Quote:
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Originally Posted by Silver Duck
"...I suspect that another reason may be the impression of a rather pronounced lack of welcome for vacationers with boats that I've felt growing over the past few years..."
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Seeing a "Larger-Boat Trend"?
Twenty years ago, it wouldn't have been too unusual to have one small boat anchored off this shoreline for several hours.
Fifteen years ago, it wouldn't have been unusual to see five or six anchored along this shore on a weekend. In the past decade, there have been five or six aoong the shoreline—all season long.
Today there are none—
all season. They congregate instead in a quiet, protected, small cove nearby.
Why? The tubing trend has produced near-constant wake action—not a peaceful environment for a quiet and scenic lunch on the lake. The cove also protects against Jet-Ski intrusions: Oddly, there is a trend to tow the family's Jet-Skis to the cove! Now that both sides of that cove are being bulldozed for McMansions, expect the inevitable NRZ there. (Another trend).
What's worse is that tubers are being towed by big and scary examples of the "Larger Boat" trend. The trend to increasingly-larger boats is driven by speed and "ride comfort" (among other considerations): As a result, wakes from "those other boats" are now trending still larger!
Now the trend to larger boats is being confronted by the dual-trends of higher gas consumption and higher gas prices.
Another trend: The McMansion trend started about 1985, even replacing entire boys' camps. Each under-used McMansion replaces one or more "family camps nestled in the pines". The trend toward increased property taxes are reducing the numbers of affordable summer rentals, already being crunched by gas price increases of the past couple of years.
Even restaurants are trendier: It's not difficult to see why we're not seeing the crowds of fifteen years ago.
For the opinions regarding last season's crowds, (and more grist for the mill
), see
here.