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| Only Child racing in the Harbor |
It always seems this time of year I write my column without heading out onto the harbor first. With all the rain over the last week the only time I have been on my Harbor 20 is to pump out all the rain water.
That's not necessarily true, I have been attending the Newport Harbor Yacht Club's Winter Series and for the second year in a row I am getting beat up on the race course during this series.
With all the light or just fluky winds, along with huge currents running, I am having a hard time connecting the dots around the race course. People that seem to have a better idea on how to get around the course this time of year are Team Bissell and Team Sellinger. They are tied for first place in the C fleet and it will come down to the final day of the series on Feb. 5th.
In B fleet, Chris Hill and Nina Manning hold a small lead over Team Reed and Team Haynes. This will be a close series and everyone will have their game faces on for the last day of racing.
In A fleet, Argyle Campbell sailing "No Travel Required" has been sailing the most consistently this winter although Team Wise and Mark Conzelman sailing with Phil Thompson are staying within striking distance.
Speaking of striking distance you no longer need to concern yourself with running into the old No. 11 range marker. It has finally been removed after a year with dealing with the Coast Guard.
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| # 11 Channel Marker REMOVED! |
I had to go look for myself to believe it and yes it is finally gone. The removal of the three remaining old telephone pole range markers remains a task for our City Council this year.
If you have ever run into one of these range markers you know what I am talking about. Remember to remind your city council members along with harbor commissioners that it is time to remove these ancient beasts from our harbor.
While making my rounds around the harbor, in my warm car, I noticed that the NHYC has a large three-story ship they are chartering from Hornblower as their clubhouse for the next year as they build a new clubhouse.
Racing ahead
It appears everything is going to plan from the outside and the club has a full racing calendar set for the upcoming season. It starts with the Islands race that starts in L.A. Harbor and goes around Catalina and San Clemente then finishes in San Diego. It's the perfect warm-up for the Newport Beach-to-Cabo race schedule to start March 10. We are hopefully attending both of these races ourselves aboard the Santa Cruz 50 Horizon to start our racing season.
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| Temp NHYC |
News about a couple of other prominent racing boats have grabbed my attention this winter. The Santa Cruz 50 Flaca has been sold and will now live in Long Beach.
The Andrews 39 Bien Roulee has to my understanding been sold to a local Newport Beach racer, which is very good news.
On rather surprising news, the Andrews 49 It's OK and the Peterson 50 Checkmate have been donated to Orange Coast College. Let's hope these two boats stay in town and still show up on the local race course.
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| Basins New Ride |
I went by Basin Shipyard recently and got a glimpse at Dave and Derek New's brand new wheels. The shipyard traded in their old Travel Lift for a brand new one with all the bells and whistles. Remote control, taller and much quieter, I never have been able to figure out the miles per gallon and I might have gone with some different rims but it looks really sharp.
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| Marine Recycling Center Dana Point |
Harbor Commission meeting
I made it past the Harbor Commission meeting this month and was very glad to hear commissioner Kenny request to place on next month's agenda the idea of having a Marine Recycling Center in town. I have written about this idea a couple of times over the last seven years. I have noticed Marine Recycling Centers in Dana Point and up in L.A. Harbor. I feel having one our two centers in town will solve part of the problem of boaters using our pump-out stations incorrectly.
At the end of the meeting I had a chance to talk to Lt. Mark Alsobrook. Have I ever told you how tremendous it is to have our harbor master attend these meetings?
The subject quickly went to the weather. I brought up the fact that I have pumped out over 200 gallons of water this winter from my Harbor 20. Alsobrook quickly responded that's what his team has been doing a lot of this winter, pumping out water from the different moored boats.
Boat name of the week: "Just add Ice"
Sea ya!
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LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist for the Daily Pilot
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