Sabre yachts in Maine reported sales increases so far this year. Motorboats most likely, but it's a good sign. Charter business appears to be up as well as reported by Hinckley charters. Here's some of the article in the NYTs below.

"At Sabre Yachts in South Casco, Me., a good year once meant building and selling about 180 luxury sailboats and powerboats priced from $400,000 to $1.5 million. Last year, sales sank to well below 100, said Daniel Zilkha, who has owned the company for 15 years.

"This was by far the worst downturn since the luxury tax nearly wiped out the boat builders in the very early 1990s,” Mr. Zilkha said. “Business is picking up relatively slowly, but it feels as if the recovery has substance.” This year, the company expects to build as many as 120 boats. The yacht charter business was similarly hard hit last year and is also starting to show signs of life for the coming summer, when wealthy customers want boats to cruise in the Mediterranean. Still, Shannon Webster, who runs a charter business in Flagler Beach, Fla., described the current climate as a “Mexican standoff because smart buyers know they can wait a bit and boat owners are evaluating what they may have to give up to get customers.”

“Everybody has cut back somewhat,” Ms. Webster said. “Even people who rented a 225-foot boat are saying, ‘Can I get something that is 50 feet shorter?’ “

The more conservative sailboat charter business is showing signs of a rebound, too. Tina Hinckley, whose family sold its sailboat manufacturing business to a private equity firm in 1997, now arranges charters for high-end clients through her Hinckley Crewed Charters in Southwest Harbor, Me. She has already booked 20 trips, twice as many as she had on her schedule at this time last year. “Last year, I sent out quite a few contracts that never came back,” she said. “This year, they are actually coming back and signing up.”"