By LEN BOSE
Plenty of activity in the harbor, this month of May 2019, so let’s dive head first into it. You had to have noticed last Saturday and Sunday, May 4 and 5, everyone fishing in the 56th annual Lilly Call Tournament. This event takes place in the harbor with the first 75 anglers signing up getting to participate. From my view of the harbor, while traveling over the Pacific Coast Highway bridge at 8:30 Saturday morning, all the participants were starting to show signs of an “all-nighter” with the tournament starting at 12:01 Saturday morning. I had all the intentions of heading out to interview the anglers but the odds for me completing that task are about the same as winning the lotto.
So here is the next best thing – the winners: Bass in 3rd place was Jeff McDonald at 1.81 (weight), 2nd place Ryan Lawler at 1.97 and in 1st place was Davy Schweickert, crushing the competition with a 3.35 Bass. Corbina in 3rd place was Tim Humphrey at 3.64, Tommy Tupman lifted up a 4.14 fish for 2nd place, while Alyssa Corum brought home the winning pickle dish at 4.77. Over in the Halibut species Casey McCann caught a 5.57 for 3rd place, in second was Chris Scott at 6.05, while the winner was Patrick Serge, catching a 6.43 Bass. There were no grand slam winners this year by catching all three species.
The next two big events at the Balboa Angling Club are the White Seabass Seminar on May 15 from 6-8 p.m. at the clubhouse, then on May 25, the Annual Fundraising event. You can call the clubhouse for details at 949.673.6316. The Balboa Angling Club is the best value in town, and if you are looking for Junior programs for your kids this summer, this is a must call.
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Saturday is Opening Day for the Balboa and the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Clubs, while the Newport Harbor Yacht Club celebrated its opening day last Sunday. From the different posted photos, I noticed the weather was perfect and the membership could not have been prouder of their new NHYC clubhouse. I always enjoy Opening Day and I am sure you will find me doing my yellow beard walk between the two clubs. You will have to come up to me and ask what I mean about my yellow beard walk.
For all of my readers, I have re-posted my Flag Etiquette column I wrote back in 2007 under the title “The True Yachtsman Guide to Flag Etiquette for Opening Day,” which you can find at lenboseyachts.blogspot.com. I also posted a YouTube video of the yellow beard walk along with the best way home.
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This Tuesday starts the summer sailing season with the famous Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club’s Taco Tuesdays. Each summer, I look forward to sailing in the weeknight races around the harbor. With the thought of summer sailing quickly approaching, the smile has already returned to my face. NHYC twilights will be starting on May 23. Life is good!
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Next up on the harbor is the Balboa Bay Club’s “Underwater Clean Up” on Saturday, June 1 from 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Two hundred volunteers and 80 scuba divers collected 4,000 pounds of trash out of the harbor last year. Enjoy live music and tasty pupus that only the Bay Club can provide afterward. For more information, go to
www.nhunderwatercleanup.com for more information.
I attended this month’s Harbor Commission meeting and overall, it felt like two steps forward and three steps back. I don’t have time to write about the items that concerned me, so I have to remember what my father told me, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” which is probably too much already. Okay. It is always good to see Chris Miller attending from Public Works to update the commission on eelgrass. Let me start out by saying, “Eelgrass is our friend.” in fact, the yacht clubs should make T-shirts with this written on the front of them for Opening Day. You all should know by now Newport Harbor is the only harbor in California with a specific plan which allows the city to permit dredging and impact shallow water eelgrass. Bottom line is it is very difficult for the city to survey the eelgrass and keep the plan in place with all the different government agencies. Short story, just remember “Eelgrass is our friend.”
It was also very comforting to see Lt. Corn from the Sheriff’s Department attending the meeting. The most heartwarming thing I watched was how Harbor Master Kurt Borsting reached out to the public and addressed their concerns. Borsting followed a mooring permit holder out of the meeting to explain to them, in person, on how he could help them with the new time limits on the public piers. Borsting also hurried up to catch me before I had left the meeting at its close. I have never witnessed this before and it left me with an encouraging feeling that we’re all working together to make our harbor better.
Sea ya.
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Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for
Stu News Newport.
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