IT'S SEPTEMBER and the boys from Westport Yachts, the yacht maker, have left for Monaco. That glamorous Mediterranean playground, known for the Grand Prix, Princess Grace, and the casinos of Bond ... James Bond, hosts the most exotic fleet of yachts ever assembled. Each September the famed Monaco Yacht Show purrs with sleek cars ushering diamond-studded stars and starlets who come to tour the luxurious yachts.

These dazzling creations, which can cost upward of $100 million and reach more than 400 feet in length, are docked stern to the shore. They are topped with dueling helipads, equipped with hot tubs and appointed with sumptuous interiors.

As the world's rich promenade the docks, touring the crème de la crème of yachts, they are witnessing the products of a rarefied business. No more than a few hundred of these large vessels are produced each year, yet they employ tens of thousands of artisans and technicians around the world. And of the regions that produce the yachts, the Pacific Northwest is one of the most prolific, and its boat builders are flourishing.

Among the local yacht makers, Westport Shipyard is one of the most successful. For Daryl Wakefield, the low-key president of Westport, the Monaco show is an opportunity to sell yachts - and a chance to tour rival products. Unlike many builders who have stalled as a result of competition from the Asian and European producers, Westport remains a strong made-in-Washington brand. A major reason is an efficient production technique the company pioneered that has enabled the firm to avoid the plague of headaches and cost overruns of custom manufacturing. With plants in Hoquiam, Westport and Port Angeles, Westport has sales estimated to exceed $100 million. The company employs nearly 900 and produces 12-15 boats a year in the 98-foot to 164-foot range. Some of the yachts cost more than $30 million. In the luxury yacht business, which is worth billions of dollars a year, it is understood that boats are toys and that big yachts are mega-toys for the very rich. But in Washington, big boats are also big business.

Westport, based in a small town of fishing boats and errant surfers, had humble origins. The company began in Grays Harbor County in 1964 as a commercial fishing boat builder. It was purchased in 1977 by two brothers, Rick and Randy Rust. They transformed the company into a leading producer of composite yachts. Eventually, they took on a savvy marine industry financial partner, Orin Edson, who bought out their interest in the 1990s.

Edson had previously founded Bayliner Marine Corp. in his Arlington garage, developing it into the largest boat manufacturer in the world. He first convinced workers to reduce the build time by offering them an equal share in the savings. He did the same for materials saved on the job and also rewarded employees for a product that required no warranty repairs. Edson sold Bayliner in 1986 for an estimated $425 million. But he applied many of his lessons when he took over Westport. Among the most important lessons was the knowledge that buyers who had a good experience with his company would come back when they chose to move up to a bigger boat.

And move up they did. In 1980 there were only about 800 yachts in the world more than 80 feet long. By 1995 that number had tripled to nearly 2,400. While skeptics predicted the bottom would fall out of the market with the 1990s recession, growth continued unabated. The size of the boats also kept growing, and a new market emerged for boats over 125 feet. The 80-foot yacht, once the envy of the marina, barely gets a second look these days. Only yachts well over 100 feet deserve the mega-yacht designation.