TowBoatUS Lake Norman, a local on-water towing and assistance company for recreational boaters, was awarded Tower of the Year at the annual gathering of the TowBoatUS fleet owners, family and crew in Savannah, Georgia.
Owned by captain Derek Debord, TowBoatUS Lake Norman was chosen from more than 130 independently owned TowBoatUS towing companies across the nation. The company provides 24/7 towing, soft ungrounding, battery jumps and fuel drop-offs to Lake Norman boaters and is one of 300 TowBoatUS locations in the U.S. and British Columbia, Canada. A former Hickory Water Rescue Squad member and current Catawba County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Patrol Deputy Sheriff, the U.S. Coast Guard-licensed Debord purchased the small company with his wife, Cheryl, in 2012, and has grown his Lake Norman fleet of red response vessels from two to six. It was singled out at the TowBoatUS Annual Towing Conference for its smooth-running operations and community relations.
“Outside of being a top-notch operation, TowBoatUS Lake Norman regularly engages with its community through education and boating safety advocacy,” said TowBoatUS operations manager Chris Dolan. “For well over a decade, this company has been a shining example of what a towing company can accomplish through hard work, relentless passion and unyielding professionalism.” Additional factors cited included the company’s BoatUS Unlimited Towing Membership sales, on-water digital dispatch response rate and company towing captain ratings.
