By MARC BEJA
³It¹s one jerk at the end of a line waiting for another jerk at the other end of the line.²
Philippou chuckled, while some of the other men, who seemed to have heard the joke before, groaned and picked up their supplies, continuing to prepare for the long day ahead. It didn¹t bother them that they had beaten the sunrise on a Sunday morning to the Bay Park Fishing Station off Weidner Avenue in Oceanside. They had only one thing on their mind: catching fish.
While the cost of gas has risen significantly in recent years, Peter Eriksen, president of All Island Marine, adjacent to the fishing station, thinks the higher prices shouldn¹t keep people from going out on their boats. ³Gas for a boat has gone up, but so has gas for your car,² Eriksen said. ³It¹s all relative.²
But for those who consider themselves serious fishermen, gas is only a portion of the expenses that go into maintaining a boat and spending entire days searching for flounder and fluke. Boat owners need to have a place to dock their boats, maintain them, and buy bait and equipment, among other necessities. And for those with full-time jobs, it can be even more of a burden, according to Island Park resident Rich Healy.
³You can¹t just take off work whenever you want,² Healy said. ³You have to schedule a couple of days off here and there in advance and just hope you have good weather, a full crew and enough equipment.²
Healy said that on any given day, it can cost $300 to $600 to go fishing, sometimes for up to 20 hours. ³You really have to make every trip count,² he said, ³and it has to be in your blood.²
Not all boaters head out on the bays or the ocean to fish. The Hempstead Bay Sailing Club comprises some 60 members who boat recreationally. ³Do you want to meet some guys that just love boating for fun?² said Jimmy Matarese, 75, the club¹s commodore. ³That¹s us.²
The club, which has been headquartered at 53 Empire Blvd. in Island Park for 45 years, has about 35 slips where cruising boats and racing boats are moored. The main difference between the boats docked at Bay Park Fishing Station and those at the Sailing Club is that the sailboats use gas only when they are being taken out or brought back to the dock. While a good-sized fishing boat can burn up to 45 gallons of fuel in an hour, a sailboat may use less than 10 gallons in an entire summer.
Matarese said that few people know about the club, which hosts four or five socials a year and has weekly boat races on Sundays. Last week the races were suspended because the club¹s top racers were in Syracuse for an event.
³People will come out on a boat with a friend once, and they want to buy a boat immediately,² Matarese said. ³Once you get that bug, you¹re hooked.²
Whether they¹re fishing or just out for pleasure, many boaters like going out on the ocean to relieve stress, said Bay Park Fishing Station President Mark Keller, 46. ³It¹s just nice to get out on a boat and get away from it all,² said Keller. ³It¹s a way to escape from the rat race and just relax.²
Philippou agreed. ³Where else on Long Island can you just be by yourself, with nobody around for miles and miles?² he said. ³No matter what, the bottom line is you gotta have fun.²
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287.
Photos by Marc Beja/Herald
