Harbor 20' "Catch and Dispose"

Team Drayton

Sunday, April 26, 2020, Newport Beach CA, Five Points area of the harbor. “Catch and Dispose” Tournament. The fog lifted a little later in the day while the traffic decreased substantially within the anchorage area from the previous day. 11 Teams showed up for the tournament and at 12:00 each team headed out like prospectors looking for gold.

Team Bose headed to Bayshores and walked the docks, where Jennifer found a boat brush in the water, while retrieving it she realized it was a little stinky. “We are not putting this in the boat it smells really bad”,  she said. while placing it in the dock trash can. Our next stop on our prospecting plan was the Balboa Bay Club where we gathered most of our flotsam along the sea wall. As we started to depart Team Kerr/Thompson sailed up and expressed their excitement finding the mother load in the SOL restaurant marina. Wendy had the quote of the day “Len, this is so much fun! We just take these boats out to race, I never knew you could have this much fun in them.” Phil and I had a good laugh then commented on how many boaters, that we're watching us, we're so thankful for our efforts. It felt good and ya it was fun.

Team Kerr/Thompson 

Team Kerr/Thompson had hit the jackpot and we wondered if we should continue with our plan or head over to the SOL marina. We continued with our plan and found more flotsam in the Calypso Marina. Just like that an hour and a half had passed so we started our sail to Fernando street Public Pier.

We arrived at 14:00 and was greeted by Team Volk and with the smile, on their faces of accomplishment, they had found a huge amount of flotsam on one of the islands in the upper bay. Next to arrive at the Dock was Team Drayton who had also hit it big at the UCI Rowing base in the upper bay. By the way, I do not recommend sailing under the PCH Bridge in your H20, Team Drayton was in a 22’ Duffy BayIsland and Volk was in a ridged dinghy Both teams found mounds of flotsam.

Meanwhile, aboard their Boston Whaler, Heidi Hall and Steven Guzowski were prospecting Balboa Island and China Beach and reeled in over 8 full bags of flotsam. At the same time team Camerini, Davies, Campbell, Menninger, Simmonds and Mcchesney were all trolling the waters and brought in full bags of flotsam.

Like I had mentioned earlier when other boaters recognized what we were doing they all wanted to join in and help out. Jennifer and I must have had over 8 people thank us for our efforts that day, we heard the same stories from all the other teams in the tournament. After everyone had left and Jennifer and I were surrounded by all the flotsam bags I said to Jen “Now the hard work” of bringing all the bags up to the trash cans at the end of the pier. Another boater had been watching us and pulled up and asked if he could help and thank us again.

Truly a heart-filling day by all the Newport Luv’n! HUGE shout out to all the Harbor 20 owners who participated in the tournament. Each one of them went the extra mile. Len Bose 

EST : #350 Pounds of Flotsam collected 

H 20 “Catch and Dispose Tournament”

“Catch and Dispose Tournament”

H20’s & Harbor friends

Sunday, April 26, 2020

1200

Just Fun to show our harbor love – “NA” Organizing Authority

Turning Basin, Balboa, CA

Tournament Instructions

1 RULES

The Tournament will not be governed by the rules as defined in The Racing Rules of Sailing.
Extremely large pieces of flotsam: shall be reported to the City of Newport Beach Harbor Master at 949-270-8159 or
VHF Channel-19. For example: Large tree trunks, dead animals, VW Vans, etc … 

2 Tournament Instructions 

Competitors shall only collect flotsam floating in Newport Beach Harbor. Competitors may use any means of propulsion and depart from their vessels to walk around to collect any floating debris. Gloves, gaffs, boat hooks, and nets are encouraged. The use of dynamite is strongly discouraged and will lead to immediate disqualification. Your catches shall be collected in large heavy disposable trash bags. Any changes to the NOT or TI’s will be made verbally on the water.

3 SIGNALS MADE ASHORE

4.1 Not applicable

4 SCHEDULE OF TOURNAMENT

5.1* Tournament will be held on 4/26/2020 starting at 1200. Five Points Anchorage
The Tournament is open to Harbor ‘20s and all other boats
Flotsam will be collected at the Fernando public dock from 14:00 to 15:00.
The Tournament ends at 13:00.

5 TOURNAMENT AREAS

“Catch and Dispose” tournament will be held in Newport Beach Harbor, also known as the “The Harbor.”

6 THE COURSES

Courses will be determined by participants. 

7 MARKS

Not applicable

8 START AND FINISH

The starting area will be in the Five Points Anchorage at 12:00. There be one long whistle signaling
the start of the Tournament. The finish will be at the Fernando Public Dock between 14:00 and
15:00. Participants are requested to sail/power by and hand off their catches in “ Large heavy disposable trash bags”.
Photographs will be taken of the participants before handing their catch to be weighed in.

9 PENALTY SYSTEM

RRS 44.1 is changed so that the Two-Turns Penalty is replaced by Three shots of cheap “Fish killing”
Tequila. 

10. SCORING

Will be determined by weight of the catch and stories of the day.

11 DISCLAIMERS OF LIABILITY

Competitors participate in the tournament entirely at their own risk. See the DUH/Tonnage rule book, Decision to “Catch and Dispose”. The non-existent organizing authority will not accept any liability for material damage or personal injury or death sustained in conjunction with or before, during, or after the tournament. 

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, sailors are asked to observe applicable CDC advice by single-handing, or by participating with a crew that are part of their household.

On the Harbor: a little history

Captain Samuel Sumner Dunnels

By LEN BOSE

As you all might guess, there is not a lot going on around the harbor at this time because of the virus. I thought I’d write something about the history of the harbor and was quickly reminded that the libraries, OCC Schools of Seamanship and Nautical Museum are all closed at this time. What I have learned is that there is some very interesting information regarding our harbor at Sherman Library, which I plan on diving into once we can get back into the pool again.

Searching for a story, I was able to come up with a few small tidbits on how we became Newport Beach. If I was to guess, the first people to use the harbor would have been fishermen from the Tongva tribe, who inhabited the Bolsa Chica Mesa area, (the cliffs in Huntington Beach) just as you head north on Warner Avenue off Pacific Coast Highway, some 8,500 years ago. Can you picture a couple of Tongva kids grabbing their boats and heading south then finding our harbor? They would have noticed the animal hide holding the westerly breezes; one of them would have built a small mast for their boats and just like that...sailboat racing started. Let’s call the two kids Gabriel and Fernando. Gabriel was a skinny little kid and he had the advantage in the light breezes in the waterways south of the village. That was until Fernando built a better sail out of cattails than figured out the shoal spots in the harbor.

Now jump forward some 8,326 years. The people were referring to the harbor as Bolsa de Gengara, Bolsa de San Joaquin and San Joaquin Bay. Then on September 10, 1870, Captain Samuel Sumner Dunnels cautiously guided his 105 ton, flat-bottomed steamer Vaquero into the virtually unexplored Newport Bay, then known as San Joaquin Bay. Vaquero was loaded with 5,000 shingles and 5,000 feet of lumber from San Diego, as he cautiously enters the bay at first light. Dunnels was successful, and our harbor finally had a source of needed supplies. In a short period of time, Dunnels had built a small wharf and warehouse near the west end of today’s Newport Bay bridge. There is not any proof, but I prefer the story that “Newport” came from Captain Dunnels when he said that he had found a “new port” after navigating through the sand bars.

If you have never noticed the California Registered historical landmark No. 198 “Old Landing” on the corner of PCH and Bayshore directly in front of the Bay Shores Apartment sign, you will find one of the few mariner landmarks around our harbor. Once the libraries and Historical Society open back up, I will dig up a few more particulars regarding the history of our harbor.

I am having one of my silly ideas by asking this question: Why do we not have a Will Wright’s Ice Cream parlor historical landmark? If you have not figured it out yet, I am starting to get a little landlocked and need to head out to sea before I get any more silly ideas.

Sea ya.

~~~~~~~~

Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for Stu News Newport.

On the Harbor: During these challenging times

By LEN BOSE

The harbor has taken on a new flavor with most harbor users not taking anything for granted by feeling and expressing our Newport Luv’n. I have never seen so many smiles, waves and thumbs up across the harbor. The weather has been cool with a slight feel of summer approaching by mid-afternoon. Yet not only the fear of the virus looms overhead, it is the fear of the harbor being shut down similar to what happened in San Diego last week. For those of you who have not heard, the San Diego County Health Officer closed its harbor to boating for recreational purposes. Fortunately, our local authorities feel that boating with those living in their domestic unit and otherwise practicing social distancing is the current recommended approach to keep boating on our harbor.

Our harbor users must remember that no raft-ups are acceptable and keeping your distance on the water. Remember, no guests on your boat! This includes family members not in your immediate household or your closest boating friends. Go right from your house to the boat and back. Outdoor activities can improve your well-being. Nature-based recreation has a strong potential to improve mental health outcomes in areas of general well-being, resilience, restoration and cognition, with some potential for decreasing symptoms of anxiety, stress and depression. Just remember, keep your six-foot distance from others.

Our harbor offers the perfect opportunity, in so many ways, for people to get outdoors. SUP, fishing, sailing and harbor cruises. Of course, my favorite way that I use the harbor today with my wife and son is on our Harbor 20. In one way, the lockdown has allowed our 20-year-old son to join us again. In the first couple of weeks of lockdown, he still preferred to have the house to himself. Now he is like a dog excited to go for a walk and is the first person in the car to go to the boat.

You can’t help but notice all the couples out in their Duffy electric boats enjoying the harbor. The boats are perfect in all conditions, but there is no better time than now to get them on the water. You can feel the day’s stress drain away while experiencing a sunset cruise with your partner by your side, blended in with a delectable choice of your favorite antipasto sides and savory beverages. While heading into the brilliant red and orange sky with a waft of soft music (yes, I am a baby boomer) in the background, you can return to your slip and feel completely recharged for the next sunrise.

Like many businesses around the harbor, we will have to adapt to the new normal and practice social distancing. When meeting a prospect, I keep my six feet and prefer a bow rather than an elbow bump. When showing a Duffy, I ask  prospects to wait in front of the boat until I have taken the covers off and open a window, quite often I do this before their arrival. I then exit the boat from the other side, if possible, and let the prospects step aboard. Pointing out features and answering questions from the dock. After the showing, I wipe down the interior and I have already received permission from the seller to show the boat and have updated the seller after the showing. This is where more testing for the virus will allow us to get back to work sooner. I have not sold a boat since February, yet the test drive will be the most difficult by allowing only one prospect to attend the test drive and sit on opposite ends of the boat. In a Duffy sale, I normally take the boat to the shipyard myself for inspection and return the vessel back to its slip. The closing process is very easy with DocuSign paperwork, wire transfer and express mail to transfer the title. Please note again, I have not sold a boat for a couple of months. Now I am just thinking the process through for when we can re-engage.

I do have several good Duffy listings at this time and invite you to review what I have listed at http://boseyachts.blogspot.com/. If I have offended you for this commercial, I apologize. I intend to start thinking on how I will re-engage into the market once the stay at home order is lifted.    

Sea ya!


Len Bose is a yachting enthusiast, yacht broker and harbor columnist for Stu News Newport.