Hit with rising gas prices, boaters are scaling back on trips

With gas at $4 a gallon, some yacht operators head for shore

From the deck of his yacht at a marina near Stillwater, Ernie Reimann looked across the rippling St. Croix River to the green bluffs of Wisconsin. With gas prices for boats averaging $4 a gallon, he’s driving his yacht less and admiring the view more.

“You grit your teeth as the gas prices move up,” said Reimann, a retired machine tools salesman from Arden Hills. His 52-foot vessel, the Comradery, has a 300-gallon fuel tank and twin 250-horsepower inboard motors that average a mile per gallon.

At metro-area lakes and rivers, owners of boats large and small are feeling the pain at the pump. Some, like Reimann, are spending more time at the slip with friends.

Other boaters are shortening their trips, cutting their motors more often or hitting the water less.

“Everybody’s feeling the pain,” said Bruce Ehlers, a St. Croix boater and president of the Minnesota Power Boaters Association, a boating advocacy group. “The bottom line is that gas prices have affected our habits on the river.”

Star-Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN)