Twice Around

By Len Bose

Last night I attended the Harbor Commission meeting with my normal reluctance to leave the house just before dinner as my family gathered around the dinner table. Taking my usual seat in the back of the chambers my routine is to look to see who is in attendance in the audience. I only started attending the meeting last November when I started writing this column and I am starting to recognize the regulars. Last night while scanning the room, I noticed a face, but it took me a little while to notice who it was. I thought to myself, “Cool, that’s our harbormaster Lieutenant Mark Long in his civvies rather than in full uniform. Wow, this guy is going the extra mile.” I don’t know about you, but it's a lot easier to talk to a person that is not in full uniform, wearing a bulletproof vest, radio and gun. I am starting to like this guy approach.

Tonight, Lieutenant Long will be speaking at the Balboa Yacht Club in regards to the ongoing challenges of the proper Harbor Operations staffing and the Harbor Patrol’s role in homeland security. I highly recommend you attend tonight’s program. I am quite confident you will be glad you did. The buffer dinner starts at 1800 hours [6 p.m] and 1930 [7:30] for the harbormaster Long presentation. BYC is Located at 1801 Bayside Drive in Corona del Mar and their phone number is (949) 673-3515.

There are three wind shifts coming down the course that need your attention. The first shift is the sealion citation time frame, shift No. 2 is the Marina Park Phase III plan and shift No. 3 is the Proposed Statewide Coastal Marina Permit. Last night the Harbor Commission requested City Council to tighten the time frame of one warning letter to remove the sealions and place the proper deterrents on your vessel, or move your boat to a new location within seven days. If you cannot complete this task, the city will send you a citation. Overall this is a good idea. To me it would make more sense to call the boat owners, and send out the notice. If the boat owner is out of town, the city should have three phone numbers of clean-up crews that can help the out-of-town boat owners. Something to remember as a boat owner is to leave a second phone number with Sally at the mooring office. Nothing would be worse than returning home from vacation and having thousands of dollars of damage to your boat from the sealions and a ticket from the city. Now, wouldn’t that be special!

Wind shift No. 2 – Marina Park Phase III. This story reminds me of the time when a couple of yacht clubs in town had the opportunity to purchase the marina next to them. One club followed through and took the chance of purchasing the property in hard times. The other club felt it was not wise to spend the money in those times. I’ll give you one guess on who made the right decision? This is how I see the Marina Park plan Phase I, II & III. If we don't show our support at the city council meeting on May 11 for Phase III of the Marina Park Plan, I can see us standing in the sand with our tillers in our hands 10 years from now thinking of how it could have been. This one goes right along side of dredging the lower bay; we need everyone to show up at this council meeting.

Wind Shift No. 3. This one concerns the Proposed Statewide Coastal Marina Permit. I'm not sure which example fits best, although two things come to mind when this subject is brought to my attention. One example is there is a clearing westerly breeze coming down the course and I had better shorten sail and place everyone on the rail to make it around the weather mark in good shape. My other example would be if my wife notified me that my mother-in-law was moving into the house! This one I would just get the ditch bag and deploy the life raft and it would be too late for the flares. I could write pages about what this proposal is from the water board. If you have no idea what I am talking about and you fear the fact that your mother in-law is moving in you better go read the information on the RBOC web site at www.rboc.org/call_to_arms.html. Contact your local reps. The harbor commission is forwarding a position letter to council for review, which the council will forward to the state. You might just get thrown out of the boat if you don't act on this one.

It looks like there is a long hard weather beat in front of us and we better start changing gears if we want the long downwind run to the finish!

Sea ya'
Len Bose

Len Bose is a contributing writer to the Daily Voice and owner of Len Bose Yacht Sales.