The Harbor Report: Leaving Costa Mesa for calmer waters

Tattoo Yachts New 22 Footer

By Len Bose

April 11, 2013 | 8:58 p.m.

Two years ago, almost to this date, I interviewed Roger MacGregor and his daughter, Laura MacGregor Sharp, at their boat building plant located on Placentia Avenue in Costa Mesa. The story was titled "The dawning of the age of fiberglass," and now, after some 50 years and 45,000 boats built, the MacGregors have decided to stop production of their 26-foot sailboat at their plant.

"Dad's not closing the doors," Laura explained over the phone this week. "He continues looking forward and plans on building custom-ordered 70-footers. Both my parents are in good health. They are both like Energizer Bunnies. They just keep going and going."

Two years ago, while walking through the plant with Roger, I did not listen to him closely enough when he said, "Over there is our mold shop, and on the other side of that wall, our neighbors are putting in a three-story retirement community." Two years later, the expense of updating the mold shop to meet today's state and city requirements has become rather tiring. Laura and her husband, Paul, have decided to continue production of the 26-footer and a new 22-foot trailerable sailboat in Stuart, Fla.

"The city of Stuart targeted us and went out of their way to obtain our business and made a huge effort in making us comfortable with our move," Laura told me. "Here, we are targeted in a way that makes it impossible for us to stay. In Stuart, it's like a flashback to the 1960s and '70s in Costa Mesa. On every street corner, there is a marine business, and we feel welcome again."

When you think about it, the MacGregor family has done more for the sport of sailing than anyone else by producing an entry-level boat. "If I had a dollar for everyone that came up to me and said I learned how to sail on a MacGregor 26, my kids would not have to work," Laura said. "We want to keep that section of the market and have made a few changes to the boat."

The new line is called Tattoo Yachts, and you can find them at tattooyachts.com. "With cars getting smaller, the boats need to be lighter," Laura explained. "The towing weight of the new 22-foot is half the weight of the 26-foot."

As a yacht broker who has specialized in the sailboat market, I owe a big thank you to the MacGregor family for giving so many people the experience of a weekend-type cruising sailboat.

With this news, my concern for our harbor continues to grow, and I have said it many times before. What is going to happen as residential use encircles our harbor and forces out marine industry? Will we still have shipyards, restaurants, boat rentals, yacht clubs and boat launch ramps? Will my grandchildren get to race on the harbor, or will the race starting signals be too bothersome and loud for all the residents in their high-rise condos?

Myself, I'm going to look forward to the future like Roger MacGregor and design a kite I can fly from my Harbor 20. This way, I can still find wind 100 feet above the water after the high rises have surrounded us.

Fortunately, the sails that I have now should be good enough to get my name on the Lorin Weiss Series trophy this weekend as I sail out of the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club. Wish me luck — I'm going to need it!

Should you wish to read the three-part story of Costa Mesa boat building and follow-up story to last week's Baldwin Cup, go to my blog site at lenboseyachts.blogspot.com.

Sea ya.

LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.

Is NHYC team "Thunder" immune to the curse of the Bambino?

Today is the final day of the 2013 Baldwin Cup sailed just off the front docks of NHYC. This type of spectating is referred to as a stadium venue that can only be pulled off by NHYC. This format offers the spectators the ability to view the whole race course from land and in this case in front of NHYC. Teams are rotating in and out of boats right in front of you. This gives you the chance to see and feel “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” right there with the competitors.  After a come from behind victory yesterday I had a chance to over hear BYC team member Peter Fallon taking with his teammate Kelsey Gram “ Man I am still shaking after that one”.

Over the last two days and some 100 plus races the top four teams are starting to define themselves. At the top of the heap is NHYC “Team Thunder” with Brian Bissell, Caleb Silsby, Gale and John Pinckney, John Whitney, Michael Menninger, Perry Emsiek and Reid Vitarelli. In second place is Larchmont Yacht Club from New York, Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club from Oyster Bay New York is in third. Yale Corinthian from Branford Connecticut and SDYC trying to stay in the top four.

With todays predicted light winds it appears that the start of the race will be everything. As the wind died yesterday there was a lot of teams rounding the second mark in 1,2,3rd place which is a winning combination and difficult to lose from while the breeze stays light and your sailing H20’s.

The racing today will start with the completion of round 2 and then straight into the final four. At this point all four teams, that make the cut, will be starting fresh. In other words its a whole new ball game at this point. If NHYC is ever going to win this event its this year. Team Thunder has been sailing strong as a team and their boat handing has been superb. 

This team largest obstacle is their “curse of the bambino” and the fans on the dock know it. If NHYC loses the first race of the semi finals the dock will so quite you will be able to hear a seal fart. I am starting to shake my bottle of Zantac already. 

Sea ya on the dock?

Baldwin Cup 2013 Day 1

Should you decide to head down to the NHYC today and watch the team racing keep a couple of things in mind. 

Parking the car at NHYC is challenging and then you have to grasp whats going on out on the water. You will see three racing going on at one time. Just in front of the club, assuming the wind will be out of the same direction as yesterday, was the top part of the digital N course.

At the first two marks of the course the teams are just starting to get into it and by the time they reach the bottom part of the N they are really going at it. If its still a close race its all out war as the two teams of four work their way to the finish line.

Unfortunately this is the furthest distance from the dock and as a spectator you have to pay attention to grasp the game. I trying my best to understand and still have no clue whats going on.

I will be back today, the atmosphere around the club is intoxicating or that could have something todo with the .25 beers??

Sea ya 

FLASH BACK: The dawning of the age of fiberglass

The Crew of Wizard Yachts

(Rumor around town is someone could be leaving soon 4-6-13)

This story is going to be a good ride, maybe even better than the third wave I caught in the 1991 Transpacific Yacht Race, or Transpac, approaching the finish off Diamond Head.

As the boat, a Santa Cruz 50 now named Flaca, dropped into the third consecutive wave and the shape of Ko Ko Head disappeared under the horizon from the huge wave, with sheets of water rising 12 feet on either side of the boat, a crew member shouted "26.6 knots," as we surfed down this tropical wave.

I thought to myself, "Go straight, go fast and don't touch the helm."

Now, what does this introduction have to do with this story? Absolutely nothing, it's just one of my fondest boating memories.

This week I met with Roger MacGregor at his boat manufacturing plant on Placentia Street Costa Mesa. I was there to discuss the history of building sailboats in Costa Mesa. While I was in Roger's office, I could not help but notice the excitement and inflection in his voice. And I thought to myself, this is Roger's third consecutive wave, this is one of his fondest boating memories, and while writing this I better "go straight, go fast and don't touch the helm".

I hope you stay onboard with me while I tell this three-part story and notice the relation between the fiberglass boating industry and today's economy.

All yachtsman understand that God created wooden boats and man created fiberglass. In June 1947, Wizard Boats Inc., of 2075 Harbor Blvd., started building laminated fiberglass plastic Boats. The company had 280 dealers throughout the world and made seven different sizes of power boats, which measured between 8-feet and 17-feet-long. Wizard Boats shipped 1,700 units in 1952.

I then found a July 1973 article from the Los Angeles Times. It was headlined "Million Boat Building Industry"' and was about fiberglass millionaires. In the article, the writer introduced W.D. (Bill) Schock, at age 52, as "The grizzled veteran of the new breed of fiberglass millionaires…."

While talking to Roger MacGregor it was my understanding that, at 24, Richard (Dick )Valdes started Columbia Yachts and started building the Columbia 29 from a Sparkman Stevens design. Dick was the second person to start building sailboats in Costa Mesa and, as Roger described it, this was the start of "The Wild West."

At about that time Roger MacGregor had produced a class project at Stanford Business School on how to put together a boat manufacturing business. Roger, who was working at the Ford Motor Co., had purchased a wooden Highlander Hull from W.D. Schock and started to build his first trailer able sailboat in his garage.

"I recall the first barrel of resin coming into town" Roger said.

At 38, he and his wife Mary Lou opened a little shop on 17th Street. While talking to Roger, we walked over to Laura (MacGregor) Sharp, who said: "We grew up sleeping in the back of the car while mom and dad built boats at night."

Then, after the company was building a boat every two weeks, Roger left his job and went to work full-time building sailboats.

"The harbor was full of wooden boats and those boat owners were our target market," Roger said.

Next to arrive was Jensen Marine's Cal Boats, and the list grew fast. McGlassen, Newport, Islander, Luhr's, Crysaliner, Hans Christian, Gil's Catamarans, Montgomery, Clipper, Pacifica, Aquarius, Westsail, Chapman 7 Kalligian, Ackerman, American, Dirmar & Donaldson, Duffield, Westerly, Bristol Channel Cutters, Willard. The list of support companies was even longer. As Roger said to me more than once "It was the Wild West."

Next week I am going to talk about saloon fights, the fires, beach parties, teamsters and the manager of a mold shop working from the saddle of his white horse.

So remember, "go straight, go fast and don't touch the helm" next week — the ride only gets better. I also need to give a big shout out to Mary Ellen Goddard at the Costa Mesa Historical Society. If you like this story, please stop by and leave a donation in the jar and thank her for me.

Before I go, I need to go over some Harbor News. The Baldwin Cup is being hosted by the Newport Harbor Yacht Club Thursday till Sunday. This is a fantastic Team Racing event sailed in Harbor 20s in front of the NHYC. This is a must-see and more information can be found at http://www.nhyc.org

In other harbor news, the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum, the Newport Ocean Sailing Assn. and Visit Newport Inc. have announced an inaugural send-off fiesta on Sunday .ahead of the 64th annual Newport Beach to Ensenada International Yacht Race, affectionately called the "N2E." The fiesta, to take place from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Balboa Fun Zone and nautical museum, will features mariachi band performances, a fireboat escorting the race's 2009 and 2010 winners, and a "I want to be a Chihuahua" costumed dog parade. For more information, go to http://www.nosa.org.

LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.

The 'Wild West' days of the boating industry

August Hansen Costa Mesa Ship Builder

The year was 1979. I was 19 years old, and would drive to the ARCO station on the corner 18th Street and Placentia Avenue to avoid the long lines elsewhere because of the 1970s gas shortage.

By smelling the fiberglass resins in the air, I knew that this area of Costa Mesa was the boat-building capital of the United States.

What I did not know was that people in the boating industry referred to Costa Mesa as "Costa Mecca." Its boat-building companies produced about 90% of the 40,000 sailboats built each year in the U.S.

Roger MacGregor can remember the days when the roads would be jammed with trucks hauling out sailboats to all parts of the world.

"You couldn't drive down the Placentia without getting stuck behind a truck with a 'wide load' sign on the back," MacGregor recalled.

Turns out 1979 was the industry's last good year. Things started to go downhill afterward. So let's talk about the years 1968-1979, which Roger called "The Wild West."

From my count, there were 27 boat builders during that period, and more than 20 companies that supported the industry.

"On Friday night, everyone would meet at Zubies after work for a beer," Roger said.

This was around when the Punk Rock group The Vandals came out with the hit song "I Want To Be a Cowboy." How many cowboy boatbuilders, do you think, used to beat up on the punks at The Cuckoo's Nest?

Anyway, I do recall those good times. Roger also told the story of a large beach party in Dana Point that MacGregor Yachts and Hobie Alter, of Hobie Cat fame, threw for the marine industry.

"Things got out of hand real fast. The band was on a trailer and ended up rolling down a cliff," Roger recalled, rubbing his face.

More than 3,000 industry people attended the party where a number of pigs were roasted.

Good times.

"How in the heck did we ever live to today?" I asked Roger.

"Oh, that was nothing, Len. You should have seen the fires in these boatbuilding factories," he replied.

In fact, one boat builder had so much fiberglass resin on the floor that they refused to allow the Fire Department to inspect their site.

"I remember seeing the Fire Department opening a window and running the ladder inside through the building so that they could inspect the place," Roger said.

During the good times we had all types of people building boats — surfers building catamarans and hippies in VW buses. One time the Teamsters showed up at the gate to unionize the workforce.

That was an interesting time, Roger recalled.

"Once the workforce was informed they would have to cut their hair and leave their surfboards and hemp at home, that idea was voted down rather quickly," Roger said.

Another funny story was how Roger's mold shop foreman would ride a large white horse to work every day, and would run the shop from the saddle. The soundtrack to "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" played in my head while Roger told me this part of the story, and I could not help but smile.

Follow me on Twitter @Boseyachts for daily Newport Harbor observations. I will inform followers if I see the Coast Guard doing safety inspections, or if there is a new yacht in town.

Maybe just if the left or the right side of the course is favorite during twilights or beercans. It's time to grab my sea bag and sail in this year's Newport to Ensenada race.

Sea ya!

LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.

Rapid recession hit boating industry hard

This column is the last of a three-part series reviewing the history of boatbuilding in Costa Mesa.

"I never noticed an industry fall so fast and so complete," Roger MacGregor, founder of MacGregor Yacht Co., recalled.

The year was 1980 and the screws were tightened on credit. Kind of sounds familiar to today, doesn't it?

"The federal clamp down on consumer credit is not only taking its toll on the housing and auto industries, but on Orange Country multi-million dollar boat building enterprises," John Longwell wrote in a May 1980 article headlined "Boating Blues."

The article included quotes from Bob McCafferty of Down East Yachts, Buster Hammond of Islander Yachts, and Dick Valdes of Lancer Yachts. They all explained the cutbacks they were taking to survive through the lull.

Interest rates were at 18% and "either the buyers settle for a smaller boat or they wait."

Valdes was quoted as saying: "Sophisticated money is waiting out the market, [and] even though they have the money they're taking a wait-and-see attitude."

One of my favorite quotes in this article was from Duncan McIntosh: "You have a weeding-out process that we go through from time to time. I think this may be one of the worst we've ever had. Never before has financing been completely shut off. But I don't think it's as bad as a lot people make it out to be."

Builders were then facing rising property values, stricter enforcement of fire codes, rising political opposition to the housing of manufacturing on Costa Mesa's West Side, where haphazard zoning had produced a mixture of residential and industrial uses.

Another problem in 1980 was that "Fiberglass boats don't rot."

It appears that the boating market can be saturated from time to time and this is what McIntosh was pointing out in his above quote. By 1985, most of the boat building industry had left Costa Mesa and had just shut their doors, or sold their companies to large corporations who ended up closing shop by 1989.

After 1995, the industry found its second wind and new boat sales took off like setting the 2.5 spinnaker.

I found a great quote from Tom Schock, owner of the W.D. Schock Corp. In a 1998 Los Angeles Times article, he maintained that the sailboat industry had been in a terrible recession since 1985. Sailing became too expensive and time-consuming, and stressed competition instead of family fun.

Just after saying this Tom went on to build the Harbor 20s, and the Lido 14 fleet had a resurgence. New boat sales lasted until 2008.

"So what will happen next?" I thought to myself while interviewing Roger MacGregor.

I probed for the answer because I know Roger is a much smarter man than I am.

"We are about due for some type of technical break through," he explained. "Something radical, cosmic weight reduction and maintenance reduction."

Therefore, if the market follows history, we should see a comeback within nine years. I hope it comes back sooner with the introduction of hybrid technology, new types of drive systems and the further development of different laminates.

I am also counting on a more mature new boat buyer to come along. We all know we are living longer. Maybe grandparents will be the ones purchasing new boats and introducing Catalina and the yachting scene to their grandkids? Let's hope so.

I had better get back to work and "go straight, go fast and don't touch the helm."

It appears it will be some time before the next wave appears. I will be the one continuing on the same course and sailing with my head out of their boat. So follow me on Twitter (@Boseyachts) for daily Newport Harbor observations.

Before I leave this week, I need to give a big shoutout to Deputy Glasgow of the Newport Beach Harbor Patrol for helping me tow a boat in after it overheated. Thanks for the help, you did an outstanding job and we got our boat home safely!

LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.

The Harbor Report: Grab a front seat for Baldwin Cup

By Len Bose

April 4, 2013 | 9:19 a.m.

Starting today and through this weekend is the Newport Harbor Yacht Club's sixth annual Baldwin Cup Team Race sailed in Harbor 20s. This event was conceived by NHYC Staff Commodore Bill Palmer and has quickly turned into one of our harbor's most prestigious sailing events.

Attending the regatta this year are the Royal Thames Yacht Club, San Diego Yacht Club, New York Yacht Club, Larchmont Yacht Club, Seattle Yacht Club, Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, Southern Yacht Club, St. Francis Yacht Club, Balboa Yacht Club, Yale Corinthian Yacht Club and two teams from Newport Harbor Yacht Club. With each team bringing four teams of two people, the docks will have 96 sailors from around the world, with the Royal Thames team coming in from London.

It's been very busy at NHYC for well over a month now getting ready for this event. The club has gathered over 100 volunteers working on boat preparation, media and race management. At my last count, there are 22 Harbor 20s in front of NHYC at this time. Each boat has been gone through by the club's "pit crew" in preparation for the race. Mike Nash, the chairman of the media and marketing subcommittee, said, "We give the boats a full dressing-up." This includes a complete detail from bow to stern, buff and wax to gel coat repair, running rigging, mast tuning and, in some cases, replacement of the standing rigging, which are the wires that hold the mast in place. Most of us Harbor 20 owners get in line and hope the club asks if they can use our boat. In fact, the club places a photo of the owner in their boat so that the competitors understand that they are borrowing boats.

"The club is in a very unique location, being in the middle of the harbor, and has the ability to offer a type of stadium observation of the regatta from its docks," Mike explained to me. "There will be over 150 races with announcers providing play by play on the front dock, we will also be posting interviews of the competitors on our Facebook page. You will be able to watch the event from home or work on the club's HD cameras, along with following a GPS tracking of the races provided by Kattack via the club's website at http://www.nhyc.org. Although, "the best place to watch from will be the main dock with other sailors around you," Mike explained with great enthusiasm.

While watching from the main dock, keep in mind that team racing is a challenging form of sailboat racing. In each match, two teams of four boats are pitted against each other on an "N" shaped course. Oddly, the team with the least amount of points wins unless there is a tie, in which case the team that crosses the finish line first loses. The resulting tactics in this format are complex. It requires instantaneous decisions and superb boat-handling. Teams will have the same color jib, and all the excitement is normally around the turning marks, which are quite often within shouting distance from the main dock.

The big change this year, on the race course, is that the mooring balls will be removed. Over the last five years, there has always been an East Coast team that has won the regatta, and out of those five years, the New York Yacht Club has won three times. The winning team gets its yacht club name placed on the Baldwin Cup. When I asked Mike what second place receives for their efforts, he replied, "Ah, Len, there is no second."

I will be riding my bicycle down to the club and watching each day. The competition, the spectators, the warm Southern California weather, the 25-cent beer make you feel like opening day at a baseball game. Time to go raid my change jar and head down to the harbor to watch some world-class sailing and cheer for a West Coast team. For a list of all the sailors and updates from the event, go to my blog at lenboseyachts.blogspot.com.

Sea ya.

LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.

Team Rosters

Balboa YC	Alex Steele
Balboa YC	Carson Reynolds
Balboa YC	Chuck Simmons
Balboa YC	Greg Newman
Balboa YC	Katie McDowell
Balboa YC	Kelly Buchan
Balboa YC	Kelsey Gram
Balboa YC	Peter Fallon
Larchmont YC	Clay Bischoff
Larchmont YC	Danny Pletsch
Larchmont YC	David Dowd
Larchmont YC	Ewell C Potts
Larchmont YC	Jason Carroll
Larchmont YC	John Baxter
Larchmont YC	Megan Magill
Larchmont YC	Molly Baxter
New York YC	Brian Doyle
New York YC	Chrissy Coolidge
New York YC	Derby Anderson
New York YC	Erik Storck
New York YC	Garrett Woodworth
New York YC	Joy MacDougall
New York YC	Kaity Storck
New York YC	Scott Hogan
NHYC Lightning	Adam Deermount
NHYC Lightning	Bill Menninger
NHYC Lightning	Casey Hogan
NHYC Lightning	Greg Helias
NHYC Lightning	Jeff Gordon
NHYC Lightning	Justin Law
NHYC Lightning	Peter Stemler
NHYC Lightning	Tommy Leach
NHYC Thunder	Brian Bissell
NHYC Thunder	Caleb Silsby
NHYC Thunder	Gale Pinckney
NHYC Thunder	John Whitney
NHYC Thunder	Jon Pinckney
NHYC Thunder	Michael "Mighty" Menninger
NHYC Thunder	Perry Emsiek
NHYC Thunder	Reid Vitarelli
Royal Thames YC	Guy Brearey
Royal Thames YC	Ian Dobson
Royal Thames YC	James Bouyce
Royal Thames YC	John Dallimore
Royal Thames YC	Murray Chapples
Royal Thames YC	Thomas Brennan
Royal Thames YC	Tom Heywood
Royal Thames YC	Wilf Vavill
San Diego YC	Brad Rodi
San Diego YC	Brian Haines
San Diego YC	Chuck Sinks
San Diego YC	Julie Servais
San Diego YC	Mikee Anderson
San Diego YC	Rex Cameron
San Diego YC	Tyler Sinks
San Diego YC	Whit Batchelor
Seattle YC	Anthony Boscolo
Seattle YC	Dalton Bergan
Seattle YC	Jen Morgan Glass
Seattle YC	Lindsay Bergan
Seattle YC	Mallory Fontenot
Seattle YC	Mike Karas
Seattle YC	W. Andrew Loe III
Seattle YC
Seawanhaka Corinthian YC	Al Constants
Seawanhaka Corinthian YC	Andy Herlihy
Seawanhaka Corinthian YC	Joel Hanneman
Seawanhaka Corinthian YC	Kyle Shattuck
Seawanhaka Corinthian YC	Liz Herlihy
Seawanhaka Corinthian YC	Robbie Dean
Seawanhaka Corinthian YC	Tim Fallon
Seawanhaka Corinthian YC	Tim Wadlow
Southern YC	Dwight Leblanc
Southern YC	Gerard Sonnier
Southern YC	Jackson Benvenutti
Southern YC	Jennifer Watkins
Southern YC	John Alden Meade
Southern YC	John Loe
Southern YC	Sarah Fanberg
Southern YC	Zak Fanberg
St. Francis YC	Chris Raab
St. Francis YC	Chris Trezzo
St. Francis YC	Craig Healy
St. Francis YC	Geoff McDonald
St. Francis YC	Harrison Turner
St. Francis YC	Mario Yovkov
St. Francis YC	Russ Silvestri
St. Francis YC	Scott Sellers
Yale Corinthian YC	Avery Patton
Yale Corinthian YC	Ed Stewart
Yale Corinthian YC	Jaime Ewing
Yale Corinthian YC	Joe Morris
Yale Corinthian YC	Molly Carapiet
Yale Corinthian YC	Nicole Breault
Yale Corinthian YC	Phil Stemler
Yale Corinthian YC	Thomas Barrows