Bill McCaffrey ignored the steady drizzle as he tended to Nana, his 39-foot Ericson sailboat, where he had just installed new lifelines to prepare for next weekend’s Mackinac race, the shimmering high point of the sailing season.
Along with the summer’s often iffy weather, the recession’s choppy economic waters have hurt boating, McCaffrey said, pointing to the many empty slips at Waukegan Harbor, which has seen an overall 30 to 35 percent decrease in business this year.
“I cannot even fathom not being on the water,” said McCaffrey of Waukegan, who builds and repairs boats and maintains that no recession will get in his way. “It is in our blood.”
From Chicago to Milwaukee, harbor managers along Lake Michigan report varying degrees of economic fallout, including declines in boat slip rentals, gasoline sales and services. Brunswick Corp. said sales of its fiberglass stern drive boats plunged 40 percent during the first quarter.
Area yacht clubs — a harbor’s social counterpart — also have taken a hit.
More than 10 percent of Sheridan Shore Yacht Club’s members in Wilmette failed to renew their membership this year, said club commodore Robert Nickel. Each of the 200 members typically pays an annual $800 membership fee.
“Membership in the club is certainly not a necessity,” Nickel said. “People needed to trim their budget. This was one of their options.”
Rich Wohn, 51, of Wicker Park usually prides himself on getting his boat out by April, but this year, the cooler weather and the need to spend more time at work delayed him — until this month.
He recently launched his 22-foot Trophy Walkaround in Burnham Harbor and said the economy is taking its toll on the business he owns, Fireside Restaurant & Lodge.
Boating “is not rent. It’s not food. It’s not school,” Wohn said. “It’s at the bottom of my list of things to do. I wanted to stay and make sure my finances were correct before I indulged myself.”
Others are in the same boat, he said, working more hours and spending less time on the lake. Some bring food aboard, but never leave the harbor.
The Chicago Yacht Club, with about 1,500 members, has seen some attrition, said spokeswoman Christie Denson. Yet boat racing has remained popular, with the storied Race to Mackinac selling out in March, she said.
“We’re actually seeing that people had really made this a priority,” Denson said. “We were really surprised to see how fast it sold out.”
Boating on the Chain O’ Lakes seems as popular as ever this year, but boaters are cutting back by transporting their crafts by trailer rather than renting a slip for $1,000 to $2,000 a pop this summer, said Ingrid Danler, executive director of the Fox Waterway Agency.
The agency sold about 16,400 sticker permits, about the same as last summer.
“We generally see, when the economy is bad or gas prices go up, we become a staycation,” Danler said. “People stay home. They don’t take those big trips.”
Marina managers say they are also seeing some newcomers — and certainly more bargain hunters — who are enjoying a buyer’s market on boats, heavily discounted because of the bad economy. Sailboats and lower-end aluminum craft have been easier to sell, experts said.
“We are definitely selling boats — the reason being, we are moving them at discounts,” said Warren Moulis, an owner of Fox Lake Marina off the Chain O’ Lakes. Most of the marina’s 280 slips are full this summer, he said.
Although the boating industry has been hit hard, marinas are “a lot more insulated,” said Scott Stevenson, executive vice president of Westrec Marinas, which manages the Chicago Park District’s nine lakefront harbors.
Still, Stevenson said Chicago marinas have slightly lower occupancy this summer, at 96 percent. Running from Lincoln Park on the north to Jackson Park on the south, they can handle more than 5,000 boats.
While Waukegan and North Point Marina in Winthrop Harbor have dozens of open boat slips, the impact at other highly sought-after marinas on the North Shore and in Chicago is more subtle.
At Wilmette Harbor, for example, someone who joined a 25-year wait list to moor a small powerboat will now discover the wait time has dropped closer to 20 years, said Sabine Herber, executive director.
Herber can tell the economy has hurt some boaters with fixed incomes or who are self-employed, as they have taken advantage of a perk giving them a year’s leave of absence. Regular customers earn the one-year leave for every three years spent at the harbor.
The benefit ensures that they may moor a boat the next year without paying a hefty entry fee a second time. The entry fee equals the annual cost to moor a boat, which ranges by size of craft. It’s roughly $1,700 for a 22-foot boat.
Although financing a new boat can cost as much as a house mortgage, those who paid off their loans find it easier to hang onto their investment, Herber said. Boaters, whose costs are limited to storage, maintenance and fuel, are still flocking to the marinas on weekends, she said.
“It’s like driving that Honda Civic for five years. It’s paid for, and you just need to buy new tires,” she said.
For many, summers on the water are a lifestyle that can’t be dampened by a recession.
Consider Adrian Zamroziewicz, wife Elwira and daughter Marta, 18, who drove from their Belvidere home to Waukegan Harbor this week to hunt for a new sailboat.
A salesman with Larsen Marine Service Inc. led them aboard a 1981 midsize performance cruiser, priced around $45,000.
“Sailing is just so relaxing,” said Elwira Zamroziewicz, 37. “You get away.”
Of a similar nautical mind, McCaffrey said he and crewmate Alan Baske, 83, expect many racing days ahead.
The two have competed together in the Mackinac race for 21 years aboard Nana, named for a fictional French madame. Their crew won 1st place in their section the last two years, and McCaffrey plans to sail home with a third win.
The big lake, he said, is even more alluring than the spectacle of the race.
“She is like a mistress,” McCaffrey said. “She draws you to her.”
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The high cost of owning
Here is a boating pocketbook primer, but beware: Prices to buy, store and maintain a boat vary greatly by type and size.
$29,388 Average price of a new outboard boat, engine and trailer package in 2008
$2,000 Average cost to rent a slip for a 30-foot boat at Waukegan Harbor
$2,000 Average cost to rent a slip for a 30-foot boat at North Point Marina in Winthrop Harbor
$3,000 Average cost to rent a slip for a 30-foot boat at Chicago’s Burnham Harbor
$577.50 Cost to fill the tank of a 30-foot pleasure boat: 150-gallon tank at $3.85 per gallon
Average costs
Average yearly cost to operate, maintain, repair or replace equipment is about $50 per foot, or about $1,500, for a 30-foot boat; the cost rises to as much as $150 per foot if you hire a marina to do the work.
Sources include the harbors listed, as well as the National Marine Manufacturers Association at nmma.org and the BoatU.S. Guide to Buying and Selling a Boat at boatus.com/guide
— Lisa Black
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lblack@tribune.com
ggarvey@tribune.com
