Eight Bells – Mike Campbell
The sailing world — and the real world — has lost another one of the good guys. Long Beach’s Mike Campbell died on Friday after a long battle with carcinoid syndrome. One of the pre-eminent ocean racers on the West Coast for the past 25 years, Mike was known for owning and helming a series of big boats, most named Victoria, after his wife. These included three notable Alan Andrews designs, two ULDB 70s and one of the first TP52s, whose box rule he helped create. His current boat, co-owned with Dale Williams, was the Kernan 70 Peligroso — Spanish for ‘dangerous’, which she’s been to the competition since being splashed in 2005. Built in only four months at Dencho Marine, the boat was a winner right out of the blocks, racking up countless victories all over Southern California and in Mexico races, including an overall win of the San Diego to PV Race in March of this year. Peligroso also came north for the 2006 Big Boat Series, and took fourth in division the ’07 TransPac.
Campbell was one of those men who worked as hard as he played. Back in the late ’70s, he started a small distribution company, which he eventually built into a large one that supplied all the Trader Joe’s markets. Through it all, he never tired of helping out other people and sharing whatever he had. In one recent remembrance, Chris Dickson recalled arriving for Congressional Cup in 1980 for his first-ever foray into the International Match Racing scene, and how he and his crew of Kiwi unknowns spent the first night in a borrowed RV. When Mike, a member of the sponsoring Long Beach YC, got wind of what was going on, he offered his house and a car to the team. This was in the days when Campbell was happy to just make payroll for his fledgling trucking company. Dickson later found out that, at the time, Mike was renting the house, leasing the car — and it was his only car! He was that kind of guy.
Cards to Campbell’s family — he is survived by wife Victoria, three sons and his mother — may be sent to 49201 Avenida Anselmo, La Quinta, CA 92253. Donations in his name may be sent to the Nagourney Cancer Institute, 750 East 29th St., Long Beach, CA 90806.