On the Harbor: counting down my favorite 10 stories of 2021

By LEN BOSE

2021. It’s time to place a bow on it and call it a year. This is what I do when it’s cold outside and the weather forecast is calling for rain. I have just returned to my desk after refilling my coffee mug, and because it a holiday week, I added three our four glugs of Kahlúa into it and it tastes way too good. Now, I am ready, so let’s count down my favorite 10 stories of 2021.

Crew of Horizon

10. “The epic Newport to Cabo race” was most memorable because of the consistent breeze with Roy Disney’s Volvo 70 Pyewacket setting a new course record of 1 day and 22 hours; aboard Horizon we finished in three days and three hours. You can find the story at https://stunewsnewport.com/index.php/archives/front-page-archive/11001-on-the-harbor-040921.

Horizon finishing Trans Pac

9. The word epic can be used to describe this year’s Transpac race to Hawaii. “It›s a cool thing to do,” quoting Peter Eisler, who is one of the world’s most sought-after navigators sailing aboard Roy Disney’s Pyewacket. Aboard Horizon, the race could not have gone any better. We had an intensely close race with Steve Sellinger’s Santa Cruz 52 Triumph. Horizon set a new course record for Santa Cruz 50s, completing the course in eight days, 23 hours and 25 minutes. My write-up can be found at https://stunewsnewport.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/11839-on-the-harbor-transpac-part-ll-081321.

8. Completing Phase II of the Lower Bay Dredging Project. The goal of the Phase II dredging project is to improve navigation and streamline the dredging process in Newport Harbor by creating a cost-effective disposal location for unsuitable materials. https://stunewsnewport.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/10505-on-the-harbor-completing-phase-ii-012921.

(L-R) Mike Howarth with his son, Barrett

7. Boating, a treasured family business, passes down to the next generation. Each day we watch the tide come in then go out and over time we notice a change within and around the harbor. Some of the change is not substantial, yet just shifts in the wind. For example, while walking up the gangway from my slip in the Newport Marina, there was a group (I’ll call them kids) circled together telling sea stories. In the circle was Tyler and Travis Duffield talking to Carson Hill. The kids gave me a very welcoming hello, and I thought to myself there is the wind shift, which I understood would come someday. https://stunewsnewport.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/10603-on-the-harbor-boating-a-treasured-family-business-021221.

Jay Decker

6. Fishing with Decker. “As soon as I was out of diapers and able to walk, my grandfather would take me out fishing and give my parents a break…he was always on the water. Back by the Cannery when the Cannery was active, I would fish off the dock. We went out with his buddies and I was the 5-year-old deckhand. I fished with my grandfather up until my earlier 20s,” said Decker. https://www.stunewsnewport.com/index.php/archives/front-page-archive/11289-on-the-harbor-fishing-with-decker-052121.

George Hylkema demonstrating his pump-out catch system

5. An update on pump-out stations, CAD project. “The cost of repairing these pumps was substantial along with the constant maintenance needed to keep them working. Hylkema, being an engineer, came up with the idea of removing these objects [E.g.: sucking up sharp objects, screws, hose clamps, etc. that would disrupt the vacuum system] before they entered the pumping system. https://stunewsnewport.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/11924-on-the-harbor-082721.

Harbor Master Paul Blank

4. Catching up with new Harbormaster Paul Blank. “Blank has been a good friend for many years, and I find it difficult to explain just how fortunate we are to have him as harbormaster at this time.”  https://stunewsnewport.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/11538-on-the-harbor-catching-up-with-070221.

3. An early riser’s perspective. “I had been struggling to come up with a story this week and then I realized it had been a long time since I woke up with the harbor. I grabbed my camera and headed out the door at 5:45 a.m. toward my slip at the Newport Marina… https://www.stunewsnewport.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/10691-on-the-harbor-022621.

Gordo

2. Remembering Gordon “Gordo” Johnson. In the early 1960s, there was a group of kids that grew up in the Bay Shores community who became some of our harbor’s most knowledgeable and skilled yachtsmen. We had the Hills, Durgan, Duffield and Johnson families. Coop and Liz Johnson had three sons – Gordon, Dougal and David. All four families are extraordinarily close even after 60 years, spending time on our harbor and around the world together. https://stunewsnewport.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/11112-on-the-harbor-remembering-gordon-042321.

Crew of Horizon

1. Eight souls on board. “Two crew members were now on the back of the boat dispensing our man overboard gear “Lifesling” and “Throwable retrieve line” with one of the two crew members becoming the spotter along with another crew member at the helm pedestal.” https://stunewsnewport.com/index.php/2-uncategorised/11438-on-the-harbor-eight-souls-aboard-061821.

The year does not seem to fly by as fast while your drinking coffee and Kahlúa. A huge shout out to Lana and Tom Johnson for giving me the space in Stu News Newport for five years now. I have been your harbor reporter for 12 years and I’m looking forward to the next 100 years!

Sea ya next year.

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

On the Harbor: yacht club awards

By LEN BOSE

This last Tuesday brought in some measurable rain and enough breeze to keep me home to make sure the dog was not blown off its chain. I am joking about the dog, but what I am not joking about is the wind. Fortunately, John Sangmeister called me up the other night at 8:30 p.m. to tell me he tightened up on Horizon’s spring lines and took the boat’s deck cover off up in Cabrillo Beach where it’s blowing more than 30 knots right now.

Now my only concern is how to get the dog to go outside and come up with a Harbor story without getting wet. My first call was with Newport Harbor Yacht Club’s (NHYC) Fleet Captain Rob Rader to confirm who received the big awards at their annual meeting. Steve Sellinger, owner of the Santa Cruz 52 Triumph received the club’s Top Sailing Yacht Award for their continued efforts in Offshore events. NHYC has some of the West Coast’s top Principal Race Officers (PRO) with Deon & Peter Macdonald, receiving the Meta & Jack Going Trophy, for keeping it fun on the Harbor 20 Twilights and Winter Series this last year. I am sure they managed other events, and even though I would rather see them out sailing in the events, they both are keeping a smile on the participants’ faces well before they get to the bar

Next up was Dwight Belden for all the work he continues to do as a PRO, because this year’s Cabo race could not have been managed better. He called me up and asked what the club could do to make the race logistically easier for the participants. It was also noted that Belden continues to work at improving his US Sailing requirements while flawlessly running two Star events this season, plus he’s just a great guy who also “gets it” and keeps it fun. For all the hard work Belden does for our sport, he received the “Race Committee of Excellence Award.” The two big awards at NHYC is the Don Vaughn Award for the club’s, Offshore, Crew of the Year Award. Historically, it has been awarded to acknowledge either a sailor’s outstanding year on the water or to honor a lifetime of crewing at sea. This is the only award I know of that the recipient is chosen by previous winners. Past winners included Duffy Duffield, Brad Avery, Craig Chamberlain, Bill Mais, Tom Corkett and Nick Madigan, just to name a few. This year’s recipient is Shawn Patrick. The award that always catches my eye, when entering the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, just over to the left of the front door is the Burgee of Merit. In my opinion, this award sits on the top shelf of all our Harbor’s awards. The recipient recognized has formed or taken part in any yachting event that has brought unusual distinction or notice to West Coast Yachting. Receiving this year’s Burgee of Merit is Charlie Buckingham as a U.S.A representative in this year’s summer Olympics, sailing the Laser.

In my first November column, I left out who won the Harbor 20 Arthur Strock Award. The Strock Award is presented to members who have performed outstanding service for the Harbor 20, Fleet One organization. Past winners included Phil Ramser, Ross Watanabe, Shana Conzelman, Phil Thompson and Michael Volk along with both Debra and Peter Haynes…and many more. I participated in Harbor 20 Fleet 1 for more than 10 years now, noting that this year’s winner Gary Throne is without a doubt the most deserving. Throne has performed outstanding service to the fleet for well over the past 10 years and continues today always seemly picking up the most difficult tasks. You make the fleet fun Gary, “Well Done.”

• • •

The Christmas Boat Parade is going on until Sunday the 19th with tonight’s forecast to be on the “chilly” side. I also checked in with some of my best sources for harbor information. The Harbor Commission will be making recommendations to the City Council in the early part of next year regarding updating the Title 17 “Harbor Code” in the city municipal codes. I strongly encourage harbor stakeholders and all harbor users to take note of the recent appraisal completed on the value of shore moorings. Anytime change, no-pun, is brought up in the city’s mooring codes most people get up in arms. With many topics to be discussed, just on this topic, I suggest you pay attention and voice your concerns before you get all bunched up that you didn’t know what is going on. Speaking of all bunched up, no I am not referring to “Grand Channel” shore mooring people, I’m referring to homeowners with additional floats tied up to their docks. It was noted this year that the harbor has a problem with marina operators and homeowners adding floats to their docks. This topic is being studied by the Harbor Commission and should be labeled on your radar screen. Tons of data is needed on this topic!

Winter is coming my friends, so remember to keep your bilge dry.

Sea ya.

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

On the Harbor: “a walk-about” around the bay

By LEN BOSE

It has been a couple of years since I have completed a “walk-about” around the harbor. I normally start at the end of the peninsula with the public docks then stop by Hills fuel dock, Marina Park, Newport Shipyard, Lido Village and then Basin Shipyard. You are correct, I am not walking – it’s more like peddling my bicycle. 

While checking out the public docks, I had a chance to talk to a couple of mooring permit holders inquiring about the boat pump outs, which is the proper way to dispose of a boat’s holding tank. After introducing myself, I asked how are things going out on the moorings this year and the public docks? Both of the parties I talked to immediately brought up the fact that the new pump-out stations have been working consistently for a long time now. For many years, boats had been pumping out their bilges and the materials within their bilge such as nuts and bolts and loose metal fragments would break down the pump-out station at significant cost to the city to repair each time. You might recall a story I did back in August on George Hylkema’s particle separator (you can find the story here.) When I returned back to my desk, I checked in with my good friend Noel Plutchak who maintains the pump-out stations. Plutchack reports that everything is going flawlessly with the city’s six pump-out stations. Maintenance has been reduced from checking on the stations once a week to once a month. He mentioned he was going to check on all the stations before the Christmas Boat Parade. My sources tell me that Hylkema will be the recipient of a proclamation from the mayor for his innovation and dedication for keeping the harbor clean. It sure would be great to gather the crew to give him the proper “well done” when that night is scheduled.

While going by the Balboa Angling Club, I heard that the fisheries closure that was implemented following the Southern California oil spill has been lifted. The closure began on October 3 and prohibited the take of all fish and shellfish from Huntington Beach to Dana Point. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has been advised that there is no further risk to public health from seafood consumption in the affected area. Just hope that you had already heard about fisheries closer.

All the shipyards are busy around town. I noticed Dan Gribble’s Tripp 56 Brigadoon hauled out for annual service along with John Raymont Ker 51 Fast Exit II that has been out of the water for more than a month now with the rig out and keel off, along with what appeared to be an 80 ft. plus Northern Marine expedition trawler at the Newport Beach Shipyard. Looking across the bay at the Balboa Boat Yard and the South Coast Boat Yard, both appeared to be very active. My next stop was at the Lido bridge where I took count of the large charter boats in the harbor. My count was 12 boats with no boats in Lido Village or in front of the new building on Pacific Coast Highway. I have to assume that COVID has been rather tough on that Industry.

It had been a long time since I walked through Lido Village; the whole place has been refitted and I have never seen it look so good. I have not been there since George’s Camelot has left, so I am thinking of taking the Duffy over there for dinner one night soon.

My last stop was Basin Shipyard where I was warmly greeted by Dave and Derek New. “Hey Len come in, you’re already wearing your Christmas Spooners!,” Dave New said. The yard was packed, so I would encourage everyone to schedule your annual maintenance early for this coming year. Everyone with pod drives or outboards, make sure you schedule your service now. 

The 113th Newport Beach Christmas Boat themed “Jingle on the Waves!” will be running between December 15-19. If you are launching a boat before the parade at the Dunes you will want to launch before 3 p.m. Low tide is between 4 and 5 p.m. at -.05, which just might leave you high and dry if you show up the last minute. If you are operating a vessel during the parade, keep in mind you will have a lot of water flooding into the harbor on all five nights. I checked in with David Beek and he told me all the yacht clubs, restaurants and charter boats are filled up with reservations. He is anticipating 80-100 boats in the parade, with more than a million people coming into town to watch it. Beek also informed me that the Balboa Yacht Club will be celebrating its 100th birthday this Saturday night.

Sea ya.

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