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Weekend Pundit · 07-01-2007, 07:45 PM

At first I thought it was just me noticing that boat traffic on Winnipesaukee down last year. But talking to some of the folks I know at the Marine Patrol I found that they'd noticed it, too.

This year the drop (so far) is bigger than last year's. I don't know whether it's gas prices (as mentioned by some), the need to have the boating certificate (mentioned by others), an effect of some folks cutting back on expenses in general (also mentioned), or some combination of all three.

On our first weekend out on the lake three weekends ago on a warm Saturday afternoon, I expected the lake to be busy. But during the two hours we were out on the lake, we saw all of 15 boats and a couple of PWCs. With so little traffic even The Broads was calm. I've never seen that on a Saturday afternoon! (I must confess that most of our boating is done during the week as usually the lake is too rough due to the wake-driven chop. A weekend trip out on to the lake during the middle of the day is very rare for us. If we do venture out on a Saturday or Sunday, it's usually early in the morning or early evening when most of the regular weekenders are off the lake.)

It will be interesting to see if this is going to be a summer-long phenomenon or just a slow start to the season.

07-01-2007, 07:45 PM	#54
Weekend Pundit Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Gilford Posts: 347 Thanks: 26 Thanked 69 Times in 42 Posts	Traffic is definitely down At first I thought it was just me noticing that boat traffic on Winnipesaukee down last year. But talking to some of the folks I know at the Marine Patrol I found that they'd noticed it, too. This year the drop (so far) is bigger than last year's. I don't know whether it's gas prices (as mentioned by some), the need to have the boating certificate (mentioned by others), an effect of some folks cutting back on expenses in general (also mentioned), or some combination of all three. On our first weekend out on the lake three weekends ago on a warm Saturday afternoon, I expected the lake to be busy. But during the two hours we were out on the lake, we saw all of 15 boats and a couple of PWCs. With so little traffic even The Broads was calm. I've never seen that on a Saturday afternoon! (I must confess that most of our boating is done during the week as usually the lake is too rough due to the wake-driven chop. A weekend trip out on to the lake during the middle of the day is very rare for us. If we do venture out on a Saturday or Sunday, it's usually early in the morning or early evening when most of the regular weekenders are off the lake.) It will be interesting to see if this is going to be a summer-long phenomenon or just a slow start to the season.