(for lektrode) the boat biz

[don]

from Willie Brown's weekly column . ..

The America's Cup scale-back in San Francisco should not have come as much of a surprise. One look at the international economy tells you the folks who have spent millions of dollars on boats, teams and sponsorships just don't have the money anymore.

I have a buddy who built 160-foot luxury yachts. He's cutting back to 88-footers - and even there, he's having problems.

Arabs don't do boats, they do airplanes.

The Chinese don't do boats, they do cars.

About the only people buying big yachts anymore are the Russians, and there just aren't that many of them.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#ixzz1oA6eY2Um

[doom&gloom]

Re: (for lektrode) the boat biz

I occasionally dream about that big sailboat and thus run out to www.yachtworld.com to poke around a bit. Prices have really comes down on used boat a lot, and many just sit there forever.

When I went to the boat show about a month back, the number of larger vessels trucked into the convention center was definitely down from a few years back. Most of the show seemed to be 25' and under, with a majority in the 19' or less category...

[lektrode]

Re: (for lektrode) the boat biz

awww.... did ya miss me, big guy?

from Willie Brown's weekly column . ..

The America's Cup scale-back in San Francisco should not have come as much of a surprise. One look at the international economy tells you the folks who have spent millions of dollars on boats, teams and sponsorships just don't have the money anymore. ....

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#ixzz1oA6eY2Um

who, larry? - what, did oracle's share/price plummet, or something? one look at this shot should tell anybody who has any idea at all about what these carbon fiber rigs alone cost (never mind the boats) should realize that mr ellison can readily afford _anything_ his lil ole heart desires:




i mean, just take a look at his new 'little cottage by the lake' up at tahoe

Close
Kenny Blum for The Wall Street Journal


$58 MIllion: The cost to assemble this Incline Village, Lake Tahoe property. Plans for the compound being built call for more than 18,000 square feet of living space.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...289900796.html

no, it couldnt possibly be a money/budget issue = FAT CHANCE....

but the huffpo has the real story:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1305597.html

...the change was made after negotiators concluded they didn't have enough time to solve the financial, environmental and regulatory issues necessary to refurbish the piers in time for the challengers to move in and convert to their headquarters. Training runs can began on the Bay in July. The agreement was also criticized by some supervisors and others as too sweet of a deal for Ellison and the city budget analyst recommended San Francisco share some of the future revenues from the property. The agreement apparently fell through sometime Sunday. On Sunday afternoon, the mayor's office scheduled a tour and "round table discussion" of the piers Monday morning. But an hour before the tour was to begin the mayor's office called it off and hastily organized the news conference where the changes were announced.
"I don't think there was any one reason," said the mayor, who called the 20 hours of negotiations over the weekend "a sobering discussion."

and The Really Real Reason?

...on Friday, former board president Aaron Peskin filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court seeking to halt the project in the planning stages to conduct another lengthy environmental review. Peskin alleges the initial environmental report, which he planning commission and board of supervisors approved, was flawed. On Monday, the mayor insisted the initial revenue projections remain in line and that Peskin's lawsuit had nothing to do with the scrapping of the two piers....

uh huh... shur thing mayor, whatevah you say - but we know what the Really REAL reason is:

http://espn.go.com/olympics/sailing/...rica-cup-plans

In a letter to the court, Peskin's attorney Keith Wagner said the plaintiffs were compelled by state-mandated deadlines to file the environmentally related lawsuit by Friday. Wagner said in the letter that the lawsuit was filed because he was unable to reach an agreement with city officials to extend the deadline. Wagner said the suit will be dropped if such an agreement occurs.


Peskin was on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for eight years ending in 2009. He served as board president in 2004 and 2005 and is now the local chairman of the Democratic Party. He's been an outspoken opponent of the proposed agreement between the city and America's Cup organizers.

and maybe, just maybe he couldnt get ole larry to knuckle under for enuf juice for november to pump the current occupant in the city by the bay? (like they need help in that neighborhood) or maybe they couldnt extract enuf 'concessions' during the main event, so in classic dem quid pro quo fashion, dropped the ole enviromental/regulatory 'bomb' and caused larry to take his marbles (and millions) back up to incline village (thats the nevada side of tahoe), since i'd wager that even 58million for the little cottage by the lake might not be quite enuf, and hey, larry doesnt like to do anything halfway or half-heartedly - and so, who can blame him?

[lektrode]

Re: (for lektrode) the boat biz

I occasionally dream about that big sailboat and thus run out to www.yachtworld.com to poke around a bit. Prices have really comes down on used boat a lot, and many just sit there forever.

When I went to the boat show about a month back, the number of larger vessels trucked into the convention center was definitely down from a few years back. Most of the show seemed to be 25' and under, with a majority in the 19' or less category...

= The New Normal
one things for certain, the 40-60foot class is definitely hesitant to drop much beyond what they absolutely have to

[doom&gloom]

Re: (for lektrode) the boat biz

Around here they make a BIG dealover putting in a dock on thelake. Permits, envronmental, blah blah. In the end you can get it IF... if... if you pony up the legalized extortion necessary to "grease the skids" and get the approvals. It is just disgusting. If in the end you can get the same damn dock your neighbor has, why should you spend thousands of dollars just for "approval". Makes me sick.

At the boat show I was talking with the guys who put in the dock on my old house (new one has no dock) and talked about how we re-topped it and all with no permit. They told me if they pull that stuff now, it is no longer a stop work order, but the STATE will come out and confiscate the work barge of the contractor.

Oh, and I got rid of the old house to scale down and do my John Galt early. Plus taxes were going up on the thing $1000 every single year like clockwork. Funny, my city services never changed. hmmm...