_The title to this thread is a little dramatic, but an article in the DC-area confirmed what I suspected: significant sectors of the boating industry appear to be pulling away from targeting the average (or even somewhat above-average) Joe in favor of catering only to the very wealthy. Perhaps power boating is destined to return to its status as exclusively a very wealthy person's game, with the remainder of us relegated to increasingly aging used vessels or new rowboats.
Probably not -- at least not completely -- but aside from the likelihood of at least some reduced availability of new "smaller" boats (under 30-feet, and especially under 25-feet), the trend towards larger boats might negatively impact many of us in other ways.
The first impact is the availability of slips. The article mentions one marina owner who is converting from 63 slips to 19 larger slips to accommodate yachts. In Annapolis, the availability of slips is already tight. A trend like this will make finding any slip, let alone one at anything near a sane rate -- even more difficult.
Second, the Severn River, where I boat, is now downright treacherous on weekends with all the 30, 40, 50-ft and larger boats barreling through at 20-plus knots. For a 20-something boat, this creates a miserable boating experience if not a dangerous situation. For someone like me, who recently downsized until the kids get a bit older and can appreciate cruises, the wakes make the water virtually off-limits much of the time. These wakes are also severely damaging the shoreline....the marshes/wetlands and small beaches along the Severn now have wave action that rivals the open Chesapeake.
I don't know what the solution is for this. I'm not a big fan of over-regulation, but I also believe that boats and their attendant impact cannot be allowed to increase unchecked indefinitely. Should marina owners be required to keep a certain percentage of their slips a certain size? Should speed limits in non-open waterways be more restrictive for vessels over a certain displacement? I'm curious about what the TF community thinks.
Oh...and here's the article:
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Boat Show to Focus on Huge Yachts
October 24, 2007 - 11:56am
By BRIAN WITTE
Associated Press Writer
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - With demand for bigger yachts staying strong, people in the boating industry are working hard to keep up with ways to describe the increasingly larger boats.
Megayachts have been overtaken in size by superyachts. Now, gigayacht is a word popping up at boat shows. Some even joke about Trumpyachts.
"Sixty-foot is big," said Dee Newman, manager of two huge boat shows held recently in this sailing capital. "When you get to 80 and a 100 feet, then you're into a megayacht. Then you get a superyacht. Then, you keep on going."
The demand has stayed strong enough in recent years that an event billed as a first-of-its-kind show in the sailing-crazed Mid-Atlantic region is scheduled for early May as one of the first events at the new National Harbor in Washington, D.C.
"That'll be the first for this area by a long shot," said James Barthold, general manager of the Annapolis Boat Shows, which held two large shows this month, one for sail boats and another for power boats.
The Washington show, produced by United States Yacht Shows, will feature yachts ranging from 60 to 150 feet long.
"It's just the boat that people are asking for," Barthold said. "It's the boat that's selling."
With yachts of that size ranging in price from $500,000 to $2 million, people who can afford that much boat have been more insulated from a troubled housing market and other downturns in the economy, according to people in the boating industry. Newman said growth in larger yacht sales has been noticeable since about 1998.
The boats have taken on floating-condo-like size.
"You have to almost treat it like a vacation home," Barthold said. "And that's what a boat is. A boat is essentially a purchase in lieu of a vacation home ... That's the size boat you need to get the value out of it."
The increasing boat size is having an effect at marinas.
Gerald Herson, who has owned marinas in the Annapolis area for 30 years, has been working hard to adjust his Pleasure Cove Marina to fit the trend. His efforts recently brought him before Gov. Martin O'Malley, who is one of three members of the Maryland Board of Public Works, to request a wetlands license so he could reconfigure a 63-slip marina in Pasadena, Md., to a 19-slip marina _ to handle longer and wider boats.
Herson, whose request was approved so he could proceed with the construction in the water, also is adding new lifts at his marina, so boats up to 60-feet long can be raised out of the water and stored in a heated maintenance building. The idea is to better preserve the boats from the elements _ and make way for megayachts outside.
"There is less and less space for boats, because the boats themselves are getting larger," Herson said.
Michael Lecholop, vice president of sales for sail and motor boat manufacturer Beneteau, said the trend toward larger boats is continuing. Last year, he said, Beneteau introduced a new 46-foot yacht and a 49-footer, forecasting a sale for more than 100 boats for the year.
"We were scared to death," Lecholop said at the sail boat show in Annapolis, where more than 200 sail boats bobbed on floatable docks around him. "No manufacturer had ever sold a 100-plus boats 46 and larger, and we did it with no problem."
Lecholop said the company had a great year, and things are looking good for the future. At the Annapolis show, Lecholop said Beneteau sold 14 boats that are 40-feet long, costing more than $200,000, and three 32-footers at about $105,000 each.
"Bigger is better," Lecholop said. "Your homes are larger. Your cars are more expensive nowadays and larger. It's what they enjoy. They enjoy the space. They enjoy the amount of fuel and the amount of water it carries."
The smaller boats, however, are a tougher sell these days.
"If we get some consumer confidence back, the smaller end will come back, but it's the people who are more firm in their job positions, their careers" who are buying now, Lecholop said.
Ryan Fitchett, a regional sales manager for Viking Sport Cruisers, said the megayacht market "has been incredibly strong for the past couple of years," largely thanks to prosperous baby boomers.
"There's just more people out there with the wealth accumulated that now they're getting to an age where making an investment in a yacht _ whether it be for retirement or just to kind of relax and treat themselves for all their hard work _ they're getting to that point in their lives where it makes sense," Fitchett said.
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http://www.usboat.com 
Larger Boats Ruinning Boating for the Rest of Us? 
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