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| Newport Beach Harbor Master Kurt Borsting |
By LEN BOSE
I have to assume you all know that Newport Beach’s Harbor Department has a new Harbormaster, Kurt Borsting. Borsting started on one of our harbor’s busiest weeks during the Christmas Boat Parade and from my first observations, he has an astute awareness of the tasks assigned to him and the Harbor Department.
Borsting returned my call within the hour and granted me an interview with him in the upcoming week. His quick response is always a good sign on who you will be dealing with in the future. The day following this month’s Harbor Commission meeting, I caught up with him.
Borsting is married with a son and daughter; he grew up in Long Beach’s Belmont Shores area, where he lives today. He attended Cal State Long Beach, where he studied political science and later attended graduate school in the Midwest. He had been previously employed by the City of Long Beach, where he worked as the superintendent of marine operations. This included Alamitos Bay, Shoreline and Rainbow harbors along with the city’s launch ramps.
While describing the similarities between Newport Beach and Long Beach, he mentioned both communities are residential in nature with activity in and around the neighborhoods. The types of use are very similar with youth activities, rowing, fishing, and active yacht clubs.
One of Borsting’s first tasks will be to maintain and boost the Harbor Department’s public information efforts, by reaching out to the different stakeholders, such as the Newport Mooring Association, and yacht, rowing and fishing clubs, while attending the different association meetings around the harbor. He mentioned the different communication lines his team will be tapping into from the staff on the harbor to the MyNB app. “All of these strategies will add up to real quality public information,” Borsting said.
When discussing how his team will be serving the harbor, he said: “We have to stay focused and hope to be the ambassadors of this harbor.” We also talked about helping guests into Marina Park or picking up a mooring, proper use of our pump-out stations and understanding Title 17 better.
While discussing Title 17, Borsting expressed, “It’s critical that we get the community active in the different outreach meetings while reviewing Title 17.” The City Council has instructed the Harbor Department and the Harbor Commission to bring forward their recommendations to update Title 17 of the City’s codes this year.
We also talked about state and federal grants that the harbor can apply for, and I was very encouraged with Borsting’s understanding of these grants and how to maintain them. He said this month, the Harbor Department will be receiving an oil spill and response trailer that was obtained by a grant from California Fish and Wildlife. Fish and Wildlife will be in town this month to properly train the Harbor Department staff on the trailer’s equipment. On a side note, I hope that the sheriff’s department is invited along with the different marina owners and dockmasters from around town.
We discussed code enforcement out on the harbor, and it was encouraging to hear that the Harbor Department is still moving forward in training staff to become code enforcement officers. Along with the Harbor Commission, an NOAA representative is invited to instruct the Harbor Department on how to deter sea lions next season. Borsting felt that these are all helpful steps toward maintaining our harbor.
Over the years, I have interviewed five different sheriff’s harbormasters, along with a number of harbor commissioners and harbor resources staff. My gut tells me that with Borsting, we have a harbormaster who has the skill set, is a good listener and is easy to approach. Only time will tell, but my confidence is high that we are moving forward in the right direction.
Before I go, please note that this weekend we will be experiencing the second part of our King Tides. There will be a lot of flooding this Sunday and Monday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. due to all the rain this week and flotsam. Be sure to keep an eye open on what’s in front of you while traveling through the harbor.
Sea ya.
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Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for StuNewsNewport.
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