I wanted to give you my extended weather forecast for the rest of this year. It's going to rain, it's going to rain a lot, and I am too old to sail in the rain.
It does not mean that I do not want to sail. It just means I find other things to do on race day — like go upstairs into the yacht club, sit next to the fire, and have a huge breakfast.
It's truly not the best thing to do to increase my boat speed, but it was fun to watch the kids get ready for last weekend's Portsmouth Folly race at the Balboa Yacht Club. Harrison and Will Vandervort, Andrew Luttrell, and Megan Kenney, all moved around the club with plenty of enthusiasm, rigging their boats and watching the breeze and rain pick up.
I returned back to work and watched the race from the safety of my computer screen — another bad call on my part because 35 entries and more than 50 people showed up to race on that cold, wet winter day. The big winners were everyone who attended, and Susan Kenny was there again catching everything on film, which can be viewed atsusankenney.smugmug.com/Sailing. The people who brought home the pickle dishes were Molly Lynch, Paul Blank and Derek Pickell in the center board class and Tucker Cheadle, Karl Pomeroy and John Whitney in the Keel Boat class.
Speaking of pickle dishes — no pun intended, Derek — we are down to our last four powerboats of Newport Harbor's 20 Most Interesting Yachts:
No. 4: "Royal Buzzard," a 70-foot Power Cat built in 2002 at Knight & Carver to a Morrelli & Melvin design. She has a 24-foot beam and is powered by twin 660HP Caterpillars. She can reach a top speed of 24 knots and caries 2,128 gallons of fuel. She has been seen cruising Mexico and docks at Balboa Island.
No. 3: "Shanakee," a 78-foot Nordland and built to a Ed Monk design in 2008. Built for passages off the Pacific Coast and the glacial runways of Alaska's Inside Passage. She was crafted with a high-tech composite structure and just screams perfection. If she is in town you can find her on the Lido Peninsula.
This week I have saved the best gifts for last. Marshal Duffield has donated two hours off a Duffy Electric Boat. If you have never taken a harbor cruise on a Duffy, now is the time to place your name into our hat.
Dave and Derek New from Basin Marine have donated one free haul-out to one of our lucky readers. That's right — if you own a 40-foot boat you may have saved $600.
Send me your e-mails to boseyachts@mac.com and read next week's grand finale to Newport Harbor's 20 most interesting yachts to see if you have won.
LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.
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