Water-ski maker O'Brien shuts down

Redmond water-ski maker O'Brien International, which has been in financial trouble for years, has finally closed.

The company, founded more than 36 years ago by Herb O'Brien, shut down Monday after its parent company, Earth and Ocean Sports, was unable to get enough financing to keep it open. About 130 people were laid off, 30 or so in the office and the rest in the factory.

Pete Surrette, O'Brien's sales director, and other company officials confirmed the closure but declined to comment further.

Industry observers said the company hadn't been doing well for years.

"You need a lot of cash flow in this business," said Brian Gardner, vice president for sales at H.O. Sports, another Redmond water-ski maker founded by Herb O'Brien. "You send your product out in January and don't get paid until June. I think their venture group finally threw up its hands."

Earth and Ocean Sports — owned by Commonwealth Venture Funding Group of Waltham, Mass. — reportedly was put up for sale last year. Two divisions were sold; Wham-O, an Emeryville, Calif.-company that makes Frisbees and hula hoops, bought the sled and surfboard operations for an undisclosed amount last fall.

After the sale, Earth and Ocean was taken off the market, and industry observers assumed the company could survive.

Nick Demirali, with Commonwealth Venture Funding Group, would not comment on O'Brien's future or why the group shut down the company.

O'Brien made watersports equipment under the O'Brien and Liquid Force names. It had about $20 million a year in sales, one competitor said. The company — along with H.O. Sports, Connelly Skis, KD Watersports and D3 Skis — made about 70 percent of the water skis and wakeboards sold worldwide.

Herb O'Brien started the company in 1966, when he was a lanky teenager testing combinations of exotic wood in his parents' basement. His water ski had a wide, deep tunnel that gave it better stability than its competitors. By 1974, O'Brien said his business was worth about $5 million.

But the following year, O'Brien and some colleagues were convicted of smuggling about 200 pounds of cocaine — worth $3 million at the time — from Chile in O'Brien skis and false-bottom suitcases.

He was sentenced to two concurrent 10-year prison sentences and lost his company. He started H.O. Sports after he was released in the early 1980s. O'Brien could not be reached yesterday.

Kristina Shevory: 206-464-2039 or kshevory@seattletimes.com