a mooring, or trailing when the weather is perfect and ideal for boating. Meanwhile there are lots of people on the shore probably wishing they could be out on the water boating, fishing or sailing but don’t know anyone with a boat!”

That is where the world first Boatsurfers.com comes in. Boatsurfers.com was developed to enable these people to meet, and arrange a sailing, fishing, diving or even water skiing trip on their own terms, without commercial charter fees, relying instead on a gentleman’s agreement.
We are launching Boatsurfers.com in Australia and New Zealand on the 1st of July 2014. It will be expanding throughout the world shortly after. It’s great to be able to provide a service to boaties throughout the world which helps them meet likeminded people, and most importantly be able to use their boats more often. By doing this will achieve our goal of getting more people on more boats more often.

For more details about Boatsurfers.com, or to arrange an interview, contact[email protected] , or call Rowan Alexander at our offices on +61 3 6417 3350 or outside of business hours on +61 437 826 397.