// MARKET TRENDS
Sea-Doo expects continued customer interest in its FishPro lineup in North America as sales remain strong in the New Zealand market.
Riding in groups and staying connected
According to Sea-Doo research, group riding is becoming increasingly popular. Riders are joining family members, friends, or social communities for destination rides.
“ When you ride in a group, staying connected with your group is essential to having a good day out on the water,” Heintz said. PWC users also like to consult the map, send and receive texts and calls, and control their music.
“ Close to 60 percent of our riders are stating that they’ re taking their phone out every five minutes during a ride to do something,” Heintz explained.“ We’ re all about trying to help our customers disconnect from daily life and feel that sense of freedom you get when you’ re on the water, so the fact that they’ re taking their phone out that often is interrupting the experience.”
As a response, some of Sea-Doo’ s most recent features are designed to enhance group riding and allow riders to perform certain tasks on their phone through the PWC touchscreen display and handlebar.
Doing more on the water
Yamaha’ s latest product is the 2026 CrossWave, a 13-foot PWC designed to carry four people. Riders can walk completely around the craft, intentionally blurring the line between PWC and boat.
“ There’ s so many things you can do with it and it’ s so easy to maneuver, so whether it’ s fishing or going on long touring rides or just going to the sandbar, it’ s very customizable,” Seti explained.
With a larger fuel tank, ample storage space, and the option to add coolers, trolly motors and rod holders, the product is a clear response to the growing touring and fishing trends in the PWC segment.
“ We learned on the boat side that people want versatility,” Seti continued.“ People are not looking to do just one thing on the water."
Sea-Doo sees similar trends and as the first OEM to introduce a fishingfocused PWC, the company is continuing to invest in that segment.“ Fishing on a personal watercraft is a relatively new activity in the North American market,” Heintz said.“ If you look at a market like New Zealand, they’ ve been doing it for a decade and we’ re seeing close to half of our sales in New Zealand are personal watercrafts that are equipped for fishing.”
He expects the North American market to continue to mature as well, and explained the importance of salespeople who are excited and knowledgeable about both fishing and PWCs.
“ There’ s definitely a recipe that needs to be applied at the grassroots level that we’ re going to be helping our dealers with that over the next few years,” he said,“ but I believe we’ ve just scratched the surface of the potential in that category.”
He noted that aluminum fishing boats are one of the only segments to grow since Covid-19, and kayak fishing has done well for the past decade, so Sea-Doo will continue educating the marketplace about PWC-based fishing.
“ We’ re not going to slow down on our intentions to continue to grow that category,” he said.“ You can expect more intensity from us in that segment.”
18 september / october 2025 www. boatingindustry. com