Like it or not, if you own or operate a marina you also own and operate an electric utility; one that floats on a highly corrosive and conductive electrolyte (sea water) and is constantly in motion.
Electricity is a revenue generator for a marina. Large yachts use lots of it, and the revenue they generate can often justify a higher initial investment. If your marina is going to serve big boats, your electrical power system must be properly designed before it is locked in concrete…figuratively and literally.
“Good planning cannot be overemphasized,” said Cliff Norton of Bellingham Marine. “Fixing the problem of an undersized electrical system later may not be an option. In some cases, it’s easier to start over with a new marina.”
Norton is General Manager of Bellingham Marine’s Utilities Division, which is unique in the industry. Marina power has become increasingly specialized and different from the residential and commercial electrical industry. To meet the challenge, Bellingham Marine decided in 2008 to set up a separate division staffed by marina power professionals.
Get it right and super yacht captains will heap praise on your marina. Ask Greg Nailler, General Manager of Eaton Corporation’s Marina Power and Lighting Division. Eaton makes power pedestals expressly designed for super yachts. They market two big-boat models, a high-demand pedestal called the Admiral and a top-of-the-line model called the MegaYacht Powerpoint. The latter anticipates a super-yacht engineer’s every need. “I actually got a hand-written letter from a yacht captain,” said Nailler. “He loved the idea of a power pedestal that adapts to a yacht’s power system.”
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MAGAZINE: Marina World
ISSUE: May/June 2009
When Ko Olina Marina in Kapolei, Hawaii, completed the second and final phase of its marina project in 2006, it brought a whole new standard of world-class service to the state’s industry. This year’s winner of MDA ‘s 2008 Marina of the Year award for marinas with 250 or more slips raised the bar for all of Hawaii ‘s marinas. The 330-wet slip marina built on the Pacific Coast paradise was the first new marina in Hawaii in more than 30 years. Moreover, the marina has changed the way local and transient boaters view Hawaii.
A model for Ko Olina
Marina Manager Russell Doane pointed out that boaters in general never considered Hawaii the friendliest place for boating. “A lot of boaters didn’t stop in Hawaii because there was no place for them to moor their boats,” said Doane. When Ko Olina Marina opened in February 2000, it became an instant success with the boating community. “We became that luxury marina that every boater wac; looking for,” Doane said. To run the marina, Jeff Stone and Kevin Showc, the owners, hired AI mar Management. Randy Short, Almar ‘s CEO and president. said A lmar knew how to create not only financially successful marinas but also marinas with world-class standards.
In Ko Olino, which in Hawaiian translates as “place of joy,” Hawaiian boaters hove found just that. In implementing the vision for Ko Olina, Short turned for guidance to an Almar marina already built in Cabo San L ucas, Mexico. When this marina initially opened, Mexicans occupied only five percent of their country’s first marina, which is no longer the case. Short attributed this shi ft to creating demand for the marina based on Almar’s high quality standards. Short expects the same thing to happen in Hawaii.
“We really had to spend a lot of time creating an image for our people internally in order to know how to keep a marina in world-class condition,” said Short. ” I think we’re following the same footsteps in Hawaii, really creating a level of service and a level of maintenance in a marina that is far beyond anything that you experience anywhere else in the Islands.” Short also brings experience from the ski resort industry and recognizes a lot of similarities in what he does now in the marina industry. Short hopes to provide his marina customers with the resort like experience found at skiing vacation destinations. “Some rHawaiianl marinas look at themselves as parking lots for boats. We don’t,” said Short.
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MAGAZINE: Marina Dock Age
ISSUE: April 2009
Southern California is home to Disneyland and Sleeping Beauty’s enchanted castle, so it is appropriate that the sun-soaked state is also home to a thoroughly enchanting new marina community called Seabridge. Seabridge is in Channel Islands Harbor, a two-mile long stretch of protected harbor located thirty miles north of Malibu on California’s scenic coastal Route 1.
Channel Islands Harbor is a newer and more affordable northern alternative to Southern California’s celebrated boating Mecca at Newport Beach. It is an excellent home port from which to access some of the best cruising Southern California has to offer. The harbor has seen its marinas and marine businesses expand steadily over the decades in rhythm with the phenomenal growth of Southern California since the end of WWII. Once a set of sleepy coastal agricultural communities, Port Hueneme, Ventura and Oxnard are now within the expanding sphere of metropolitan Los Angeles. Nearby Port Hueneme (pronounced Wy-nee-mee) is noteworthy as the home of the SeaBees of the US Navy.
Channel Islands Harbor has several established marinas and boatyards nearer to the harbor entrance in the southern end. The islands and canals of Seabridge, in the newer north section of the harbor, were carved out of 135 acres of raw land by DR Horton in 2006 and 2007. Its public marina facilities were completed and opened in July 2008. Market demand has been solid and slips were 50% leased in just a few months.
This part of California has unique boating attractions. The Channel Islands consist of eight islands along the coastline, five of which are marine parks. The northern set of islands nearest the harbor feature popular and exciting ecology parks that can be reached in about a half hour’s cruise from the harbor. To the north is the city of Santa Barbara and its coastal and beach communities arrayed along an unspoiled mountainous stretch of California many consider the most beautiful part of the state. Turning south, one can cruise to Catalina Island, Marina Del Rey, and of course, the vibrant boating scene at Newport Beach.
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MAGAZINE: Marina World
ISSUE: January/February 2009
With just a few months to go before the boats move in, Marina Pez Vela is set tob ecome Costa Rica’s premier full-service marina facility. “We are incredibly excited at buyer demand and enthusiasm about the marina’s opening,” says project founder, Harold Lovelady. “The combination of our state-of-the-art facility and extraordinary location makes it an obvious choice for boaters and anglers.”
Take up by an international customer base has, indeed, been swift. Phase one of the 308-slip marina sold out by June promoting the release of phase two in July. This includes 40 slips with a starting price of US$175,000.
Designed and owned by sportfishing enthusiasts, Marina Pez Vela is located in the sportfishing mecca of Quepos. The marina will provide a safe haven and base of operations for fishing along the Pacific coast of Central America – opening up thousands of miles of ocean that were previously nearly impossible to fish. It will also include the first and only truly complete boatyard south of San Diego., California, and as such will meet the needs of an under-served market.
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MAGAZINE: Marina World
ISSUE: September/October 2008<
When the city managers of Sacramento (Calif.) Marina decided to remodel the entire south basin and part of its north basin in late 2006, they felt good about themselves and the remodeling project. They estimated the cost of the remodeling project at $5 million to $6 million, and the marina had already secured a $9 million loan from the California Department of Boating and Waterways to pay for it. They set aside $8 million for the actual remodeling.
Sacramento Marina is a municipal marina, comprised of north and south basins, and serves a vibrant boating region that includes the Delta and recreational waterways from San Francisco Bay north to a thousand miles of accessible waterways.
Two major factors prompted the marina’s managers to move forward with this major capital improvement project. The first dealt with the marina’s age. The 50-year old south basin’s wooden docks, which floated on tubs, were long overdue to be ripped out and replaced with concrete-decked covered slips.
Harbormaster Bud Camper’s assessment was, “The south basin docks cost more to maintain than they were worth.” That being said, Camper had the complicated task of keeping the channel open and the marina running at the same time the construction was underway. More about that later.
The second factor involved the type of slips in the south basin. None of the original 240 wooden slips in the south basin marina were covered, which was a real drawback in this part of California. Here, the blazing sun that does wonders for the croplands that surround the city is not kind to boats in marinas. Therefore, shade is essential to maintaining docked boats, which is why the marina wanted all its docks to be covered.
Finally, the project was not just done for today’s boaters, but also for tomorrow’s customers. As redesigned to accommodate today’s longer and wider boats the south basin marina would have 191 slips. The loss of slips was not considered a problem, but rather a significant move forward. When combined with the 284 slips in the north basin that were installed in 1985, the Sacramento Marina would have a slip mix that would serve its boating customers for now and into the future.
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MAGAZINE: Marina Dock Age
ISSUE: September/October 2008