So far so good with my good friend Nat Fuqua

When you round the last mark and are heading downwind towards the finish line of life it feels good to reflect back before that last gybe into the finish. One is reminded of just how long the racecourse has been while being determined to cross in good order, and fortunate not to have had to withdraw early from the race because of a breakdown. 

   So far so good with my good friend Nat Fuqua competing in this race of life. I estimate we met in 1970 when he moved into the neighborhood. The group of kids at the end of the cul-de-sac on Regatta Street in Huntington Beach were all very good athletes. We played every sport until the street lights came on each day. Baseball, football, street hockey we were all very competitive. Fuqua and I have memorable stories for each sport, at the end of the 8th grade, Nat moved out of the area and returned to graduate from Edison High in the last semester of our senior year. We attended our senior prom together and partied until the street lights were turned off. We attend Aerosmith, Cal Jam 2, Kiss, and Rolling Stones concerts, and have a great story about driving home in a big ass Cadillac from the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert. 

Just out of High School Fuqua decided he wanted to be an airline pilot and started flying lessons. One weekend we decided we would fly to Palm Springs with a couple of dates for dinner. We got lost over the Salton Sea on our return home that night and spent the night in some small town on the Mexican border. Our dates thought we had this all planned as we only could afford a room with one double bed in it.

Fuqua soared into his flying career while I started to sail almost every day. We always thought how cool it would be if he flew over one of the boats I was on during a big race. He was my best man at my wedding while I was his best man. We stayed in touch over the years sometimes going years before hanging out again. 

As we start this last downwind run towards the finish line of life the attached photos add thousand of words to our race reflecting on just how good it has been flying and sailing through life. We both toast each time we meet that neither of us has had to work day in our lives.

We are getting together this weekend for a type of bucket list Sunday. Fuqua purchased killer seats for the Cardinals/49’ers game followed up with front row center for ZZ Top that night. I bought us “Sharp dressed man” ZZ-Top Cowboy hats, some new cheap shades, and a little something for the football game. I’m so excited I think I pooped a little!

Sea ya

Bose 6th Grade

Fuqua 6th Grade

Bose 7th Grade

Fuqua 7th Grade

Bose 8th Grade

Fuqua 8th Grade

Hot for Teacher 8th Grade

Senior Prom

Fuqua Best Man at my Wedding

Today

ZZ Top May, 2022

On the Harbor: Good Samaritans who are helping keep our bay clean

By LEN BOSE

In my recent travels around the harbor, I noticed a new boat in the harbor named Good Samaritan. The word “samaritan” has multiple meanings, yet this one fits the boat’s name: A person who helps others; A person who is compassionate and helps someone in need, especially when they are not obligated to do so. For example, you might describe someone as a Good Samaritan if they purchased a boat and the crew to help clean up the harbor of trash and debris. (I edited that definition a little at the end.)

Well, that is what REALTOR® Tim Smith has done by commissioning Elastic Work Boats from Carmi, Ill. to build a 25’ custom Omini Catamaran that is powered by a 50hp Suzuki outboard that features a large skimmer that can collect more than 1,000 pounds of debris into a cage, which can be crane-lifted out to dispose of the different materials hauled from the harbor. Other features included handrails, bow rollers, VHF radio, hard top, and commercial rub rails. This is the proper vessel for this job with no expense spared. I have not had a chance to talk to Smith on the phone yet, but without a doubt, he did his due diligence and has purchased a vessel that will last for many years. It’s my understanding that a non-profit group will be formed to cover expenses from storage, maintenance, and the skipper. I am not sure how Smith found long-time charter boat Captain Robert Sloan to operate the vessel, but after talking to Sloan over the phone and then just by chance running into him on the harbor the following day, Smith has hit it out of the park again. There is no one better for this job, and after meeting Sloan he is my new best friend.

“I have been a charter boat captain most of my life and have always stopped to pick up trash, now I get paid to stop (and do this), so it’s the perfect job for me,” Sloan said. He works three days a week and eight hours each day on this project. He also runs a couple of boats at the Sea Scout Base for a couple of other non-profit groups.

His clean-up route takes him from Upper Newport Bay and then counterclockwise around the harbor with stops along the open beaches, public dock, marinas, yacht clubs, and under the different bridges. “I have learned where the trash accumulates over the last month and a half that we have been on the harbor,” Sloan said. What surprised me is that he is walking that extra mile by walking all of the harbor’s beaches and patrolling the waterways. Sloan does have one crew member who joins him every day and that is his dog, Xena. I have never seen a happier dog and I am very envious of Sloan being at work on the harbor with his dog. The two of them have found some interesting items – not just tennis balls floating down the harbor but refrigerator doors, ice coolers, and huge deadhead logs, and the season doesn’t really start until winter when the rains flush out the uplands. “It’s as clean as it gets right now, although when it rains it’s all going to be a mess again,” Salon said

 Most of the time Sloan uses a type of pool pole and net to pull the debris from the water and has come up with some of his own ideas by placing a type of barbed zip tie on the end of the pole to grab items and then pull them out of rocks or tight spaces. After each day’s work, Sloan heads to Marina Park to use the crane there and weigh in, then disposes his catch.

According to Harbormaster Paul Blank, “We had a goal (of collecting debris) for the first fiscal year which began July 1 of 1,200 pounds of debris. With the two teams working together and starting to weigh in, our catches as of August 3 were at 2,281.3 lbs.,” said Blank. That’s mind-blowing to me, because the season has not even started yet and we have “The Beast” in the bullpen with the Trash Interceptor going into service very soon in Upper Newport Bay.

I hope to catch Tim Smith on the phone soon and ask him how he came up with such a great idea, what are the future plans for the clean-up boat, and how we can all donate to this project. One of the vessel banners reads: Who you work with matters.

That takes on a whole new meaning to me, while making me feel good about our harbor.

Sea ya.

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Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for Stu News Newport.

On the Harbor: Pacific Airshow this weekend and a recap of recent events

(L-R) Joshua Legg and Greg Helias, 2024 H20 Fleet Championship winners

By LEN BOSE

It’s that time of year when I am waving to the fighter jet pilots from my office window, and believe it or not I have had the pilots return my wave with a salute in previous years practicing for the Huntington Beach Airshow. Speaking of war jets, I completely missed the fact that the War Heroes on the Water were in the house that second to last weekend of September. That same weekend was the Harbor 20 Championships, and my predictions were very accurate this year. We also have most if not all of our harbor channel markers now eliminated.

On Saturday, Sept. 21, the War Heroes on Water “WHOW” commanded the harbor filling the anchorage and the harbor with some of the best-looking vessels located on our coast. If I’m not mistaken, this is the seventh year running the parade and fishing tournament, with each year bringing in more yachts and people. It’s all about saving the lives of our veterans through public awareness and fundraising, and providing a platform for veterans to strengthen their spirit and move forward towards purpose and healing. I refer to the event as WOW, because of all the yachts and people involved. My understanding is that the fishing tournament brings so many people to Avalon that it’s the busiest day of the year for the shore boats.

This leads into the Huntington Beach Airshow, taking place October 4-6, with the weather forecast showing flat sea conditions and mid-70s air temp. Saturday looks like the best day; the chance of fog diminishing from Friday. Sunday looks like it will be baking out on the water, with the air temperature forecasted at 85. Either way, it’s a great day on the water featuring the Thunderbirds, Canadian Snowbirds, F-22 Raptor Team, 122d F-15 Fighter Squadron and much more. This event always seems to make summer go out with a boom!

In my last column, I talked about the Harbor 20 fleet championships that sailed on September 21 and 22. My C Fleet predictions were a little off with Erika Foy and Paul Noring sailing away from most of the fleet, other than Team Kelly, who only finished five points behind to take second place. I was a little closer with my picks in B Fleet with Tucker Cheadle and Steve Schupak leading John Bubb after the first day, and for whatever reason he could not make it to the race course on Sunday, allowing Bubb to take B Fleet. Welcome to A Fleet John, you sailed fast this last season, and I am sure you will hold your own next season in A Fleet.

I hit my predictions perfectly in A Fleet with Team Legg and Helias winning the Class Championships. They had a slow start placing 11th in the first two races of the series, but Helias told me after the event that he mentioned the curse of me picking them to win after the second race. That must have lifted the bad jujum because they won six out of the last 10 races. Team Wiese finished in second place with Thompson and Conzelman taking third place, and Team Campbell in fourth. Chuck Simmons and I finished a hard-fought battle in seventh place. We’ve had many 4th or 6th place finishes, with our best finish being a 2nd. We felt good about our effort, but made too many mistakes mixed in with some bad luck.

In the middle of September, Harbormaster Paul Blank sent out a notice that most if not all the racing, anchorage and aids to navigation in the lower bay have now been illuminated. This is one of those small upgrades to the harbor that is more difficult to accomplish than you can imagine. Now we can hope that the next item is the county or Orange Sheriff’s Department seeing the light, and providing lights on the upper bay channel markers sometime in the near future.

If we are really lucky, maybe the Coast Guard might even see the light and change out the three remaining “old-fashioned” channel markers and replace them with smaller buoys when they start dreading next year. I know I’m reaching for the stars on that one, yet we can only wish.

Sea ya.

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Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for Stu News Newport.