|
Yachting has grown very expensive over the last five to 10
years. We have to deal with four-dollars-a-gallon fuel and the rising costs of
raw materials and labor to build these boats. Some of us old-timers see this as
a grim picture that will not benefit yachting in the long run.
Yet yachting is not just about super-rich people. It really
does trickle down to the little guy with the 25-foot Boston Whaler. How else
would we have that wonderful Raymarine plotter system that does everything,
including take the owner home at the end of the day?
Dock space is another problem. The usual supply-and-demand
curve is rearing its ugly head as the various state and federal agencies make it
tougher and tougher to have a marina that is worth having for the operator.
Top: Perle Bleue won this year’s ShowBoats International Award for Best
Full-Displacement Motor Yacht Under 50 Meters. Bottom: Stanley and Peggy Bey when they
owned Campbell Bay. Top photograph by Dana Jinkins. (Click images to enlarge)
The yachting industry employs thousands of people and uses
hundreds of millions of dollars of materials, all of which contribute to the
economy. While no one really needs or has to have a pleasure boat, the name of
the industry is the pleasure boat industry, and we cannot let the "pleasure"
side slip away as it slowly has these past 10 years.
I still love best knocking around in small boats. That is why I
recently purchased a Sabre 38 that I named Black Pearl. She has all the
bells and whistles one could want. My wife Peg and I spent seven days on Long
Island Sound not long ago visiting old haunts I haven’t seen since my sailboat
days. I hope my nine grandchildren can enjoy knocking around in small boats just
the way I did and have all the fun and adventures I remember so well. Then they,
too, can grow up with the passion to expand their yachting
horizons.
Stanley Bey has owned a number of well-known yachts, two of which have won
ShowBoats International Awards.
| 
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Email This
Printer Friendly Version
Reprints & Permissions
Most Popular Searches