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| Ann and Kurt Wiese, 2023 H20 Fleet Champions |
By LEN BOSE
The first two weeks of the fall season comes into our harbor with War Heroes on Water (WHOW), along with the Harbor 20 fleet championships, followed by the Lehman 12 Barney Lehman Championships. Wrapping up the first two weeks of fall was the earth-shaking sound of low-level jets flying overhead during the Pacific Air Show in Huntington Beach, bringing out an armada of yachts from Newport Beach to L.A. Harbor.
While walking down to my Harbor 20 for the fleet championships, over the harbor was a light crisp breeze out of the southwest awakening all of the American Flags to a busy day on the water. Large visiting yachts filled the harbor, and I could feel the enthusiastic energy from each yacht passing by my slip. This was the Third Annual War Heroes on Water fishing tournament and boat parade. The parade seemed to have more boats in it than the Christmas parade, and most of the yachts were our coast’s top sportfishing vessels. I had a chance to observe the parade from the upper deck of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club and even at that elevation, I could not see the last boat. Excitement filled the air, with horns and cannon blasts. Everyone at the yacht club stood at attention similar to a flag-raising ceremony on opening day until the last yacht passed the club.
During the last weekend in September, there were 21 Harbor 20s competing in the end-of-the-season fleet championships held at Newport Harbor Yacht Club. The breeze was consistent at 7-11 knots keeping the competitors’ awareness levels up, with 10-degree wind shifts throughout the two days. The father-daughter team of skipper Kristen & crew John Whitney sailed a consistent regatta, never scoring lower than third place. They were both very excited at the awards dinner and it was a good time talking to both of them.
In B Fleet, it was a hard-fought battle between Anne and Ed Kimball aboard Dragon Lady against team Whim with Brenda Benter crew and skipper John Drayton, which came down to the last two races on Sunday with Team Kimball receiving the pickle dish.
In A Fleet, the big battle was for second place between Phil Thompson, Argyle Campbell and Chris Rabb, with only four points between them. Rabb never sailed higher than a fifth place, edging out Campbell by one point with Thompson within striking distance to the end of the regatta.
One team that was not within striking distance was Team Anne and Kurt Wiese with seven wins out of 11 races. The Wieses connected the dots and never took their feet off the accelerator all weekend. During my decade sailing in this fleet, I never witnessed such dominance in the fleet championships. Of the 12 competitors, Jennifer and I struggled to break into the top six boats finally finishing with a second and third on Sunday, and finishing the regatta in seventh place, one place short of our goal, yet pleased with the outcome.
The weekend of September 30-October 1 was all about the Pacific Air Show off of Huntington Beach. This show brings out more boats than any other event, and viewing the boats on the water, one can’t help but smile. A very good friend of mine was invited to go aboard the 128 ft. Shogun berthed at the Balboa Bay Club, and he is still talking about what a great time they had.
In the harbor, that weekend was the Lehman 12 Barney Lehman Championships. This is another event that brings out the best sailors, who for the most part are under the age of 40. The boat is very physical with a long history at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. Similar to the H20 Championships, the battle was for second place between Campbell Moore/Alex Curtiss and Christy Mason/Will La Dow with Curtis sailing a strong second half of the day to finish in second by one point over Will LaDow.
After 11 races in one day, it’s difficult for me to remember how anyone can walk straight after that many races in some very challenging conditions. Yet Clare Dahl/Jake La Dow did just that by winning five of those 11 races and placing their name on the very prestigious Barney Lehman Trophy.
Another vessel you might have noticed in the harbor was the 237-ft. megayacht Stella Maris anchored in the turning basin over the first two weeks of fall. She was built in 2015 in the Italian shipyard Viareggio. She can accommodate 12 guests in seven suites with a crew of 19. Throughout the summer months she was in Alaska then stopped by Newport Beach. Now she is on her way to Southeast Asia via Hawaii for the winter. If you are interested, she can be charted for $690,000 per week. Hope I win this week’s Powerball, and should I be so lucky…that’s what I would name the boat – Powerball.
Wish me luck!
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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