How to destroy one of America’s most famous sailboat yards

His name is Michael Alexander Reardon, and under his management what is the largest Made-in-U.S. sailboat yard, Catalina Yachts, founded in 1969 by Frank Butler (with the first Cat 22 model), is crumbling. And not only that.

“Catalina-Gate” breaks out

After the shipyard announced last week that it was “stopping” production-officially for reasons of reorganization-now came the eviction, by the Pinellas County (Florida) court, of Reardon (owner of Catalina since last May), from the Largo, Florida, manufacturing plant.

“Catalina-gate,” as they have already dubbed it back home, started right from the moment Reardon acquired the shipyard. His company, Daedalus Yachts, had pledged to pay $1 million as the purchase price of the Catalina asset and to pay a monthly fee for the use of the Largo facility. The fee was paid only for the first month then, as a result of delinquency, the agreement fell through and now Catalina’s former owners want the full amount.

Who is losing out in all this? First and foremost, the employees who are no longer receiving wages but, because they have not been officially laid off, are not entitled to access unemployment benefits.

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At risk not only Catalina

But there is more than just Catalina (and its sister brand, active in powerboats, True North, also acquired by Reardon). In late August, while its Florida workforce was receiving overdue payments, Reardon acquired Tartan Yachts (another historic sailboat brand), Freedom Yachts, and AMP Carbon Spars (a carbon mast company in business since 2004) in a deal that was described as “a dollar down payment” (“a dollar down,” ed.) and a portion of the proceeds from future sales. According to sources, at the Tartan Yachts shipyard in Painesville, Ohio, the workforce was immediately sent on leave but would now be back at work.

In early August, prior to these acquisitions, Reardon had raised $124,000 by selling accounts receivable debt at a discount to a couple of New York “factoring” companies. Now, they too are suing him for nonpayment. Factoring is a financial transaction that allows a company to raise money quickly based on the amount of its unpaid trade invoices. The factoring company is reimbursed as payments for those invoices come in.

Michael Reardon: awards many, boats built none

Who is Michael Reardon? On his Daedalus Yachts website he is described as follows: “Michael has been designing award-winning, future-oriented carbon boats for the past 35 years. His previous prominent positions include working with the Seaway Group (Greenline, Ocean Class, Shipman, Skagen) and Gunboat.

He is continually at the forefront of composite technology in a variety of industries, including recreational boating, housing, wind power, and aviation. During his career in the marine industry, Michael has won 36 Boat Of The Year awards “. But there is one detail, in no small part, of concern, it seems that despite benefiting from half a million dollars in public funds, Daedalus Yachts has never completed the construction of a single boat.