Charles Chapman Award

For more than 40 years, Skip Allen Sr., founder of Southern Boating magazin, and Boating magazine (née Popular Boating magazine), has been actively involved in promoting the success of the marine industry. At this year’s Miami International Boat Show, NMMA recognized his contributions to the industry by honoring him with the Charles F. Chapman Award.

The Chapman Award recognizes individuals or groups that have provided consistent promotion and protection of the sport of boating, resulting in benefits to both the industry and the public.

“Skip Allen has tirelessly promoted boating in Southern Florida,” says Raritan Engineering president Bret Bretnall, one of the people who nominated Allen for the award. “Skip has never shied away from controversy or popular opinion and his editorials over the years have championed causes that have benefited the boating community. He has added more color to boating than anyone I can think of.”

Allen says that Chapman actually gave him his start in the recreational boating industry, hiring him as an ad salesman for Motorboating & Sailing. After introducing Southern Boating and Popular Boating, Allen launched Marine Business Journal to serve as the voice of the marine industry. He is also credited with developing the first Spanish language recreational boating magazine published in the U.S., Mar Abieto.

Outside the editorial world, Allen also worked with Dick Bertram at Bertram Yachts as a vice president of Sales, where he helped the company reach record sales. In the early 1990s, Allen was an outspoken critic, and became actively involved in revoking the Luxury tax that negatively impacted the boating industry.

Allen continues to represent the best of the boating industry. Following last year’s devastating hurricanes, he used his magazines to organize efforts to aid for the Bahamas and also helped to inform the public about areas that were not impacted by the hurricanes to promote tourism in areas that desperately needed it. “Skip has made an extraordinary lifetime contribution to boating. I can’t imagine anyone more deserving as the NMMA Chapman Award recipient,” says Robert Johnstone, MJM Yachts and J Boats, who also nominated Allen for the award.