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.
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