By Mike LaBella
Staff Writer
July 05, 2008 11:58 pm HAVERHILL — If you think you're seeing fewer boats on the Merrimack River this summer, your eyes are not deceiving you. City Harbormaster Michael Vets said anywhere from 40 to 50 boats that would usually be zipping up and down the river at this time of year are sitting on land, while many of the larger boats that are in the water remain docked — used as weekend campsites by their owners. The reason: With gasoline at $4 a gallon or more, some boaters say they simply cannot afford trips on the river. Vets said that in a typical summer, an average of 300 boats are docked at Haverhill's three marinas: Abbott's and Kazmiera, which are open to the public, and the Crescent Yacht Club, which is private. But his count shows this year's total of boats using the marinas down by almost 50. The decrease has Haverhill's stretch of the river, which has been teeming with boats in recent summers, noticeably less active. In the last several years, city leaders have touted the increase in boating, especially near downtown, as an indicator that Haverhill's long-range plan of luring more people to the city center is working. Vets said it is common this summer to see bigger boats remain docked at the marina, with their engines seldom running. The boats have become river's edge hangouts for the owners instead of vehicles to travel the river, he said. "They come here on a Friday and stay until Sunday night," Vets said. "You always have people doing this, but now it's even more because of the fuel prices." The problem of high gas prices affecting local boating isn't limited to Haverhill, Vets said. "Down in Newburyport, you have the biggest quantity of big boats and that's where you'll see a lot of empty slips," he said. "It's everywhere. Every marina is down, and it's anywhere from a 10 to 30 percent drop." At the Crescent Yacht Club on the Bradford side of the river in Haverhill, fleet captain Gary Page and his wife, Wanda, kept their 26-foot boat on land this year. To save money while still enjoying the water, they've been taking out their smaller and more fuel efficient 17-foot boat. "We're all sitting on the docks. The price of gas is killing all of us," Wanda Page said. "It's just too expensive." Longtime Crescent Yacht Club member Don Carey, 48, of Fremont, N.H., said nothing is going to stop him from taking out his 70 mph, 25-foot Baja cigarette boat. He's just saying "the heck with it" to high gas prices. "Life is too short," Carey said. "I don't think the price of gas is enough to keep everyone at the docks." The 320-horsepower Mercury V8 engine that drives his speedboat can be a gas-hungry machine, especially if he lays on the throttle. He figures an average day of boating, maybe to Newburyport and to the ocean and back, costs him about $100 in gas. "That doesn't include a stop in Newburyport for lunch and drinks," he said. Carey said there are fewer boats docked at the Yacht Club than usual. "Some club members have given up their slips because of the price of gas," he said. Dick and Ann Hamel of Haverhill also say life is short, and so is the boating season. "We only have three months a year for boating, so we're going to enjoy it," Ann Hamel, 54, said. It cost the Hamels $300 recently for two-thirds of a tank, or about 66 gallons for "The Madelline" — a 27-foot Sea Ray Sundance. "That gives us enough gas for two round trips to Newburyport," she said. The city's long-range economic development plans are to create a more festive downtown riverfront where people can stroll along the new boardwalk that is planned, enjoy outdoor concerts, and for some, park their boats on the city docks behind the Tap Restaurant. "A drop in boating doesn't make our life easier, that's for certain, but I feel our future is along the river," Mayor James Fiorentini said. "Whether it's a rail-trail for walking and biking, or if it's a boardwalk or fishing, to the extent our river continues to get clean. I see boating slowing down, absolutely, but other activities will be fine." Filling the 80-gallon tank of Vets' 19-foot Harbormaster boat costs $225, he said. That much fuel lasts one to two weeks, depending on how many boats he is called to tow. "Last Sunday I towed three boats," Vets said. "One hit some rocks and was disabled, and two ran out of gas. When you're towing it uses up a lot of gas."
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Photos
Donny Carey starts the engine of his 25-foot Baja speedboat that is docked at the Crescent Yacht Club in Haverhill. Staff photo