Bermuda's official start to summer tomorrow has provided a welcome boost to boat retailers.

John Trimingham of Salt Whistle Marine in Southside who sells twin hull power boats said of his sales: "Out of control!"

And he added: "I would suggest that this year has been as good as any other year."

Mr. Trimingham said one of his most popular sellers has been the "Twin-Vee" which he described as the Volkswagen of dual hull boats as opposed to the "World Cat" which he described as the Rolls Royce of the catamaran boats.

He said May 24 was typically one of the busiest periods of the season as people want their boats overboard or serviced for the holiday. Surprisingly, he said the slowest month for new sales and services was August as most people had their boats overboard by then.

He also said of his boats: "Catamarans are the fastest growing segment of the recreational saltwater marine market. US manufacturers cannot keep up with demand."

He also said that the second hand boat market had been very active this year.

While Bermuda has seen a huge number of boats imported over the past few years, Mr. Trimingham also said the industry was suffering as there was a serious lack of people to service the boats and engines. He said there was a real opportunity for young Bermudians to get into the business as the industry was growing rapidly.

Marine Manager at PW's Marine Centre John Powell said business so far had been: "really good... very positive."

He said yesterday's weather was not conducive to encourage people to go out and look for a boat to buy, but the earlier fine weather of the last few weeks had reminded people that summer was indeed on the way.

PW's recently held their annual boat show, this year "Splash 2002" which Mr. Powell said went extremely well. He said several people bought boats, and others were very interested and a few have been back since to take the plunge.

Mr. Powell said PW's busiest months were March, April and May when many people bought or fixed up their boats for the coming summer season.

He said sales in the last few weeks had been very brisk for safety gear such as flares, anchors and chains, as well as replacement parts and paint to spruce up old boats.

He said once summer really got going, sales in toys such as ski tubes usually starts to pick up.

PW's sells Boston Whalers which Mr. Powell said were perfect for those looking for a low maintenance day-boat, as opposed to an overnighter with a cabin.

He said the trend was that less and less people wanted bigger boats due to the high costs of maintenance.

PW's also works with Kevin Winter who last year started the Bermuda Boat School to teach mariners the essentials for safe boating.

Mr. Winter said yesterday that he has been very busy this week as many people had purchased boats at the recent boat shows and wanted to take some lessons on how to safely operate their new pleasure craft.

Although the majority of his clients that are new boat owners are non-Bermudians, he said that that 80 to 90 percent of his Bermudian clients were women who want to learn how to operate a boat, often their husband's!

Mr. Winter explained that he teaches people to dock using an inflatable boat that bounces off the dock before moving onto the owners own boat.

He also teaches mooring, anchoring, navigating as well as all the necessary safety procedures, and can be reached at 799 TUNA for more information.

The Royal Gazette also understands that rental boats are fully booked for the holiday weekend and those without reservations will be left high and dry.