Recreation: Dream Boats on the Rocks

Psst! Want to be skipper of your own ship? Up and down all three U.S. coastlines, plenty are available, as boatmakers are buffeted by one of the worst sailboat gluts in memory. No accurate estimate of the number of vessels for sale is available, but price cuts of 25% to 30%, particularly for secondhand sailboats in the $100,000-and-under range, have suddenly become common. Says Bill Stewart, owner of a boat brokerage in Key Biscayne, Fla.: “The bottom has just fallen out of sales.”

A number of factors have led to the doldrums. One is the return of cheap oil, which has turned some boaters back to gas-powered vessels. Another is new low-priced competition from Taiwan and Hong Kong. Finally, sailboats tend to last for many years and to return to the used-boat market time and again.