SAIL INDUSTRY WEATHERING THE STORM p. 58
® INSIDE: Hey,
dude. Wanna buy
a boat? The
industry is making
a concerted effort
to attract young
people into recreational boating.
p. 24
THE BOATING BUSINESS NEWSPAPER VOL. XLV, NO. 11
MAY 2008
$5.00
www.tradeonlytoday.com
Workers’ comp reforms boost boat industry
Changes lower costs in California, New York and Florida; other states may follow suit
By Melanie Winters / Associate Editor
m.winters@tradeonlytoday.com
Four-and-a-half years ago, Eliminator Boats was
threatening to move out of California because of the
skyrocketing costs of protection through the state’s
workers’ compensation system.
Thanks to major reforms to the insurance program
for injured workers and other cost-saving measures by
the boatbuilder’s chief financial officer, Eliminator is
staying put. In fact, the company is moving to a new
plant in Paris, Calif., that’s triple the size of its location
in Mira Loma.
“It’s definitely a contributing factor,” controller and
CFO Virginia Pascucci says of the reforms.
“The price per $100 payroll has dropped dramatically,” she says. “I think [the California State Compensation Insurance Fund] has stepped up to the plate and
made a really stringent effort to clamp down on fraud.”
California isn’t the only state in which workers’ compensation reforms have been enacted. New York and
Florida have overhauled their systems, and others are
in the process of doing so.
Before the California reforms even took effect, Pascucci saved her company an estimated $300,000 a
year by teaming up with Barrett Business Services, a
professional employer’s organization. As a co-employ-er, Barrett assumes responsibility for some or all of a
client’s human resource management responsibilities.
These include payroll and taxes, employee benefits,
health insurance, workers’ compensation coverage,
and workplace safety programs, among others. Because Barrett is self-insured, it can pass on its competitive rates to its clients.
Furthermore, the reforms instituted by Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger in 2004, allowed Pascucci to save an
continued on Page 45
An evolution for the towing business
More services is the new approach, and one is even cutting fees
By Gary Beckett
N.Y. show
opts out
There was a time when boaters
looked at Joe Frohnhoefer with disdain.
To them, he was a glaring example of
what had gone wrong with America.
Frohnhoefer was one of a new breed
of entrepreneur who charged boaters
for non-emergency towing assistance —
a service they had become accustomed
of holidays
Jerry Cardarelli, left, of TowBoatU.S.
and Joe Frohnhoefer of SeaTow are
competing players in the tow industry.
to getting free and one to which they
felt they had a God-given right.
It was in 1983 that the Coast Guard
began focusing solely on emergency
rescue and handed off non-emergency
towing services to the private sector. A
new industry was born, and Frohnhoefer was among the first to seize the opportunity.
Frohnhoefer and his wife, Gloria,
founded Sea Tow International that
same year in Southold, N.Y., setting up
shop on the second floor of his electrical business — just a few blocks from
the local dock.
The work was demanding and seldom
appreciated by boaters, who grumbled
about paying for what had been a free
government service. But it wasn’t long
before attitudes began to change, as Sea
Tow expanded through an aggressive
franchise program and offered memberships that provided free tows to boaters
who paid a modest annual fee. The business flourished as boating’s popularity
exploded in the 1980s, attracting many
continued on Page 55
Organizers will try
mid-December dates
By JoAnn W. Goddard / Associate Editor
j.goddard@tradeonlytoday.com
Ringing in the New Year with sparse
crowds at the New York National Boat
Show does not pay off for area dealers,
so organizers this year are moving to earlier dates in December.
The National Marine Manufacturers Association in April announced the show
will be held at the Jacob K. Javits Center
in Manhattan Dec. 13-21, rather than the
week of post-Christmas/New Year’s holidays, when it was scheduled to run.
The NMMA and exhibitors hope the
earlier dates will begin to reverse a slide
in attendance that has hurt the show
since it was moved onto the Javits Cen-
continued on Page 56
A recession plan?
In this economy,
every company
needs a strategic
planning program
to help it ride out
the storm, says
Jerald Robinson.
p. 66
Going green
Environmentalism
is not a passing
fad, and the
industry is shifting
gears accordingly.
p. 34
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