[Public-List] Whitby Ontario

[Gordon Laco]

Good morning gang

Well here I am in Whitby Ontario, where our boats were build, standing outside the very building.   I’m here to meet HMCS Oriole (google her) to work with her trainees for the day.  

There’s a boat repair business still operating in part of the building; mice people, I think I’ll say hello while waiting for Oriole to arrive.  

Lovely cool morning... I’m imagining Oriole gliding on the nw breeze reaching across the lake... watches about to change, breakfast being rustled up in the messes... 

And also thinking of what a busy boat building town this was... Whitby Boatworks was here, Aloha Yachts, nearly twenty more in the general area.  All closed during the 1980’s    I used to call that time ‘the great age of extinctions’.   What did it?   Market saturation? Higher interest rates?  Dumping of cheap US built yachts onto the market without regulation?  Higher costs for resins connected to oil market dips and surges?   All those things I guess.  What a time that was... I was just out of school and in my first full time job... we couldn’t build rigs fast enough... for a while.  I just caught the end of the glory days.  

Gord 
426 Surprise 

Sent from my iPhone