2013 Seattle Boat Show

800 Occidental Ave So, Seattle - CenturyLink Field

Hours: Mon-Thur 11am – 8pm

               Fridays     11am – 9pm

               Saturdays 10am – 8pm

         Sunday 1/27   10am – 6pm

         Sunday   2/3   10am – 4pm

This is the biggest boat show on the west coast. The show features more than 1,000 yachts and boats plus the latest accessories and supplies. There are more than 200 interesting boating and fishing seminars. www.seattleboatshow.com.

Dykstra Seminars – W 1/30 - 6:15 - Yellow Room and F 2/1 - Noon - Red Room

The 1/30 seminar title is “Pontoon Boats in the PNW: Pros vs Cons.” Pontoon boats are sweeping the country but are just starting to become popular in the PNW. The new generation of pontoon boats uses modern multi-hull technology. But what are the drawbacks? We will present the pluses and minuses.

The 2/1 seminar title is “Cruising Lake Washington: Navigating the Locks, Where to Dock, Anchor, Party and Dine!” Lake Washington is a fabulous boating destination but is often overlooked by salt-water boaters. There is great anchoring where you can swim in 75º fresh water. We will discuss the many things to see and do including viewing the fabulous mansions on “The Map of The Stars.”

The Boat Show’s main location is indoors at the CenturyLink Field Convention Center. The Show has exhibitors showing large yachts in the water at South Lake Union. There is free shuttle service between the two locations.

I will be exhibiting at Captain’s Nautical Supplies, booth Concourse 2240 and will be there most of the time. I will occasionally be at Tom’s – Avalon Luxury Pontoon Boats, booth North 161. I bought my new Avalon (Avalon video) luxury pontoon boat (boating blog and video) from Tom at 2011’s show. I recommend you stop by and see some of the perfect boats for the PNW. www.TomsBoatShop.com.

Go to Dykstra Boat Show pdf for more information including hours, directions and a map. Call my cell – 206-931-6065 for show passes.

Mastro In and Out of French Jail

The Seattle Times and Puget Sound Business Journal had numerous 2012 articles about Michael and Linda Mastro’s flee from justice and their capture in October. The saga was one of the top stories of 2012. The Mastro’s were captured in France after 16 months on the lam. At the end of the year they were still reported to be in France but out of jail under house arrest. They were released from jail in early December. Michael is 87 and Linda is 63. They are wearing electronic monitoring devices and their movement outside of their apartment in Annecy is very restricted. In the US they face 43 counts of money laundering and bankruptcy fraud.

Michael Mastro and his wife disappeared in the summer of 2011. The US issued warrants for their arrest and court orders that they turn over jewelry valued at $1.4 million. The courts confiscated items left behind and sold them at an auction. Unpaid debts are listed at more than $270 million.

Their former mansion sold 12/6/10 for $9.1 million by the bankruptcy court. There are a series of attorneys listed as the buyers: Robert Bruce Johnston, LCY LLC Series Homes, and James F. Rigby Jr. that were used to sign the documents to keep the real buyers’ identity off the official records. Mastro paid $15 million for the mansion in 2006. The Mastro bankruptcy, with original debts of $570 million, is the largest in Washington state’s history. Many “family and friends” lost their fortunes when his commercial real estate investment funds failed. More information about Mastro and his former Medina Mansion is in Seattle Mansions posts on 2/26/11, 4/6/11, 11/10/10, 10/11/10 and 11/12/09.

The listing was by Lisa Whittaker, Coldwell Banker Bain: “A property of significance and glamour. A brilliant pedigree; combining contemporary architecture with classic proportion. Over an acre of manicured, ultra-private grounds; 176' of west-facing waterfront with substantial moorage, boatlift & sandy beach. Magnificent Great Room with soaring 18’ ceilings, luminous wall of windows, soft graphite Venetian plaster. Caterer’s kitchen; wood-paneled library, separate MIL/Staff quarters. A rare offering designed for entertaining, art and the art of living.”

Mitt Romney at Wayne Perry’s Medina Mansion

Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney attended fund raisers in Medina on June 4, 2012. The evening $25,000 per person event was at the waterfront mansion of Wayne and Christine Perry. More information, including a video, is in KING-5 news.

Wayne is National President of the Boy Scouts of America and former President of McCaw Cellular and a co-founder of the Seattle-based Monroe & Perry law firm which evolved into the prominent Stokes Lawrence firm. He was a Cub Scout as a young boy and has been involved with the Boy Scouts of America ever since. Previous Boy Scouts positions include president of the Chief Seattle Council and president of the Western Region. He was named International Commissioner in 2006 and National President in 2012. He also has an ownership interest in the Seattle Mariners. The mansion is 9,450 sq ft on 0.7 acres with 92 feet of waterfront.

An earlier in the day event was held at the mansion of Peter Neupert, a former Drugstore.com and Microsoft executive. He hosted a similar event in the 1990s for President George W. Bush. Neupert’s mansion is north of Perry’s and on Evergreen Point Road but not on the water. The mansion is 8,000 sq ft on 5.4 acres which is one of the largest lots in Medina. Both mansions are south of Bill Gates’ campus.

Pontoon

My new Happy Hours "Pontoon" video featuring the new hit song “Pontoon” with Little Big Town was uploaded June 6 and has 135,000 views from 127 countries!
If you missed my appearance on KING 5 Evening Magazine on 7/16 click here.

Also see Little Big Town's Pontoon video – it’s fantastic. This summer, it was the  number one music video on Country Music Television's (CMT's) chart.

Little Big Town debuted Pontoon on June 6 at the 2012 CMT 2012 Music Awards show for national TV and standing-room-only Nashville's Bridgestone Arena audiences. The LBT performance of Pontoon on a pontoon boat on the stage "rocked the house" (see video).
Pontoon boats are sweeping the country but are just starting to get popular in the PNW. The new generation of pontoon boats uses modern multi-hull technology to create the best performing and most comfortable boats of their size and price. We have used our pontoon boat, Happy Hours, more than any of our friends have used their comparable in size single hull boats. Our boat is ready to board and can be used at the dock as a living-room/cocktail-lounge or quickly launched to enjoy the lake in comfort and luxury.
Dear family and friends – If you missed going out with us this year, please call or email early for an outing next year. We love sharing our fun experiences!

2012 Summer in Seattle

 

The Dykstras’ summer on Lake Washington was the best ever! 2012 set the record with 81 days (mid July through mid October) with less than 0.03 inches of rain. We were out on our boat, Happy Hours, 53 days with family and friends. Comments from out-of-towners include, “Our most memorable day in the Seattle area.” Comments from locals include, “The best day of our summer.”

This is our second year with the boat and its reputation has grown. The number and length of visits from relatives and out-of-town friends increased. The grandkids learned to water ski behind the boat. Everyone loves the water slide! We’ve relaxed viewing the Map of the Stars, just enjoying the lake, going to waterfront restaurants and sunset rides. We viewed houses for sale and sold with Realtor friends and their clients. We’ve had slow rides pulling the big tube and higher-speed extreme tubing and water skiing.

Because the boat has flat decks and a fabulous stereo system, we’ve had wonderful dance parties on the boat. We've had fantastic party times on the boat with the flotillas at Boating Opening Day, the 4th of July on Lake Union, Seafair, and in the party coves of Andrews Bay, Meydenbauer Bay, Fairweather Bay, and Cozy Cove. We took the boat through the locks to Poulsbo and it performed beautifully in the Sound. We joined the Rainier Yacht Club which is known as “The Fun Club” and had a lot of fun with the club members and activities. I have 3,873 pictures and movies taken this year and I am in the process of editing them. The best of the summer are up on a new Happy Hours 2012 Picasa web album. Because of all the above, my golf scores are up and I am way behind in posting to this blog. I will be catching up!

Obama at Sinegal Hunts Point Mansion

President Obama is attending two fundraisers today at the Hunts Point mansion of James D. and Janet Sinegal. More information, including a video, is in yesterday’s and today’s KING-5 news. James is the co-founder, with Jeffrey Brotman, of Costco and former President, CEO of the company. Two previous Obama fundraisers were held at Brotman’s Medina LW waterfront mansion (click for more information). James started his retail career in 1954 as a bagger for FedMart. He worked with Sol and Robert Price in San Diego to form Price Club in 1976. In 1993 Costco and Price Club were similar in size with about $8 billion each in annual sales and the two companies merged. In 1994 and Price Club stores became Costcos. The Sinegals are next door neighbors to a Nordstrom family mansion and Scott Oki’s mansion. Oki is the area’s golf mogul. More neighborhood information is on a LW Cruising post. The Sinegals’ mansion is 8,370 sq ft on 1.56 acres with 165 feet of waterfront. (The page numbers in the photos refer to LW 130 Homes.)

Seattle’s Seafair 2012

 

Lake Washington is famous for Seattle’s Seafair summer celebration. This is a month long festival of many activities throughout Seattle and ends the first Sunday in August. The final four days feature hydroplane races and the Navy’s Blue Angels’ air shows. The hydroplane races are on the west side of the lake south of the I-90 floating bridge. The Stan S. Sayres Memorial Park, known as the “Sayres Pits” was established here in 1957. The pits are the launching, service and staging area for Seafair’s hydroplane racing boats.

The air show’s center is this area over the lake. The planes and their stunts can be seen from much of the lake and its shores. During these four days the lake is crowded with spectator boats and the lake is renowned for the associated “floating party” or “Mardi Gras on the water.” (See Seafair’s Water Party)

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 3-5, The Navy F-18 air show begins at 1 pm and the Blue Angels performance starts at 1:30 pm. (More information about the Blue Angels.)

Stan Sayres (1897-1956) was known as “The Legend of Lake Washington” and “The Fastest Man Afloat.” He was selling and racing cars in northeastern Oregon in 1926 when he had his first experience with a power-boat. He purchased a wrecked 40 mph outboard engine racing boat and began racing, designing and building race-boats. He moved to Seattle in 1931 and in 1937 he bought a 91 mph racing boat that his wife named Slow Motion. Stan changed the name to Slo-Mo-Shun, often called Slo-Mo. Stan designed, developed and built new and faster Slo-Mos. He moved to Hunts Point in the 1940s and built a 6,860 sq ft house on the tip of Hunts Point. (The house was demolished in 2008 and the vacant lot was sold March 31, 2011 for $14.8 million [see previous post]). The neighbors in this sleepy community “enjoyed” (?) the roar and 30 ft rooster tails of his trials and practices.

He set his first boat-on-water speed record of 160+ mph in 1950 on LW and continued to set new records, all on LW, with his last at 178.497 mph in 1952. After his first record he took Slo-Mo IV to Detroit and won the 1950 Gold Cup, boat racing’s biggest prize. This was a big upset to the hydroplane establishment. Stan brought hydroplane racing to LW in 1951 as part of the Seafair. The first Seafair was in 1950 to celebrate the centennial of the first U.S.-European Seattle settlement. The 1951 race was the first U.S. hydroplane race west of Detroit and was a huge success. Stan became a local hero. The races are now a Seafair tradition. He received a lot of local backing for his racing against the Detroit establishment. Slo-Mo-Shun IV and V won the next four Gold Cups.

We live in the Proctor Landing area of Mercer Island directly across the lake from the pits and the center of the big show. We and nearly all of our neighbors have Seafair parties over the week-end. The planes fly low directly over our dock. After the air-shows we will be making trips with our new boat, Happy Hours, to join the spectator fleet for Seattle’s Mardi Gras. For Seafair facts and history, go to Seafair’s site.

Seattle Boat Sales Jumping

Seattle Boat Show 2012

The Marine Industry Association announced (5/16/12 Sport Fishing Magazine) the first jump in annual boat sales and boating participation since 2006. 2011 U.S. retail sales for boats, accessories and services jumped 6 percent to $32.3 billion, according to the organization’s latest Recreational Boating Statistical Abstract. In addition, boating participation increased 10 percent to 83 million (or 34.8 percent of adults, the highest since 1997). “The data signals the beginning of a recovery for the U.S. recreational boating industry,” the NMMA press release states. 2012 sales are running ahead of 2011.

Seattle area boat dealers are also seeing a major increase in sales and activity. The fastest growing segment of the recreational boating industry is pontoon boats. Pontoon type boats have evolved dramatically over the past years. They have come from spartan, low-performance, low cost water transportation and fishing platforms to high performance trimarans with a flat deck, very comfortable seating and luxurious features. These are the most versatile, stable and economical runabout boats. The top-of-the-line trimaran design provides outstanding performance with reduced water resistance and low fuel consumption. These boats are perfect for activities ranging from high speed (up to 50 mph) water sports (water skiing, tubing, etc.) to relaxed cocktail cruising and dock parties.

Dykstra’s Happy Hours

My boat, Happy Hours, is a new super-luxurious Avalon tri-toon boat. It includes an upper deck with seating, a sunbathing area and a water slide. The main level includes luxurious seating for 14, 2 drink and appetizer tables, multiple cup and drinking glass holders, a wine and storage cellar, a privacy (porta-potty) station plus a wet bar with a blender, an electric wine and glasses rack and a refrigerator. We, our family and our friends are having fantastic great times with it.

Avalon Paradise Sandbar

Tom’s Boats, the area’s leading pontoon boat dealer stated: “The increase in sales this year is amazing. It’s across the board from $14,000 easy to trailer runabouts and fishing boats to the $90,000 deluxe party and water sports boats.” He is currently showing over 50 listings on Boat-Trader.com.

Obama Mercer Island Advisor Joseph Schocken

Joseph and Judy Schocken’s Mercer Island Mansion

This modern mansion, 0.4 miles north of Paul Allen’s (12/28/10 post for viewing guide) campus/compound, is 5,400 sq ft on 0.87 acres with 200 feet of waterfront and a private beach. An information and viewing guide for the neighborhood is in a 2/27/12 “Cruising South Lake Washington” post.

President Obama selected Joseph Schocken from Mercer Island as an advisor for the Administration’s JOBS Act signed into law last month. A 4/7/12 feature article in The Seattle Times by Jon Talton has more information. Schocken attended the Rose Garden bill-signing ceremony.

Back in 2004 a 7/27/04 feature article in The Seattle Times by David Postman highlighted Schocken’s rise to the Democratic Party’s elite. Joseph and his wife, Judy, have raised millions of dollars for the Democratic Party. This includes fundraisers at their beautiful Mercer Island waterfront mansion. They have personally donated close to a million dollars over the years. They personally know the last three Democratic presidential candidates and spent weekends on Nantucket with John and Teresa Heinz Kerry during the Edwards-Kerry campaign. He is a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and attends dinners with the Committee’s high-level National Advisory Board. The Board has about 30 members that are at the highest level of the Party. The Schocken’s four children are also political activists.

Joseph is president and founder (1987) of Broadmark Capital, LLC, a prominent Seattle investment bank. The firm has raised more than $1 billion for investment in more than 75 (and growing) regional businesses. Most of these are technology related and the investments can be for start-up or secondary stages. Bennett Environment, Optiva and Universal Access are some of the firm’s client companies. Joseph is on the boards of numerous companies.

Ballmer Worst CEO - Forbes

Steve Ballmer’s Hunts Point Mansion

“#1 – Steve Ballmer, Microsoft. Without a doubt, Mr. Ballmer is the worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company today.” This is the first sentence about Steve Ballmer in a 5/12/12 Forbes article by Adam Hartung titled: “Oops! Five CEOs Who Should Have Already Been Fired (Cisco, GE, WalMart, Sears, Microsoft)”

The article continues: “Not only has he singlehandedly steered Microsoft out of some of the fastest growing and most lucrative tech markets (mobile music, handsets and tablets) but in the process he has sacrificed the growth and profits of not only his company but “ecosystem” companies such as Dell, Hewlett Packard and even Nokia. The reach of his bad leadership has extended far beyond Microsoft when it comes to destroying shareholder value – and jobs.

“Microsoft peaked at $60/share in 2000, just as Mr. Ballmer took the reins. . . only rarely made it back to its current low $30s value. . . execution of new rollouts were constantly delayed, and ended up with products so lacking in any enhanced value . . . as Apple took the leadership position in personal technology.

“So today . . . Microsoft is a PC company, nothing more, as demand for PCs shifts to mobile. . . An insane bet for any CEO – and one that would have been avoided entirely had the Microsoft Board replaced Mr. Ballmer years ago . . .

“Although he’s #19 on Forbes list of billionaires, Mr. Ballmer should not be allowed to take such incredible risks with investor money and employee jobs. Best he be retired to enjoy his fortune rather than deprive investors and employees of building theirs.”

Steve joined Microsoft in 1980 for a percentage of the company, a $50,000 annual salary and stock options. He was Microsoft’s 24th employee and first manager other than Gates and Allen. The Hunts Point mansion of Steve and Connie Ballmer is pictured above. They purchased the estate in 1987 for $1.3 million and extensively renovated the buildings, but maintained their charm, in 1991. The mansion and property has a $10 million estimated value. The main house is 4,175 sq ft and the property is 2.09 acres with 160 feet of waterfront. It is adjacent to the south of Craig McCaw’s (formerly Kenny G’s) mansion (4/30/12 post). The neighborhood is covered in a 2/16/11 Lake Washington Cruising post.