The Harbor Report: Breathtaking boats and a busy bay

“The “Piano Man” himself Billy Joel ’s previous vessel “Vendetta” has just arrived to Newport Harbor.
Photo courtesy of Doug Zorn Yacht design and photographer Billy Black

I have been walking around with my head down this week trying not jam my foot into a dock cleat’s looking for a story. Finally I lifted my head up and the harbor is full of activity this week.

I started my rounds at the Newport Harbor Shipyard and before my eyes was one of my all time dream boats. The “Piano Man” himself Billy Joel ’s previous vessel “Vendetta” had just arrived into the shipyard and will soon grace our harbor. This 57’ Gatsby-era commuter yacht designed by Doug Zurn and built by Director in 2005 is absolutely stunning and will make you stop in your tracks.

Interior

I am a huge fan of commuter style yachts and had noticed “ Vendetta” as soon as she was listed and thought to myself how perfect she would be over at Catalina. With a reported speed of 47 knots the new owner can make it over to the island in less than an hour and accommodate up to six guests.

She is guaranteed to be on the Newport Beach’s most interesting power boat list this year, rumor has it that the boat will be placed in the water for the rest of summer and then hauled for a refit. Which is like saying Julianne Hough needs a make over, I am not going to lie they are both pretty hot just the way there are now and is a perfect example on why we refer to boats as females. Yea I know thats a rather chauvinistic statement, but “what are you going to do?”

After taking a couple of deep breathes and regaining my composure I looked across the bay and noticed that The New Port Marina and Office buildings, near the Crab Cooker on Balboa Peninsula, is almost completed. From across the bay it appears that this marina will have will have over sixteen slips that will be able to hold 55’ foot boats.

From the shipyard I normally take a look at how many big boats there are on Lido Peninsula in the BellPort Marina. Right now the big slips are full to capacity and I counted nine boats over 70’ feet.  My next stop is next to the Lido Sailing Club to get an idea how many big charter boat are in town. The number of 14 stays rather consistent throughout the year for the charter boats.

Continuing around the harbor to Basin Shipyard where the Stan Miller Invitational fishing tournament is under way. The word was that close to forty boats will be competing for Tuna, Yellowtail, Dorado, Swordfish and Marlin release categories. The tournament kicked off on Friday Sept 9th at Basin Marine Shipyard and fishing starts immediately after Captains Party. Awards will be on the 11th at 18:00 at the shipyard. So if you see a lot of good looking sport fishers in the harbor this weekend the reason is because Viking, MagBay and Hatteras yachts are sponsoring the event.

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I also had a chance Noel Plutchak this week, some of you might recall that Plutchak repairs our pump out stations around the harbor. Plutchak reports that he is still having problems with boaters using the pump outs as a bilge pump. When boaters do this the pumps suck up loose metal and screws which interns cut the vacuum hoses inside the pumps at a replacement cost of $1,000 apiece. What is bound to happen is that the pump out hoses will get smaller and smaller so that the boaters cannot take the nozzles down below there boats and into their bilge’s. Not to make a pun, but that that really sucks, because some of us have our deck flanges in the bow or in the stern of our boats. So if you see someone coming up from down below with the pump out nozzle you can always take the make and the name of the boat and drop me a note at boseyachts@mac.com. I will discreetly pass the boat names on to the proper authorities and marina operators.

I am starting to look around the harbor for boats to place in Newport Beaches 20 Most Interesting Boats this November. If you see anything I should mention please droop me a note.

Boat name of the week: “Lido Isle Watt Club”

Sea ya

LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist for the Daily Pilot.