From Marina del Rey to Monaco : Catalina Crew Returns to the Monaco Yacht Show for Year Three With a Bigger Mission
For the third year in a row, Catalina Crew is returning to the Monaco Yacht Show to network for our home harbor of Marina del Rey, Ca. but this year our mission goes far beyond touring yachts and telling stories from one of the most influential gatherings in the international yachting industry.
We are heading back to Monaco representing Southern California with two major priorities: helping advance conversations surrounding a potential Olympic Superyacht Village and anchorage for LA28, and bringing international attention to another growing issue facing waterfront communities around the world: abandoned and derelict vessels.
Three years ago, Catalina Crew arrived at the Monaco Yacht Show with Captain Trevor Hanson Voss, a camera and a desire to learn more about the global yachting industry. What began with filming yachts and meeting people throughout the show has grown into relationships with captains, builders, shipyards, designers, manufacturers, brokers and leaders throughout the international marine community.
Now we want to use those relationships to bring opportunities and solutions back home.
Bringing the Global Yachting Industry to Southern California
Los Angeles will welcome the world for the 2028 Olympic Games, and we believe the water should be part of that experience.
Catalina Crew has been working with members of the international yachting community, including the U.S. Superyacht Association, to help advance the conversation surrounding an Olympic Superyacht Village and anchorage network for Southern California.
Major international sporting events attract some of the largest yachts in the world. Those vessels bring owners, guests and crews, but they also bring significant economic activity into the communities they visit.
They require fuel, provisions, transportation, restaurants, hotels, maintenance, mechanics, electricians, divers, marine electronics technicians, detailers, captains, crew services and countless other local businesses and skilled trades.
The opportunity surrounding LA28 is not simply about having impressive yachts sitting offshore. It is about introducing the international yachting community to Southern California and creating an infrastructure and experience that gives those vessels a reason to return long after the Olympic flame goes out.
And we believe Marina del Rey should be at the center of that conversation.
Putting Marina del Rey on the International Yachting Map
Marina del Rey already has something that cannot easily be recreated: one of the largest concentrations of recreational boating infrastructure in the country, positioned directly beside one of the most internationally recognized cities in the world.
Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Venice, LAX and SoFi Stadium are all within the greater Los Angeles area, while Catalina Island sits just across the channel.
The opportunity is enormous.
We believe Marina del Rey can become the West Coast capital of yachting.
That means planning for larger transient vessels, improving waterfront experiences, modernizing marine infrastructure, supporting boatyards and marine trades, creating new waterfront businesses and making Marina del Rey a destination rather than simply a place where boats are stored.
When we walk the docks in Monaco, Saint Tropez and other major Mediterranean yachting destinations, one thing becomes very clear: the yachts themselves are only one part of the ecosystem.
The restaurants are busy. The waterfront is active. Marine businesses are working. Crews are spending money. Visitors are walking the docks. Local businesses benefit from people coming from around the world to experience the harbor.
Southern California already has the weather, coastline, entertainment, geography and international appeal.
Now we need to build the marine infrastructure and relationships to match it.
But Growing the Future Also Means Addressing the Problems We Have Today
As we talk about the future of Marina del Rey, we also cannot ignore one of the most visible challenges facing the harbor today: abandoned and derelict boats.
Over the past several years, Catalina Crew has been documenting this issue and working to bring attention to vessels that have been abandoned, deteriorated, sunk or left occupying valuable space throughout Marina del Rey.
In September, that work reached a dramatically larger audience when NBC Los Angeles investigated the abandoned vessel problem in Marina del Rey.
NBC reported that at least 100 abandoned boats were believed to be on the water in Marina del Rey, while Los Angeles County's primary state grant funding for abandoned vessel disposal had fallen from $80,000 two years earlier to $44,000. The report also highlighted limitations in available disposal vendors and the significant cost involved in removing individual vessels.
Catalina Crew was featured extensively in the NBC investigation discussing the environmental, economic and public safety consequences of leaving these vessels in the harbor.
The story also highlighted the Catalina Crew Foundation's effort to raise private funding to help remove abandoned vessels and explore better ways of recycling the materials they contain.
What happened next demonstrated just how strongly this issue resonates with people.
In less than a week, the abandoned boat story became the fourth most watched video of all time on NBC Los Angeles' YouTube channel.
That level of interest tells us something important.
People care about this problem.
And it is not just a Marina del Rey problem.
It is a national problem, and ultimately it is a global marine industry problem.
Taking the Abandoned Boat Conversation to Monaco
That is why one of our priorities at this year's Monaco Yacht Show is to begin talking directly with the companies that build boats in the first place.
Shipbuilders, designers, composite manufacturers, engine companies and suppliers are constantly developing new technology for the next generation of yachts.
But as an industry, we also need to think about what happens to boats at the end of their useful lives.
Fiberglass vessels do not simply disappear.
Many older boats have little remaining financial value but can still cost tens of thousands of dollars to properly remove, dismantle and dispose of. When an owner walks away from that responsibility, the financial and environmental burden can ultimately fall on marinas, municipalities, taxpayers and waterfront communities.
That is not a sustainable long term system.
At Monaco, we want to start asking some bigger questions.
Can yacht builders become involved in end of life vessel programs?
Can manufacturers help develop more recyclable marine materials?
Can fiberglass from old vessels be repurposed into construction products or other useful materials?
Could the marine industry create a model similar to recycling programs that already exist within the automotive and other manufacturing industries?
Can boat builders, marinas, government agencies, nonprofits and recycling companies work together before abandoned vessels become environmental emergencies?
And could Southern California become a proving ground for some of those solutions?
The Catalina Crew Foundation's Abandoned Boat Fund is intended to help move that conversation from awareness into action.
We want to remove vessels responsibly, recycle as much material as possible and develop partnerships that could eventually be replicated far beyond Marina del Rey.
Because if abandoned boats are appearing in harbors throughout the United States and around the world, the solution cannot come from one marina, one county or one nonprofit alone.
The entire marine industry needs to be part of the conversation.
Awareness Is Where Solutions Begin
The reaction to the NBC Los Angeles story reinforced something we have believed from the beginning: sometimes the first step toward solving a problem is simply making enough people aware that the problem exists.
The Coast Guard told NBC Los Angeles that it was working to identify and collect information on abandoned vessels in the harbor, while Los Angeles County officials described efforts to expand disposal options and address the limitations within the existing system.
Those conversations matter.
But we also believe the private sector can help.
Our goal is not to point fingers.
It is to bring people together.
Government, boat builders, recycling companies, marine businesses, nonprofits, yacht owners, captains and the public all have something they can contribute.
Catalina Crew Foundation is focused on solutions.
Monaco Is Where Many of Those Conversations Can Begin
Few places bring together more decision makers from across the international yacht industry than the Monaco Yacht Show.
That makes Monaco the perfect place to discuss both ends of the spectrum.
On one side is the future of yachting: extraordinary engineering, new technology, new vessels, new destinations and the possibility of bringing more of that industry to Southern California for LA28 and beyond.
On the other side is an industry challenge that cannot be ignored: what happens to the millions of recreational and commercial vessels around the world when they eventually reach the end of their useful lives?
We want Catalina Crew to help connect those conversations.
Build the future while taking responsibility for the past.
From Monaco Back to Marina del Rey
Every relationship we build internationally should ultimately create an opportunity to make our home waterfront stronger.
That is what this year's Monaco Yacht Show means to us.
We are going to talk about Marina del Rey.
We are going to talk about LA28.
We are going to continue working with the yachting community toward an Olympic Superyacht Village and anchorage.
We are going to talk with shipbuilders about the abandoned vessel epidemic and challenge the industry to help us develop better solutions.
We are going to tell people around the world that Southern California is serious about becoming a greater part of the international yachting community.
And then we are going to bring those conversations home.
Marina del Rey has an extraordinary opportunity in front of it. With redevelopment approaching, the 2028 Olympics on the horizon and unprecedented international attention coming to Los Angeles, decisions made over the next several years could influence the harbor for generations.
We want to make sure yachting, maritime trades, environmental responsibility and the marine economy are part of that future.
Three years ago, Catalina Crew went to Monaco with a camera and started telling stories.
This year, we are going with a mission.
From developing an Olympic Superyacht Village to confronting the abandoned boat epidemic, Catalina Crew is working to connect Marina del Rey with the international marine community and help establish Southern California as one of the great yachting destinations in the world.
The goal is bigger than one boat show.
Put Marina del Rey on the map as the West Coast capital of yachting, bring opportunities home to Southern California and work with the global marine industry to leave our harbors better than we found them.
Join the Crew. Live to Tell the Tale.
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