Harry Krause wrote:
Chuck Gould wrote:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Scott Croft, 703-461-2864,
Date: August 29, 2006
BOATU.S. SAYS SUMMER BOATING SEASON WAS BETTER THAN EXPECTED
With Labor Day marking the end of the summer recreational boating
season for many Americans, BoatU.S. reports that some good weather,
some great fishing and a less-than-anticipated impact of fuel prices
have kept boaters boating and it's on-the-water towboats busy this year
helping disabled vessels, providing fuel drop-offs and tows back to
port.
BoatU.S. on-the-water towing companies, --TowBoatU.S. and Vessel Assist
-- report the following general observations on recreational boating
activity:
Northeast/Mid-Atlantic: Continued good weather has meant more boats on
the water and an increase in requests for on-the-water assistance over
last year.
D'oh. Well, certainly a towboat operation should know if its business is
up over the previous year, but what stats is BOAT/US using to prove that
there are "more boats on the water" than last year?
The release relies upon the observations made by the marine
professionals quoted in the text. I only noted a couple of regions
where boating activity was reportedly up from last year, one region
(Gulf Coast) where it is down for some obvious reasons, and some others
(like California) where some modification of behavior has been
reported.
Hence my headline: no general, nationwide decrease in boating activity.
Most regions are observed by the quoted towboat operators to be about
the same or slightly better than last year.