Will gas prices curtail boating?

I talked to my sister over the weekend (by the way, she’s a boat owner) and she’s looking
into taking the commuter bus to work; the gas prices are killing her budget. Is she planning to keep her boat? At the moment, but...

Fuel costs now take almost four cents of every dollar of American’s take-home pay, the highest since 1983, reports the Houston Chronicle.

At the end of last week, regular gasoline sold for a record average of $3.28 a gallon nationwide, up from $2.97 just a month earlier, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

I looked further into AAA’s report and checked out the regular, unleaded prices at the gas pumps in a few of the big boating states, and here’s what I found:
Florida: Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice
$3.34 a gallon, up from $2.60 a year ago

Florida: Fort Lauderdale
$3.34 a gallon, up from $2.63 a year ago

Florida: Miami
$3.38 a gallon, up from $2.60 a year ago

Michigan: Ann Arbor
$3.35 a gallon, up from $2.51 a year ago

Michigan: Detroit
�� $3.30 a gallon, up from $2.46 a year ago

Michigan: Saginaw-Bay City-Midland
$3.34 a gallon, up from $2.46 a year ago

California: Fresno
$3.62 a gallon, up from $3.15 a year ago

California: Los Angeles-Long Beach
$3.61 a gallon, up from $3.11 a year ago

California: San Francisco
$3.78 a gallon, up from $3.29 a year ago

New York: New York City
$3.41 a gallon, up from $2.76 a year ago

Pretty scary numbers, don’t you agree? And they can go up even more. Some non-marine experts are predicting another 40 cents per gallon tacked onto today’s price if gas prices follow their normal pattern between now and June.
Now, what does this mean for boating?

Last year, I heard some industry leaders say the price of gas did not hurt boating.

Are those feelings still prevalent, today, given the soaring prices of gas?

Any thoughts on this subject?

Lois Caliri
Editor