Residents feel like a boat out of water

Jasmine Lee

COSTA MESA -- Kara O’Keefe threw a party Monday night. Beforehand, she

had given directions to her invitees, telling them to turn into the

parking lot once they had reached the sailboat floating off Mesa Verde

Drive East.

But late Monday afternoon, when her friends began arriving at her

apartment complex, they had to look a little harder to find it.

Workers had pulled the mid-size sailboat out of the man-made lake at

Vista del Lago -- removing what some residents considered a landmark.

The boat had been afloat at Vista del Lago for nearly 30 years -- as

long as the apartments have been around, said residents and members of

the leasing staff.

A crew of about half a dozen men from Wilmington Boat Movers used a

crane to lift the vessel out of the water and onto a truck. It will be

shown to a prospective buyer at 7 a.m. today, but might end up in the

junkyard, said Jack Shubin, who was overseeing the removal of the boat.

Several residents gathered to watch the operation, which nearly took

over the entire parking lot. Motorists arriving home after work craned

their necks to catch a rare glimpse of the boat out of water as they

pulled into their parking spaces.

The complex, under new ownership, is being remodeled. Apparently, the

new look does not include the boat.

O’Keefe, who recently moved in, said she likes the ideas for the new

design, but will miss the boat -- especially when giving friends

directions to her place.

Another resident, Michelle Patty, who has lived in the complex for

five years, was also sorry to see the boat removed.

“It was a landmark, one of the last remaining icons of Costa Mesa,”

she said.

Patty said some of her neighbors have lived in the complex for 20

years and are especially sad to see the boat dry-docked for good.

Steve Donnay, who recently moved into the complex but grew up in the

area, said losing the boat is unimaginable.

“It’s sad to see it go. As a kid, I remember driving through here and

seeing it all the time,” Donnay said. “It’s been a part of my life.”