Moore Sailboats Inc. Relocating Operations

The Moore Sailboats shop in Watsonville, which we’ve enjoyed visiting on multiple occasions, is closing.

A press release that landed in our inbox this week states: “Moore sailboat production is moving. In wake of the property owners’ decision not to renew the lease, Moore Sailboats Inc. will move production of the all-new Alan Andrews-designed Moore 33 to Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, under the direction of Blaine Rorick.”

Moore 24 business will move to Richmond, and Ron’s day-to-day operations of Moore Sailboats will relocate locally. (Or, Ron’s wife Martha Lewis tells us, there’s a possibility of taking on partners to share the current shop space.)

Last September, Rorick, a competitive sailor and businessman, announced the formation of Moore Sailboats Inc. and plans to produce a high-quality, high-performance 33-ft trailerable racer. With Andrews’ record of designing record-setting and race-winning sailboats, it’s projected that the Moore 33 will be fast and good-looking. Even with the unanticipated changes, plans are moving forward for the new 33-footer.

Ron will remain on board to oversee the Moore 33 project while Javier Ruiz, his foreman of 20 years, will move to Southern California as production manager of the new mid-sized racer. “I’m too busy to retire,” said Ron. He’ll go down to SoCal to help set up the place and get them going. Delivery of the hull and deck molds are expected in February.

The trailerable Moore 24, launched 46 years ago, has an active class well known for its Roadmaster Series. Martha tells us that Richmond boatbuilder Rufus Sjoberg is taking the molds and building a carbon-fiber Moore 24. At the same time, “We are building our fourth Moore 24 deck that is being replaced on hull #24,” said Martha.