The Harbor Report: As tide rolls out on 2014, a look back

By Len Bose

December 19, 2014 | 12:57 p.m.

It's that time of year again, and like the tide that rolls in and out methodically, I was able to complete my weekly columns one after another. Over the last five years, we are now at 195. That's a lot of water coming in and out of our harbor, and I again look forward to many more tides.

While reviewing this year with me, you are always welcome to go to the Daily Pilot's website at dailypilot.com and enter my name in the search bar, or just head over to my blog site at lenboseyachts.blogspot.com and scroll down the pages.

I have to start with a huge shout-out to my editor, Michael Miller, for hanging in there with me again this year. He will be the first one to tell you I am not a writer, just an active harbor-user hammering out these stories one letter at a time.

This year, I had 11 interviews with people like Deputy Sean Scoles, who kept us updated with the harbor patrol's activities. Harbor Commissioner Paul Blank always responded to my phone calls and emails within moments and helped me stay informed about our harbor's issues.

Michelle Clemente, our city's marine protection and education supervisor

The two most interesting interviews I did this year were with Michelle Clemente, the city's marine protection and education supervisor, and Jim Dastur, a Balboa Island resident who sits on the Tidelands Commission advisory panel. Clemente's office is in the Back Bay Science Center.

According to the center's mission statement, "The BBSC mission is to provide a hands-on facility where students and the public can study and enjoy the estuarine ecology of Newport Bay, and the marine ecology of the ocean, while promoting natural resource conservation and stewardship throughout the watershed." (View it at backbaysciencecenter.org.)

This was a very informative interview, and I still hope that our City Council members and harbor commissioners reach out to her more often. The same goes for Dastur, who happens to be my go-to person for information regarding bulk head heights and tidal gates. If you happen to look up any of my stories this year, make sure you find these two interviews.

Jim Dastur

Each year, I try to talk to one of our Junior Sailors, and this year, I met up with Abby Hampton from Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, who reviewed her experience at the Junior Sabot National Championships this year. It was a cute story and was released the first week of August.

A couple of other interviews I did this year that piqued my interest were with Gino Morrelli and Pete Melvin, who are the world's top catamaran designers, and Capt. Brian Blair from the commercial fishing vessel Ultra Pacific, which I feel is one of the best-looking vessels in our harbor. I was amazed by how regulated this business is.

My fun interviews this year were with fiberglass repairman Hans Van Iseghem, representative Harvey Wills of Western Marine Marketing and Troy Heidermann, the dock master at the Balboa Bay Club.

This year's weekly topics also covered many of the Balboa Angling Club's tournaments and the active fishing season we had. Of course, I kept everyone updated on the Harbor 20 fleet and my silly ideas of picking up mylar balloons out of the water and establishing day moorings off Big Corona beach.

I also spent plenty of time talking about floating docks and water taxies. I am still a big believer in the mooring floating dock system and hope we do not give up on that idea.

Speaking of not giving up, I still plan on producing this year's list of Newport Beach's 20 most interesting boats and should have it complete by the end of this year.

It's been a good year, and I wish the same for all of you. Happy holidays!

Sea ya.

LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.