Who Are Those Guys?

by Marcia Peck

Doug & Andrea Owen have lived in Marin since the late 70’s, but they didn't know each other until 1994! One of their first conversations revolved around the town of Fairfax, when they found that they had each moved there within a year of each other, and lived a half mile apart.

This conversation took place in a yacht club in Marina Del Rey, Southern California. Doug had just flown in from Panama, having left his boat Teal in the care of the Panama Canal Yacht Club where he was a member. Andrea was running a family business in Santa Monica while maintaining her home in Marin. What a commute!

They each grew up in the Los Angeles area, where Doug began sailing with his family as a small boy....okay, it was a powerboat, but you get the idea; summers at Catalina Island, coastal cruising and so on. Andrea began sailing on San Francisco Bay and joined Corinthian in 1988. She served on the Board of Directors from 2000-2002.

Following a career as a police officer, detective and private investigator, Doug retired in 1987, sailed Teal out the Gate and turned left. "I found a great summer job as a Harbor Patrolman at Catalina Island, and came back there every year during hurricane season in the tropics," says Doug. From 1987 until 1995, Doug sailed over 20,000 miles in the Pacific, Caribbean and Atlantic, and made eight transits of the Panama Canal. "I kept going by writing articles for sailing magazines, and my summer job at Catalina.”

Andrea visited Catalina on several club cruises with her Southern California yacht club during the Summer of 1994, and she and Doug began dating in the fall. Doug sold his boat in Panama, and never went back. The rest is history. You'll see them around the Club often, as well as on the Bay in their beautiful Hans Christian 38 Aloha.