‘Riding the wave’: the development of marinas around the world and the founding of the marina in Tel Aviv, Israel

The first marina in Israel was founded in 1973 in Tel Aviv. The accelerated development of sailing in the West after World War II and the economic prosperity that followed demanded the construction of designated marinas, which began to appear in the West in the 1960s and in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean Sea in the 1970s. Similarly to Greece and Turkey, the marina in Tel Aviv was built in the framework of massive investment in touristic infrastructure, which in the Israeli case began after the War of 1967. Unlike other European countries, Israel did not have a maritime tradition and culture. These were initiated by the Zionist Movement, starting in the 1930s, as part of the national struggle for independence. Only in the late 1960s did the Israeli middle class take on this field; however, the geographical conditions of the open Israeli coast constricted this development. The marina was meant to encourage maritime tourism while taking advantage of the development of sailing in the Mediterranean. It made sailing accessible to Israelis and initiated a process where additional marinas would be built and tens of thousands of Israelis would participate in sailing in the following years.