[pma_foyl]

Southern California is DEFINITELY having a slip shortage! I''m on waiting lists at a dozen marinas (many of them are NOT beautiful high-demand locales).

The hardest boats to place are 40-50''. The reason is this: when they built the marinas many years ago, the most popular boats were 25-35''. So they built lots of 25'' - 35'' slips. Of course, these are scarce too these days, due to the increase in boat ownership.

Making this problem even worse, now 40-50'' boats are currently the most popular (in general size). Slips this size are even harder to find. And yes, 50+'' have a long, long wait.

I''m in a private slip (paying tons $$$) while I wait for a Long Beach city slip. I''ve been on the 40'' list for six months; there are 65 people in front of me on this list (35 people have been added behind me after only six months). The #1 person on the 40'' list (the guy who''ll get his slip next) has been on the list since January 2000. I''m told I might have to wait 6 years.

Wish I had some better news, but he bottom line is, SoCal is hard to find slips.