The escape has begun for Bob Ferraro.
He’s already been out on his 40-foot fishing boat several times this spring and plans to be back on Lake Erie again today.
Boating has been a stress-relieving tonic for the UPMC Hamot cardiologist for more than 30 years. He’s owned a half-dozen boats in his life, each one bigger than the next.
Ferraro’s current vessel is aptly named “Heartbeat” and is equipped with a design of electrocardiogram waves that his daughter came up with.
The 60-year-old Millcreek Township resident has a handful of friends whom he has fished with for years, a crew that includes an orthodontist, a business owner, and a couple of retirees angling for summer steelhead and walleye.
Ferraro’s boating season begins in late April and ends in October. Weather permitting, he hopes to be out on the water about 70 times this year.
“It’s just a real escape from the everyday grind,” he said. “It’s so beautiful and peaceful to go out on the lake, even if you don’t catch anything.”
Take a look at Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay today.
If the sun is out and the wind low — temperatures in the upper 70s are in the region’s forecast — our waters will be teeming with boats.
This weekend is a mere appetizer, as the coming Memorial Day holiday is the unofficial start to summer and the boating season.
Some local boat owners, like Ferraro, have already indulged in the area pastime, while some are in the final stages of getting their boats prepped and in the water.
Boating’s popularity is sharply on the rise.
The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) estimated that 83 million people participated in boating in the United States in 2011, an increase of 10 percent from 2010.
There are more than 12 million registered boats in the country, according to the NMMA.
New research compiled by the organization shows an improving recreational boating industry — 2011 marked the first increase in retail sales of boats, accessories and marine services since 2006, the year before the U.S. economy officially sank into a recession.
Michael Lynch, general manager of the Erie Yacht Club, said members have been eager to get in their boats since late March.
“They’re very excited,” Lynch added. “The mild winter and early spring has heightened their excitement to get out there.”
The club, 1 Ravine Drive, hosted an outdoor “sock burning” party on March 21. About 200 of the club’s 1,300 members listened to a band on a 73-degree day, and a traditional barrel filled with wood burned their winter socks.
“The inference is that people wore the same socks all winter long, and in the boating community, traditionally boaters don’t wear socks after the first day of spring,” Lynch said.
The club, which opened in 1895 with 65 members, has 372 boat slips and 35 personal-watercraft docks completely filled.
Lynch said most, if not all, of the members will have their boats prepped and in the water by May 28, Memorial Day.
“We’ve had years recently where its been sunny but chilly and windy on Memorial Day. Last year, the whole weekend was gorgeous,” Lynch said. “We’re hoping for the same nice weather again this year.”
Eric Schlabach, a manager at Bay Harbor Marina, 726 W. Bayfront Parkway, said there are only a handful of vacancies in the combined 500 slips at the marina’s east and west basins.
“Many of our boaters live on their boats from now through September,” Schlabach said. “They go to work, and they come back to their boat. Makes for a really nice summer.”
On May 11, Schlabach slowly drove a 20-foot-high steel marine travel lift over to a parking spot in the east basin’s lot.
In that spot sat Drownsizing, a 40-foot Sea Ray owned by Jim and Mary Ann Curry. The lift can hoist up to 40,000 pounds, so it had no problem handling the Wesleyville couple’s 18,000-pound powerboat. A half-hour later, Schlabach had the boat lowered into Presque Isle Bay.
The Currys, both 64 and the semiretired owners of Curry’s Spectacle Shop in Wesleyville, plan to take Drownsizing out today for their first voyage of this boating season.
The avid boaters have owned a half-dozen boats since 1974. Drownsizing, which they’ve had for about three years, can comfortably entertain 10 to 12 friends and relatives on fun trips for swimming, fishing and watching the region’s picturesque sunsets.
“If you’re able to have a boat, living here this close to Lake Erie, to not take advantage of this great a lake would be silly,” Jim Curry said. “You’ve got the sun, the water, and a perfect way to relax.”
GERRY WEISS can be reached at 870-1884 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNweiss.
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