DockRat
12-03-2009, 06:54 AM
What a Great Boat. Wide and Low.
Have not fished it in 25 years but see it almost every day.
I am really going to miss seeing her.
City of Redondo heads into the sunset
By Kristin S. Agostoni Staff Writer
Posted: 11/28/2009
After decades of serving South Bay fishermen, the City of Redondo Beach sport fishing boat is being sold. Brad Sawyer has been a captain on the boat for the past several months. (Scott Varley/Staff Photographer)
July 1989 photo of The City of Redondo Beach and its owner Roy Peters in July 1989 after the sportfishing boat had been rebuilt. The vessel may leave its longterm berth at the Redondo Beach Marina in the near future.
Redondo Beach program encourages youngsters to fit in exerciseRoy Peters took a long look at the picture of himself smiling in front of his sportfishing boat at Redondo Beach's King Harbor.
It was taken in the summer of 1989, when he and his wife, Doris, had just wrapped up an exhaustive restoration of the boat they'd run for 26 years - the City of Redondo. She'd sunk during a ferocious storm the year before, and the couple spent 19 months and hundreds of thousands of dollars repairing her.
Once rebuilt, the wooden boat would sail for 20 more years under the couple's ownership and carry generations of fishermen into the Santa Monica Bay.
But now, Roy and Doris Peters are hanging it up and moving on.
With a sale pending for the City of Redondo, they're ending
After decades of serving South Bay fishermen, the City of Redondo Beach sport fishing boat is being sold. Brad Sawyer has been a captain on the boat for the past several months. (Scott Varley/Staff Photographer)their twice-
daily fishing runs and a family business that goes back decades.
"We're tired, for one reason," said Roy, 80, as he leafed through photos last week in his south Redondo Beach home, where a framed painting of the vessel hangs in the dining room.
While the sale of the teal-and-white sportfishing boat has not been finalized, the couple said the City of Redondo will most likely go to a buyer up north.
And while the deal would end a yearlong search for a new owner in a flagging economy, the idea of the boat leaving its home port saddens both the family and the local fishing community.
"It's tearing my guts out," said weekend skipper Jack Leslie, who has worked for the couple since 1969.
"But nothing lasts forever. ... If she does go, she'll be in a good place."
Doris, who was the galley cook until two years ago and just recently stopped stocking the boat with food and drinks, said she wishes it would remain at King Harbor.
Built in 1953 by Sherman Boat Yards in Long Beach, the City of Redondo has known only one port, said Doris, 81.
"I'd like to see it stay in Redondo, which is where it belongs. ... It's the best boat down there as far as I'm concerned," she said. "But there comes a time when you get old and you can't keep up the pace."
The husband-and-wife team first met as junior high school students in Long Beach and reunited years later while working at Pierpoint Landing, where Doris was a waitress at a restaurant and Roy worked as a deckhand on another boat. They were both widowed when they married, with seven children between them.
In 1963, they started operating the City of Redondo for a former King Harbor leaseholder.
With a family to raise, the couple wanted to own the boat outright instead of operating under a leasing arrangement.
They got their wish in 1978 - with Doris telling their leaseholder "you either sell us the boat or kiss us goodbye" - and shelled out roughly $79,000 for the 84-passenger City of Redondo. And that demand came despite having "never fished a day in my life until I hooked up with Roy Peters here," said Doris, who also dabbled in real estate.
Roy, who was the skipper until health problems forced him to remain on shore just about the time the boat was rebuilt, knew he had something special in the City of Redondo.
"For what it's made for, it's still tough to beat," he said of the boat measuring 60 feet long and nearly 25 feet across the stern. "And you're low to the water. Most boats, you're fishing off a half-story building."
While the couple said business was slow in recent years, the City of Redondo was good to their family. As they put in long days, the trips at sea helped support their children and grandchildren.
They befriended regulars who were fishing for white sea bass, tuna and barracuda.
As friends died over the years, the City of Redondo held funerals at sea.
And that's probably why the couple couldn't abandon their business following the disastrous January 1988 storm that flipped the City of Redondo upside down in King Harbor.
As the waves became unruly that night, the boat was moved from its slip to a mooring near the breakwater, where it was thought to pose less of a risk to nearby buildings.
But they shouldn't have underestimated Mother Nature, Roy said, because not long afterward "all hell broke loose."
The boat was torn from its anchorage and slipped into the harbor, where it rolled onto the sandy bottom, recalled Leslie, the longtime skipper.
The next day's Daily Breeze reported that the boat "was listing helplessly upside down in the harbor" because the surf was too rough for emergency crews to rescue her.
"The boat was a wreck when we got her turned upright again," Roy said in another old article. "I was thinking about letting them cut her up. But they had this big chain saw, and I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it."
Richard Jesswein, the couple's oldest grandchild, said the incident "was devastating for our family."
"They could have hung it up and had better golden years," he said of his grandparents, "but they rebuilt this boat out of love for what we do."
Although insurance paid for $150,000 of the damage, that wasn't nearly enough for the restoration. The couple said they probably pulled $300,000 from savings, and they also secured a low-interest loan from the Small Business Administration.
Separately, a community group tried to drum up donations.
For months, the City of Redondo underwent repairs at Al Larson Boat Shop on Terminal Island. The vessel finally returned in July 1989 to King Harbor, which welcomed her back with a rechristening ceremony.
"It's not a thing you can throw away when it supported you for so many years," Roy said.
The City of Redondo today is one of two half-day sportfishing boats docked at Redondo Beach Marina. But assuming the sale goes through, property manager Leslie Page said it's unlikely another vessel would take its place.
The Redondo Special, which also makes two runs daily, will most likely pick up the extra business, she said, or potentially the Tradition, which spends three-quarters of a day at sea.
As he cleaned off the deck of the City of Redondo on a recent afternoon, Brad Sawyer spoke about the many anglers it has served over the years.
Sawyer, 43, will most likely be the last Redondo Beach-based captain.
"There's people who have fished off this boat who now bring their grandchildren," said Sawyer. "It's an honor that I can say I captained this boat."
I hate reading stories like this. DR
Have not fished it in 25 years but see it almost every day.
I am really going to miss seeing her.
City of Redondo heads into the sunset
By Kristin S. Agostoni Staff Writer
Posted: 11/28/2009
After decades of serving South Bay fishermen, the City of Redondo Beach sport fishing boat is being sold. Brad Sawyer has been a captain on the boat for the past several months. (Scott Varley/Staff Photographer)
July 1989 photo of The City of Redondo Beach and its owner Roy Peters in July 1989 after the sportfishing boat had been rebuilt. The vessel may leave its longterm berth at the Redondo Beach Marina in the near future.
Redondo Beach program encourages youngsters to fit in exerciseRoy Peters took a long look at the picture of himself smiling in front of his sportfishing boat at Redondo Beach's King Harbor.
It was taken in the summer of 1989, when he and his wife, Doris, had just wrapped up an exhaustive restoration of the boat they'd run for 26 years - the City of Redondo. She'd sunk during a ferocious storm the year before, and the couple spent 19 months and hundreds of thousands of dollars repairing her.
Once rebuilt, the wooden boat would sail for 20 more years under the couple's ownership and carry generations of fishermen into the Santa Monica Bay.
But now, Roy and Doris Peters are hanging it up and moving on.
With a sale pending for the City of Redondo, they're ending
After decades of serving South Bay fishermen, the City of Redondo Beach sport fishing boat is being sold. Brad Sawyer has been a captain on the boat for the past several months. (Scott Varley/Staff Photographer)their twice-
daily fishing runs and a family business that goes back decades.
"We're tired, for one reason," said Roy, 80, as he leafed through photos last week in his south Redondo Beach home, where a framed painting of the vessel hangs in the dining room.
While the sale of the teal-and-white sportfishing boat has not been finalized, the couple said the City of Redondo will most likely go to a buyer up north.
And while the deal would end a yearlong search for a new owner in a flagging economy, the idea of the boat leaving its home port saddens both the family and the local fishing community.
"It's tearing my guts out," said weekend skipper Jack Leslie, who has worked for the couple since 1969.
"But nothing lasts forever. ... If she does go, she'll be in a good place."
Doris, who was the galley cook until two years ago and just recently stopped stocking the boat with food and drinks, said she wishes it would remain at King Harbor.
Built in 1953 by Sherman Boat Yards in Long Beach, the City of Redondo has known only one port, said Doris, 81.
"I'd like to see it stay in Redondo, which is where it belongs. ... It's the best boat down there as far as I'm concerned," she said. "But there comes a time when you get old and you can't keep up the pace."
The husband-and-wife team first met as junior high school students in Long Beach and reunited years later while working at Pierpoint Landing, where Doris was a waitress at a restaurant and Roy worked as a deckhand on another boat. They were both widowed when they married, with seven children between them.
In 1963, they started operating the City of Redondo for a former King Harbor leaseholder.
With a family to raise, the couple wanted to own the boat outright instead of operating under a leasing arrangement.
They got their wish in 1978 - with Doris telling their leaseholder "you either sell us the boat or kiss us goodbye" - and shelled out roughly $79,000 for the 84-passenger City of Redondo. And that demand came despite having "never fished a day in my life until I hooked up with Roy Peters here," said Doris, who also dabbled in real estate.
Roy, who was the skipper until health problems forced him to remain on shore just about the time the boat was rebuilt, knew he had something special in the City of Redondo.
"For what it's made for, it's still tough to beat," he said of the boat measuring 60 feet long and nearly 25 feet across the stern. "And you're low to the water. Most boats, you're fishing off a half-story building."
While the couple said business was slow in recent years, the City of Redondo was good to their family. As they put in long days, the trips at sea helped support their children and grandchildren.
They befriended regulars who were fishing for white sea bass, tuna and barracuda.
As friends died over the years, the City of Redondo held funerals at sea.
And that's probably why the couple couldn't abandon their business following the disastrous January 1988 storm that flipped the City of Redondo upside down in King Harbor.
As the waves became unruly that night, the boat was moved from its slip to a mooring near the breakwater, where it was thought to pose less of a risk to nearby buildings.
But they shouldn't have underestimated Mother Nature, Roy said, because not long afterward "all hell broke loose."
The boat was torn from its anchorage and slipped into the harbor, where it rolled onto the sandy bottom, recalled Leslie, the longtime skipper.
The next day's Daily Breeze reported that the boat "was listing helplessly upside down in the harbor" because the surf was too rough for emergency crews to rescue her.
"The boat was a wreck when we got her turned upright again," Roy said in another old article. "I was thinking about letting them cut her up. But they had this big chain saw, and I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it."
Richard Jesswein, the couple's oldest grandchild, said the incident "was devastating for our family."
"They could have hung it up and had better golden years," he said of his grandparents, "but they rebuilt this boat out of love for what we do."
Although insurance paid for $150,000 of the damage, that wasn't nearly enough for the restoration. The couple said they probably pulled $300,000 from savings, and they also secured a low-interest loan from the Small Business Administration.
Separately, a community group tried to drum up donations.
For months, the City of Redondo underwent repairs at Al Larson Boat Shop on Terminal Island. The vessel finally returned in July 1989 to King Harbor, which welcomed her back with a rechristening ceremony.
"It's not a thing you can throw away when it supported you for so many years," Roy said.
The City of Redondo today is one of two half-day sportfishing boats docked at Redondo Beach Marina. But assuming the sale goes through, property manager Leslie Page said it's unlikely another vessel would take its place.
The Redondo Special, which also makes two runs daily, will most likely pick up the extra business, she said, or potentially the Tradition, which spends three-quarters of a day at sea.
As he cleaned off the deck of the City of Redondo on a recent afternoon, Brad Sawyer spoke about the many anglers it has served over the years.
Sawyer, 43, will most likely be the last Redondo Beach-based captain.
"There's people who have fished off this boat who now bring their grandchildren," said Sawyer. "It's an honor that I can say I captained this boat."
I hate reading stories like this. DR