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| Our “Horizon” Team took first in our division and second overall in the Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s Cabo Race |
By LEN BOSE
I woke up my bicycle from its winter hibernation this week to make myself feel better and to make some first-hand observations from around the harbor.
My route was the same, starting at Newport Harbor Shipyard, to take a look at the new slips being built on the south side of the shipyard property. Bellingham Marine is the contractor and the project appears to be state of the art with no expenses spared. I counted seven new 77-foot slips and 15 50-foot slips, which can provide storage for boats up to 97 feet and 65 feet, respectively, with our harbor’s current overhang codes. While riding around the harbor, my mind had time to reflect on today’s current events, and I kept thinking that the shipyard must have hired Jussie Smollett’s attorney, Kim Foxx, to move this project through the Coastal Commission. Please don’t read this wrong...it’s the shipyard’s property and the larger slips are certainly the best use of the property, but how is our harbor expected to absorb 21 larger yachts? This is only one marina operator out of four other locations in our harbor that are planning on adding larger slips. Harbor Operations should start making plans to open a vessel traffic center soon.
Speaking of Harbor Operations, there has been an obvious migration of vessels moving out of the harbor and into the Cabrillo Ways Marina in San Pedro, because of the increased temporary mooring cost in the harbor. Slip costs in Cabrillo are half of what it is to keep a boat on a mooring in Newport Beach now. I also noticed that Marina Park slips were not being used, yet that was mid-week and spring has only just started. Only one thing to do...pedal downwind and hope for the best. Which somehow reminded me that my health care now costs more per month than my house mortgage?
Next stop was the public dock at 15th Street to find a person that is a mooring permit holder and is on their boat a lot. Fortunately, I found the right person who is in the marine industry and was on their way to work. Let’s call this person “Tony,” and when I asked how things were going out on the mooring, he replied quickly, “Things are much better since the city has cleaned things up out there.” Tony made mention of how the improvement of code enforcement has moved away many of the people that were living on boats without the owner’s knowledge or permission. We then talked about the public pier and the continuous need for code enforcement at the piers. Time zones and boat sizes are constantly being violated which make it more difficult for mooring permit holders. Tony had the idea of mooring permit holders having stickers on their dinghies identifying their boats to their mooring permits. The bike racks were full and according to Tony, most of the bikes never move and are locked into place. When asked if people preferred the Harbor Department over the Sheriff’s, Tony replied: “It’s all the same, no real difference.” Yet, I thought it interesting when Tony said that a couple of buddies are working at the Harbor Department and when he had a concern, it was easy to talk to them mostly because of its location.
I then headed to the 19th Street public pier where it seems much quieter than at 15th Street. The docks were full of dinghies, many appearing to have been in the same location longer than the posted time limits. So, to be the continuing antagonist, I took some photos and will swing back by this weekend and take a few more photos to get a better feeling about the code enforcement on the two busiest public docks in the harbor.
Next stop was Central Avenue public dock in Lido Village. It’s still new and very clean with no use on my cruise by. At this time, one of my good friends, who is a Harbor Patrol employee, stopped and said hello. I asked how the winter had treated them. He replied, “Other than being really wet, it’s been a rather non-eventful winter. I’ve pulled a lot of big trees out of the water.”
Last stop was Basin Shipyard where everyone was working hard and not a spot was open. Opening day must be approaching everywhere I went on this day, as I could hear the whine of the buffers hard at work getting everyone’s boat ready for the season.
Wanted to thank all my readers for the good wishes. We did well in the Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s Cabo Race placing first in our division and second overall.
Sea ya!
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Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for StuNewsNewport.
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