There are 996,000 surfers, bodyboarders and paddleboarders in the United Kingdom, according to The Watersports Participation Survey 2015.
The new research concluded that nearly two percent of the British population rode a surfboard, boogie board or stand-up paddleboard in 2015. Comparing to last year, the popularity of these board sports also grew 0.6 percent.
The study focused primarily on twelve core boating activities: small sailboat racing, other small sailboat activities, yacht racing, yacht cruising, power boating, general motor boating/cruising, canal boating, canoeing, rowing/sculling, windsurfing, water skiing and wakeboarding, using personal watercraft.
The results reveal that 3.2 million UK adults participated in one or more of the above boating activities. The most popular water sport in the country is canoeing with roughly 1.4 million participants.
The Watersports Participation Survey 2015 also tells us that British participation in any watersport activity has also seen an increase over the last four years from roughly eight times to 10. And the weather conditions play a critical role in this game.
"Between 2013 and 2014, boating and watersports took place in the context of some of the UK's best weather of the last decade. In light of this, it is encouraging that in 2015, despite milder conditions, levels of boating participation have remained steady," explains Howard Pridding, CEO at British Marine.
