THE BOATING BUSINESS NEWSPAPER VOL. XLIV, NO. 5 NOVEMBER 2006
PHOTO: ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
LOW WATER LEVELS near Lake St. Clair illustrate the critical situation in the Great Lakes region. The yellow
arrow points to typical water levels. The sunken boat on the right may be in 1 to 2 feet of water. p. 44
MEATY SEMINARS AT MRAA P. 26
®
INSIDE: Boaters in
California find a
solution to the sea
lion problem; they
use the ScareCrow
to spray the
creatures with cold
water. p. 30
$5.00
www.tradeonlytoday.com
Quantum ouster
‘a total shock’
Founder Larry Leonard says
in no way did he ‘step down’
By Melanie Winters / Associate Editor
m.winters@tradeonlytoday.com
Business relationships going back more than 20
years were severed recently when Larry Leonard was
ousted from his leadership role at Quantum Sail Design Group by his fellow partners.
In a September statement the company said Leonard
is “stepping down and relinquishing his role in the
day-to-day operations of the company.”
Leonard says that characterization is inaccurate.
“I received the surprise news of my termination via
letter without warning, and would never have
dreamed of stepping down from the company I
founded 10 years ago,” he says.
“It was a total shock,” he continues. “To this date
they still haven’t given me an explanation.”
Ed Reynolds, president of the Annapolis-based com-
See Quantum, Page 20
A summit slam in boat-dependent South Florida
Trade groups strike a common chord in a region that ‘lives and dies by the marine industry’
By Beth Rosenberg / Staff Writer
b.rosenberg@tradeonlytoday.com
More than 250 industry officials from South Florida
are taking a regional approach toward solving critical
issues facing the region’s multibillion-dollar recreational marine industry.
Representatives from West Palm, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties met last month at the annual marine summit in Fort Lauderdale to address the
lack of access, the shortage of skilled workers, increasing property taxes and insurance rates and the declining number of slips.
“We hit a home run in putting our issues out before
the region,” Frank Herhold, executive director of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida, said follow-
The critical issues confronting
South Florida have a ripple
effect throughout the industry.
Some of those issues are
discussed in separate stories:
• A degree program for marine techs p. 22
• Taking the pulse of the megayacht industry p. 37
• More docks, more manatee controversy p. 46
ing the summit. “We’re going to make things happen.”
The event, whose theme was The Waterline Doesn’t
Stop at the County Line, was sponsored by MIASF, the
Marine Industries Association of Palm Beach County,
The Marine Council, Miami River Marine Group and
several Monroe county marine interests.
“If you get together and speak as one voice, you can
get so much more done,” said state Rep. Jack Seiler, D-Pompano Beach, who closed out the meeting. “We
live and die by the marine industry [in Florida]. You
need to be heard. You deserve to be heard.”
Many speakers hammered home the fact that the
recreational marine industry has an $18.4 billion
statewide economic impact. That’s a larger impact
than Florida’s famous citrus industry, and the state’s
cruise ship industry.
The marine industry has an overall impact of $13.6 billion in South Florida, specifically in Palm Beach, Broward
See Summit, page 36
‰ OUR VIEW: Dealers deserve more than rhetoric ..........................................p. 6
‰ PEOPLE: Two engineers joined GEM Products in Orange Park, Fla. ..............p. 63
‰ FOR THE RECORD: Bellavia Gentile & Associates opens a second office ........p. 65
‰ CALENDAR: The HISWA Symposium on Yacht Design and Yacht Construction ..p. 66
WHAT CONTRACT DEALER GUIDELINES? — P. 40
