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| SDYC 2016 PV Race Photo Joysailing.com |
The end of October is the quiet time around the harbor with most boat owners rubbing their faces and cursing under their berth while completing their maintenance list to match the 2018 calendar.
Although, if you look close enough into the harbor you will notice two groups of yachtsmen with their maintenance lists nearly completed and are overwhelmed with excitement as the start of the BAJA-HA-HA on October 30 and the CUBAR November 11 with both events starting from San Diego then cruising down to Baja California.
The BAJA-HA-HA is for the sailboat cruiser looking for some company as they start their cruise to wherever their dreams will take them: 154 boats have entered this year’s cruise with 63 boats sailing down the California coast from north of Monterey. During this migration, close to 20 cruisers have stopped in Newport Harbor to anchor for the night or to spend a couple of weeks at Marina Park. For me it is always exciting to see so many people reach their goals and start on a new course.
The BAJA-HA-HA will be on the starting inside San Diego harbor with the crews in Halloween costume. I can only assume the Coast Guard will have the start listed in the Notice to Mariners and issue a security alert while all the ghouls sail out of San Diego Harbor. Let’s hope it is not that foggy that afternoon on October 30. The HA-HA has three legs to this cruise, the first from San Diego to Turtle Bay. Then to Bahia Santa Maria, then finish in Cabo San Lucas. The schedules include softball games to beach parties. The fun meter is pegged for 12 days during this event. This one is on my bucket list and I hope to be attending this time next year.
Now, the CUBAR is a power boat rally consisting of yachts, mostly all expedition-style with a few coastal cruisers. From the three boats that stayed with us at Marina Park these were all advanced yachtsmen and this is not their first rodeo.
This is a rally rather than a race with the participants paying close attention to their speed and course. There are scheduled stops in Ensenada, Turtle Bay, Magdalena Bay, Man of War Cove and finishing in San Jose del Cabo. Wine tasting, exploring and fishing are the main activities while at anchor. Good times will be had, and I will always be looking for an invitation to attend this event someday.
By this time, you might be asking why I am writing about something that has nothing to do with our harbor? That’s not true any longer with the addition of Marina Park and the updated mooring system along with our free anchorages. Each cruiser I meet truly enjoyed their stay in Newport Harbor. These cruisers must be telling their friends, because more and more of them are landing in our pond rather than flying by each season. It has been really exciting to be a part of this change and watch our harbor become more boater friendly.
Bringing it back closer to home, we have had the heat turned up around the harbor a couple of times this month and I am not just referring to the weather. If you are a regular reader of mine you might have noticed over the last month that I have mentioned that model coyotes have been the best deterrent to keep sea lions off your docks and boats. Some of you might have even heard the news reports on KNX 1070 news radio and NBC TV news reporting the use of the model coyotes by the City of Newport Beach in the harbor. The interesting fact is just about the same day the radio and TV news agencies reported how effective the coyotes are, the sea lions must have heard them, too. The sea lions have picked up on the stationary position of the coyotes and they are lying all over them now. Best to shift back to the SealStop system, and you can find more information on this at www.sealstop.com. For those of you that did purchase model coyotes, remember that you have to move them around to be effective. Thats kind of funny because my wife tells me the same thing.
Sea ya.
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Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for StuNewsNewport.
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