SiliconBeat

West Marine, the Watsonville supplier of boating equipment that is under formal investigation by the SEC, said that its chief accounting officer and avid sailor, Peter Van Handel will “leave West Marine effective today.”

Last May, West Marine completed a restatement of financial results for fiscal years 2002 through 2005 and for the first three quarters of fiscal year 2006 related to inventory issues. The SEC initiated an informal review of the matter in August and raised it to a “formal order of investigation” in January.

What began as a look into the way the company recorded self-insured reserves for estimated workers’ comp claims turned into a a look at other reserves and accounts, “particularly those involving management estimates.”  These led to “adjustments” to, “among other things, inventory reserves, vendor allowances, capitalized indirect costs, sales and use tax accruals, sales return reserves, software development costs, software asset impairments, foreign currency translation gains/losses, deferred income taxes, and stock-based compensation.”

The wording regarding Van Handel’s departure doesn’t seem to answer whether or not he’s leaving on his own, or what kind of severance he might be eligible for. The company negotiated an agreement with him last year guaranteeing certain termination benefits under some circumstances.

Van Handel, who has been with West Marine since he joined as an assistant controller in 2000, started sailing soon after joining the company, according to a company filing, and crewed in the 2004 West Marine Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Oahu. (Photo above, shot by Lisa Niemczura, shows one ship in the competition, the Mari-Chi IV, completing its race to Hawaii in the competition that year.)

According to West Marine, Van Handel “enjoys spending weekends participating in one-design sailboat races and regattas on the San Francisco Bay.” We assume he may now begin enjoying those things on weekdays, as well.