Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The Harbor Report: Several silly ideas to ponder this week

I have been working on several of my "Silly Ideas," and I wanted to share them with you.
This year I have written a couple of columns about Newport Harbor's PHRF Hi-Point Championships, a series awarded by the Assn. Of Orange Coast Yacht Clubs (AOCYC).
The races include the ALYC Midwinter's, BYC 66 Series No. 1, Ahmanson Cup Regatta, Angleman Series No. 1 and the Argosy Regatta. I had a custom burgee made by Nikki's Flags for this event and asked the Balboa Yacht Club to help cover some of the cost for placing the burgee under glass and making it into a new trophy.
Now, I just need to attend this weekend's AOCYC meeting at BYC
and try to talk them into allowing the different Newport Beach yacht clubs to recognize the winner at their annual awards banquets this year. I feel this is the best way to gain more recognition of this great event and try to promote PHRF sailing in Newport Harbor.
My next "Silly Idea" came to me at one of the Harbor Commission meetings I attended this year. While in Dana Point Harbor, I noticed two marine recycling centers. These are where boaters can dispose of waste oil, absorbent pads, oil filters, batteries, transmission fluid and engine coolant free of charge without having to drive to the Rainbow disposal site in northern Huntington Beach .

Now the devil will be in the details on this idea but I am going to give it my best effort. I am sure most of my readers already know that Island Marine Fuel Dock and Hill Fuel Dock will take your used absorbent pads and, if you ask nicely, your waste oil. Just give Dave or Gary a call and they will give you the details.
My last idea this week is a recommendation. Take a second and go to iTunes and look up the song from The Wolverines, "What A Bloody Great Day To Go Sailing." It's perfect for the boat.



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The Harbor 20 Championships is this weekend at Newport Harbor Yacht Club. I promised Mary Bacon, the skipper of "Rascal II," that I will have all my superstitions in place before the start of the first race.
In A fleet this coming weekend, its anyone's race. I just hope that fellow BYC members Karen and Gary Thorne are not superstitious about winning A Fleet in the Schock Fall Regatta last weekend. It's bad luck to win the event before the main event!
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Save these dates! We have a couple of very important events coming up fast on us.
The first is the American Legion Yacht Club's "Sail for the Visually Impaired" on Oct. 15. The group is looking for boat owners to take some people out sailing that day. For more information about this event, please go to the American Legion website. I need to give a shout out to all the Harbor 20 and PHRF boat owners to check into this event and volunteer.
Next we have the Hoag Cup on Oct. 22-23, presented by BYC and NHYC. Fundraising for Hoag Hospital will be created through entry fees, and contributions from various yacht club members who wish to support Hoag.
This is always one of our harbor's premier events to raise money for our local hospital, while racing top Southern California sailboats. The racing will include the Fast 40 fleet, TP52 and the 70's fleet.
Look for Sunday's race on Oct. 23 to sail past our local piers. Check with BYC and NHYC for more details on how you can participate. If you would like to read more of my "Silly Ideas," remember to go to my blog site at http://lenboseyachts.blogspot.com/.
Sea ya!
LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.

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