Toronado at Pierpoint Landing

Under New Onership

Crew convinces Vern Sweeney of Sweeney's Custom Muffler to step in.

BY MERIT MCCREA WON Staff Writer

LONG BEACH - The boat Toronado, overnight boat out of Pierpoint Landing has sold to Vern Sweeney, and in interview it sounded like the captains and crew of the vessel are his strongest supporters in the venture. As a team, Captain's Ramond Lagmay and Mike Bollard along with crewmen Tom, Hank and Brownie will all be staying on in support of the new venture, An avid angler and San Pedro -Long Beach regular, Sweeney is no stranger to business management. He's had Sweeney's Custom Muffler at Sepulveda and Western for 40 years, and also owns JJK Roll-Off and Disposal as well as figuring large in the Sprint Car scene, California Racing Association.

He's had the boat just a couple of weeks now, but already the news has gotten out and he's got a lot of support from the people he's fished with. Notably the boat's schedule has come to life already, with both sponsored and chartered trips featuring overnight to 2-day offerings.

Vern said "We just got into the Orange County Fishing Show, we got a booth so we can promote the boat...This is how far I want to go with it, I want to go like every boat should go."

At this point he wants to keep the boat busy through the end of the season, but expects to put alot of TLC back into the boat this winter, and notes there's a lot of opportunity to do so. For one thing he's planning on putting in a high-end new sonar over winter and to ultimately style out the wheelhouse as well as the rest of the boat.

An interesting aspect is he wanted to get into the business decades ago as a 24-year-old when the opportunity arose to buy into one of the Santa Monica Bay operations. It didn't end up working out and he was pulled into the family business instead. So today, with years of business experience and success under his belt he's back in sportfishing in a big way.

Personable and clearly a quick study, he already has a solid understanding of the industry and boats and the gear that keeps our fleet fishing. It's not just fishing gear, its props and machinery, and electronics and marine paints, chains and anchors, plumbing and woodwork and glasswork.

Most of all it's a knowledgeable crew that works well together with a minimum of drama and a maximum understanding of working well with customers, smiling positive attitudes in all situations — customers of all experience levels, helping all succeed.