Winter Park, Fla. — Boating has announced the launch of BoatingLAB, an industry-first testing facility that will deliver to boaters objective product testing information across multiple media platforms. Boating expert and lifelong boater Randy Vance heads up the new project, and Kevin Falvey has been promoted to editor-in-chief of the magazine, replacing Vance.

BoatingLAB will provide independent comparative product testing in the marine category, producing repeatable results through systematic and transparent testing protocols. The result will be content unique in the industry, available in print in select Bonnier brands. BoatingLAB will also provide a unique platform of video and digital properties for marketers to showcase their products to a highly engaged, gear-hungry audience.

"This innovative project creates and distributes credible new information in print while distributing complementary promotional material through all digital media formats including web, apps and social marketing networks," said Vance, who has 34 years of experience in the boating industry, including as editor-in-chief of Boating Life and Boating. "With a heavy emphasis on comparative gear testing, this is for readers who need to know what works best for them in and on their boats."

In his new position as editor-in-chief, Falvey intends to inject Boating with the same passion and enthusiasm for boats that have shaped the course of his life. "We'll be engaging and inspiring our audience with a combination of crisp, edgy prose, dynamic layouts, vivid imagery and technical expertise that is second to none in the industry. Our readers and followers will continue to be rewarded for the loyalty they have maintained over the more than 50 years since Boating was founded."

Falvey has lived the boating life since childhood, prowling the waterfront of his native Long Island begging and bumming rides aboard the fishing boats that ply those wave-swept shores. He has been senior technical editor of Boating since 1996. In his long career, he has also been field editor of The Fisherman and has contributed to Long Island Boating World, Newsday, On the Water, Offshore and Sarasota. He is the author of the acclaimed Falvey's Guide to Fishing Long Island, and has won numerous awards for writing.
 
Rejoining Falvey on the Boating editorial team is longtime marine journalist Pete McDonald, who served as an award-winning Boating writer for 11 years, from 1998 to 2009. McDonald brings institutional knowledge and broad industry experience, thanks to his time at Boating and to his extensive freelance writing for titles like Yachting, Salt Water Sportsman and Power & Motoryacht. His book, "The Blitz: Fly Fishing the Atlantic Migration," was released in 2011.

Boating is published by Bonnier Corp. (www.bonniercorp.com), one of the largest consumer-publishing groups in the U.S. and the leading media company serving passionate, highly engaged audiences, through magazines, events, digital media and leading-edge products. Bonnier Corp. is the U.S. division of the Bonnier Group (www.bonnier.com), an international media group active in television, newspapers, magazines, movies, books and digital media.