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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| (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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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