With gas prices running nearly double what they were a year earlier, the pain at the pump in 2022 extended well past commuters — all the way to the fuel docks of the Alabama Gulf Coast.
Charter captain Richard Rutland, who makes his living on the water, said rising fuel costs were eating into every trip. “I kind of feel like I’m on every one of my trips… hitting my max limit on what I feel comfortable as far as burning in fuel every day,” he said.
To keep pace with skyrocketing costs, Rutland raised his prices — and said most clients understood. “Most everybody has just said hey, we understand and we’re all dealing with it,” he said. “It’s really a hard pill to swallow, you know, having to spend twice as much as we did last summer.”
Recreational Boaters Adjust Too
Weekend boaters were changing habits as well. Larry Kirby said he was staying closer to shore: shorter runs and inshore fishing instead of offshore trips made outings easier on the wallet. Filling up wasn’t cheap either — “if you’ve got a 50-gallon boat, you’re going to spend 250 bucks,” Kirby said.
Still, neither high fuel prices nor tournament costs were keeping captains off the water. “I don’t ever want to feel like I am not doing something as a result of gas prices coming up,” Rutland said. “I want to provide the same experience I’ve always been providing.”