Empty Slips!

M

MikeeH

Active member
Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2001
RO Number
6342
Messages
2,297
I'm not sure if others in the Bay are seeing this but I left Annapolis (by car) yesterday and, being a beautiful afternoon with some spare time, I decided to stop by our old marina, Skipjack Cove on the Sassafras, maybe see some friends and have lunch at Signals. Now, keep in mind that just 3 years ago the place would already start to get busy on a nice Friday afternoon and you had to pay a $50 deposit just to get on the waiting list for a slip. Well, things sure appear to have changed! The lower end of C Dock (boats up to 35' LOA) was always full due to its proximity to the main dock. Not anymore. Looked like the first 6-8 slips were vacant and available. The parking lot was pretty empty and I only saw one or two slipholders around. Ran into a friend from H Dock who told me that there were 75 empty slips at SJC (out of 365 total)and many folks who are still slipholders just are not coming down to their boats very often due to the cost of just driving there. Forget about running the boat.

Is it that bad around the rest of the Bay???
 
Mike,

I work at a marina in the inner harbor and I can tell you personally that things have really slowed down this year. We're suffering already because of construction in our back yard and this economy has just beat us down ever farther. Just looking out across the water I don't see anywhere near the amount of boat traffic I typically do on any given day. A lot of reservations that were made in the beginning of the year are being canceled and the excuse is all pretty much the same...fuel prices. Being a boat owner myself I find I'm pulling back on the throttles a lot this year. It's a shame, the Chesapeake is such a beautiful body of water and our season is so short.

Wes
 
I believe things have slowed down our way Mike. The Marina we are at, is fairly full, with members, and I don't know the history there, but when I go down there the slips are filled. Our one club is on there weekly bay cruise, and this yr. is is all kept fairly close, and mostly island hopping, so marinas are not as essential. We are staying home for other reasons, and I'm ready on Monday to replace all the batteries. 2-4D'd and 7, 27 series.
 
Sounds like we may need another chair at the Doubletree table some evening.
 
I was at Duffy Creek on Friday morning. I like to rent land space there, to keep my boat on the trailer, so I can avoid lugging it through Churchman's Crossing every weeked. Unlike previous years, they have a waiting list for land space, and plenty of open slips, as there are dozens of boats that aren't going to launch this year. There were still to many boats to fit into Lloyd creek last Saturday though, so who knows.

I have two friends that are looking to buy a 38 Sundancer, or the likes. I can't imagine a better time to buy.
 
I suppose that it depends on how hard people are pushing their finances. At the end of the day, increased fuel prices will drive up my overall boating expenses by about 4%-5% this year. That's not enough to make me park the boat and waste the other 95%.

MikeeH - You've got to work on your timing. We stayed at Skipjack last Saturday (6/7) after a day at Lloyd Creek. Got the royal tour of Ted/Joanne's new-to-them 41PC Formula. Looks brand-new. We spend this past weekend in Still Pond, but not back where your land is.
 
Alk,
Would your friends be interested in a clean 410 Sundancer with Caterpillar diesels?
 
Chuck,

Timing hasn't been my strong suit lately. We'll get together soon.
BTW, I saw the new Funny Girl while there. Pete gave me a tour. Very nice.
Say "Hi" to the winemaker.
 
This is our 1st year at Skipjack . Were on C Dock. We love it there... The people are awsome and we dont mind having an empty slip next to us... It gives my boys a chance to fish in the empty spot and meet new people when tranzients come in. We rafted up with Ted and Joanne last week rb2@gr5t 1.98 there were 9 boats and couldnt imagine having a better time... for us it is about the quality of good people...
 
Julian...
Can I say, "told ya so!"!!
Glad you're enjoying yourself and found a home at SJC. Say "Hi" to Ted and Joanne and the rest of the folks for us (Mike & Kathy).
 
I'll also support the reduced traffic idea as well. my consulting job was extended through the end of the year in the Inner Harbor and I moved to Back River (Weavers). I look out over the Inner Harbor daily from my office window and see much less activity than last year. When I left Georgetown in May, the dockmaster offered me a "premium" 70' slip for my 50' boat at no added charge as "...he wasn't gonna rent it anyway...".

As it turns out, this year was preplanned to be a "slow year" on the water for travel as we blew the wad last summer bringing the boat up from Florida with a month vacation. We are going to Fairlee in a couple of weeks and down to St Mary's City MD (on the Potomac) in early August. Otherwise, it is fixing up the boat as our "permanent" home.

Delaware Jim
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top