David Conway
David Conway focuses on how business conditions, sales trends and policy decisions shape the recreational boating industry. His coverage stands out for its close tracking of dealer sentiment, registration data and market forecasts, paired with on-the-ground reporting from manufacturers and retailers.
Senior editor covering the recreational marine industry
Conway is a senior editor at Soundings Trade Only, where he writes about news and issues in the recreational marine industry and has been doing so for more than 20 years. His work at the masthead centers on the business side of boating, including manufacturers, dealers, and the broader ecosystem of marine products and services. In this role he contributes both regular news pieces and longer reported features that explain industry dynamics to a professional readership.
Boat sales, dealer sentiment and market data
A recurring thread in his work is the use of sales and registration data to explain how the market is evolving for different types of boats.
In coverage of monthly boat sales, he reports on shifts in registrations for key categories such as freshwater fishboats and tracks changes in total new powerboat registrations over 12‑month rolling periods, highlighting signs of decline, stabilization or recovery. He pays attention to how these trends differ by segment, such as pontoons, saltwater fishing models and aluminum fishing boats, and reports what dealers expect demand to look like in the coming model year.
His stories often incorporate survey results and dealer outlooks, using them to frame where the market sits in the cycle rather than treating each data point in isolation.
Conway also writes about how dealers respond to these market conditions on the ground. In his reporting on dealer operations, he examines how businesses manage through periods of softer demand, inventory shifts and changing customer preferences, and he connects those observations back to the broader sales numbers he covers elsewhere. This blend of quantitative indicators and dealer perspective gives his coverage a business-planning tone, aimed at people making decisions within the industry rather than at consumers.
Industry news and corporate moves
Beyond market statistics, Conway covers corporate developments and operational decisions that affect the marine trade. He reports on manufacturer actions such as operational suspensions and production changes, including developments at major boatbuilders like Beneteau, and places those decisions in the context of industry demand and supply-chain pressures. His bylines include coverage of agreements between equipment makers and distributors, for example a deal in which a power-equipment company takes on distribution of an outboard brand across New Zealand, Australia and the wider Oceania region.
These stories focus on how such moves reshape distribution networks, dealer relationships and competitive positioning in key markets.
His industry news coverage extends to leadership changes and strategic initiatives at marine companies. He regularly highlights executive appointments, new roles at large retailers and dealerships, and how leadership teams are responding to changing market realities. In features and editor’s letters, he also points readers to emerging technologies and forward-looking processes adopted by boatbuilders, showing how innovation in manufacturing and design is filtering through to dealers and end customers.
Features, profiles and pathways into the trades
In addition to news, Conway writes longer features that explore the people and pathways that sustain the marine trades.
His dealer spotlight pieces profile individual dealerships, examining how they position brands, manage customer relationships and navigate their local markets. He also reports on different routes into marine careers, following technicians, sales staff and other professionals to show how they enter and progress within the industry.
These feature stories draw on his long experience covering recreational marine issues, using narrative detail to show how broader trends play out in specific businesses and careers.
Across these formats, Conway’s through-line is a focus on the business health of the recreational boating sector: how boats are selling, how companies are organizing themselves, and how the people in the trades are adapting to change. His work combines data, corporate news and profiles of dealers and trade professionals to give a rounded view of the marine industry for readers who work in it.
4 more automobile journalists.
Aarian Marshall
Aarian Marshall is a staff writer at WIRED who stands out for covering how cars, software, and policy collide. She writes on transportation systems and cities, from the auto industry to broader mobility systems. Before WIRED, she reported on cities and urban policy for The Atlantic’s CityLab. Her beat runs from electric vehicles, fuel prices, tariffs, and car-buying decisions to autonomous vehicles, robotaxis, and software-defined cars. She reports with a systems view, linking policy shifts, technical failures, and urban life to what happens on streets, in repair shops, and at the pump.
Abby Smith
Abby Smith’s most distinctive work combines motorsports coverage with live digital and radio reporting. She is Digital Director at KRDO13 and covers the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, including race updates, weather shifts, breaking developments and ways to follow the action. Her beat also includes automotive news, crime, public safety, politics, city government and community life. Notable work includes coverage of homicide arrests, a major drug bust, a presidential address about the war with Iran, a family’s effort to bring Stephen Hubbard home, a state governor candidate and a city security ordinance. She also reports on fitness, school spirit and station staff. Smith writes in a concise, factual style shaped by investigative documentary experience. She turns live events, official announcements and daily developments into clear coverage across digital and radio platforms.
Adele Peters
Adele Peters covers climate solutions and other structural problems as design and policy questions, focusing on what can work in practice. She is a senior writer at Fast Company, where she reports on energy, transportation, housing, materials, agriculture, corporate sustainability, and social impact. Her stories examine climate technologies, grid resilience, electric vehicles, renewable energy, modular construction, homelessness, affordable housing, compostable materials, regenerative agriculture, and ecosystem restoration. She looks at whether projects can scale, their real-world constraints, and their measurable effects. She interviews political and philanthropic leaders, startup founders, and climate tech entrepreneurs, anchoring stories in what is being built and tested. She has written more than 3,000 stories and contributed to Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century and State of Housing Design 2023.
Adrian Leung
Adrian Leung writes engineering-led coverage of Chinese electric vehicles and performance cars for CarNewsChina. He focuses on new energy vehicles, battery systems, powertrains, electric platforms, high-end domestic brands, and track-ready models, and he explains technical details in plain language for non-specialist readers. His reporting treats new models as hardware and systems stories, with precise figures on range, battery capacity, chassis layout, motor outputs, weight, and acceleration. He also covers the Chinese auto industry’s finances and technology roadmap, including sector profits, vehicle volumes, and solid-state battery timelines. His background in Electrical and Computer Engineering shows in the way he writes about vehicle electronics and battery management.