Boating; An endangered sport!

Boating

by boatguy Ed

Boating is alive and well but under attack from some new and traditional foes. The biggest pressure facing boaters today is from the people who want to live on the water. Once rundown, somewhat seedy commercial waterfront property is now being re-zoned for residential use. It seems that there is an insatiable demand for this waterfront lifestyle.

Some developers are actually preserving the boating lifestyle by buying up Ma and Pa marinas and turning them into Dock-ominiums. Maybe this isn’t everyone’s idea of the best use for these old time marinas but these expensive and exclusive developments are still boating communities. They are infinitesimally preferable to high-rise communities wiping out our ever-limited resources.

Around the nation old waterfront community leaders are tying redevelopment to bringing new residents into town via the developer’s condominium paradise. The waterfront redevelopment is being built upon traditional parks and boat ramps and marinas. The shortsighted return is a revised tax base but this destroys the boating lifestyle without fixing the underlying problems of these old communities.

It is our own government out to get us boaters, you bet. City, state and federal agencies conspire through regulations to undo the age-old tradition of boating. Don’t take my word for this, ask the Boat/US foundation who lobby the federal and state governments on behalf of all boaters and they are very effective for the big issues but they can’t fight the local battles for us.

We need an organization that is local and focused on boating issues besides the Marine Trade Associations that are focused on selling boats. We need a local boat owners association the lobbies’ city and county governments for our rights. It isn’t that we don’t pay taxes and vote. It is simply that we are a silent. We don’t make noise and that is how we are quietly overwhelmed.

We stand back while neighboring communities fight a feeble battle to save their boating community. And they stand by while we do the same. There are over a half million Boat/US members in this country and that organization wields a big stick on Capital hill or in Tallahassee or Albany or Sacramento. Yet we have very little representation in front of city councils.

Why is this so I ask you? Is boating unimportant because it is a recreational activity that is in less esteem or worth than other everyday activity. Let those same bearcats try taking out a bike path and a thousand people ride on city hall. But close a boat ramp and very few complain. The Marine Trades complain because they may sell a few less boats but they have other problems to worry about.

It isn’t enough to put an “I boat and I vote” bumper sticker on the oldest family car. We need an organization that is in the face of all of those bureaucrats who always go the way the wind is blowing the hardest. Maybe the Power Squadron or the Coast Guard Auxiliary could do it but their charters hamstring them.

We need a local group like the struggling “Standing Watch” organization in Florida who battle the “Save the Manatee” group to keep our waterways open. Their focus should be expanded to include saving waterfront marinas and ramps and other access points but in any case we should support them and make sure they survive.

There is no more fractured community than the Irish Americans, as an example. I have inside knowledge of these jealousies and squabbles. Yet even this group of people can get together once a year in mind numbing celebration. I am confident that boaters could shed these same hang-ups to save a treasured recreation.

Who wants to explain to their grandchildren that they stood by while the boating heritage was paved over. History teaches that a divided group is much easier to defeat. Think back to the American Indians who were superior warriors but who didn’t adapt to their adversaries tactics until it was to late. They refused to ban together to fight their diabolical, ruthless, bushwhacking enemies and they were diluted until they were totally defeated.

The same thing is happening to boaters and if we don’t wake up we will go the way of the red man. Relegated to ever smaller reservations and remembered fondly through folklore. If you think I am crazy just look ask an old timer to name the marinas, boat yards and boat ramps that no longer exist. In 20 years I have seen more than a 50% decline and most of that has taken place in the last 5 years.

Contact “Standing Watch” and get involved. Ask your Yacht Club or boating group to lobby the bureaucrats. Time is short and we are losing this battle! Send questions and comments to boatguiEd@aol.com or this publication. See you on the Internet Boating Show.  This blog/column is meant for educational purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Void where prohibited. Some assembly required. Do not read while operating a vehicle or heavy machinery. Keep sending those great questions and comments! (Contact) boatguied@aol.com