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| OC Sheriff’s Department Harbormaster Lt. Chris Corn and his wife, Donna |
By LEN BOSE
It always makes you feel kind of good inside when you notice a local kid “doing good,” and that is exactly how I felt after interviewing Lt. Chris Corn from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Corn is tasked with the county’s Harbormaster role in Dana Point, Huntington Harbour and Newport Beach.
Corn was born in Santa Maria and moved to Huntington Harbour at a young age where he grew up exploring the Harbour. After graduating from Marina High School, he joined the Navy and served in Desert Storm. He became an electronics technician stationed at Miramar and Long Beach, then after seven years in the service, he joined the Sheriff’s Academy. One of his many different assignments was as a deputy patrolman on Newport Harbor for eight and a half years. He has been married to his beautiful wife, Donna, for 31 years and lives in Costa Mesa. Many of you might recognize Donna, who had worked at West Marine for several years, and can actually answer your boating questions.
One of my first questions to Corn was how the role of the Sheriff’s Department has changed since the city has taken over the management of the moorings and when the should public call the Harbor Department with their concerns or complaints. “Our roll has not changed that much. We don’t manage the moorings any longer, however, we still enforce all the same laws and all the same municipal codes throughout the harbor. We are still enforcing laws and saving lives, fighting fires...that’s all the same. If a citizen has a complaint, by all means, please give us a call,” Corn shared.
When asked about the different training the harbor deputies take part in, Corn replied: “Everyday our guys are training, from boat handling, boat fires, towing, homeland security, the list is quite extensive. We tow anything from small boats to helping the Catalina Flyer get back into their slip. We routinely do large mock emergency drills with the city’s fire department.” I was also glad to hear the Sheriff’s Department also received a California State grant and received two spill trailers with one being stationed in Newport Beach and the other in Huntington Harbour.
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| Lt Corn recognizing Deputy Terry Smith 52 years of service |
The Sheriff’s Harbor Department is also responsible for managing the moorings in front of Bay Shores, 23 navigational buoys and most of the Back Bay. When asked which emergencies keep you up at night Corn quickly replied, “Boat fires are my biggest concern. It’s dangerous for the boater and our personnel. It’s a fine line between putting out the fire and not sinking the boat.”
Then I inquired as to what boaters should keep in mind, now that we are approaching the winter season. “Remember your boat maintenance and safety equipment schedule. We get a lot of calls in the springtime when boaters return to their boats when fuel filters get plugged and wire connections have gone bad to lights and pumps. It’s also a good time to check your mooring and dock lines. The Santa Ana winds are always due to blow through this time of year and we can get those monster clearing westerlies after a winter’s storm has passed over us in December, January and February.”
So what is Corn concerned about with the harbor over the next 10 years? “The harbor is not getting any larger, yet it seems we are adding more and more vessels each year. Vessel traffic and boater safety are my concerns for the future,” he said. We went on to talk about how many more marina operators are updating their marinas with larger slips which we both felt impact harbor traffic.
What about upcoming public outreach programs scheduled for next year? “We plan on doing something similar to ‘Coffee with a Cop’ and we plan on calling it ‘Day on the Dock,’ where the public will be invited to the Sheriff’s Harbor Department for a tour of the facility and meet the different staff members to get a better idea of our tasks and challenges for the upcoming year,” he said.
Corn has been on the job as the OC Harbormaster for two years and if I was to guess, the Sheriff will be promoting him up the ladder soon.
“This has been my dream job since I was hired on some 25 years ago, hoping to spend at least two more years here. It’s always at the will of the Sheriff,” Corn said.
Over my 12 years as a harbor reporter, I have interviewed six Harbormasters, and Corn is becoming one of the best among them, along with the same ranks as Long and Alsobrook. Corn is approachable, and he attends most harbor meetings from Huntington to Dana Point. I tease him about the nine different yacht club opening days he attends in the hot sun and in full dress uniform each year. He’s a good one, and if we are lucky enough to keep him for the next two years, our harbors will most certainly benefit.
Sea ya!
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Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for Stu News Newport
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