Christopher was master mechanic known for working on a handshake
by Kevin Cody Shortly after midnight on the morning of January 18, 1988, Doug Christopher, and Bennett Talsky met up in the King Harbor Yacht Club parking lot. Christopher was there to check on his 65-foot bugeye ketch, Pandora. Talsky was living on his 32-foot Tollycraft, and had come ashore as a precaution. The previous day a 20-foot-plus swell cleared Redondo Breakwall, and blew out the windows of the Portofino Hotel. The Yacht Club parking lot looked like a jigsaw puzzle that had been tossed in the air. The Yacht Club itself was in jeopardy of a similar fate. Like the parking lot, the club was built on a floating foundation, rather than secured by pilings sunk into bedrock. As Christopher and Talsky shared concerns about their boats another large swell cleared the breakwall. Christophers’s green ‘62 VW bug, a car famous for its floatation, thanks to Teddy Kennedy and the Chappaquiddick incident, rode the wave across the lot and through the guardrail into the harbor. Christopher’s VW only half floated. The rear end of the rear engine car sunk. Christopher convinced a tow truck driver to fish out his bug. The driver asked why not wait until morning. Christopher told him he…
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