On the Harbor: Recognizing our annual sailing winners

(L-R) BCYC Commodore Rolf Rolnicki with the John Pinckney Award recipients Zarrin Harvey and Kingston Keyoung

 By LEN BOSE

If you have started to hear Christmas music and noticed holiday TV ads, then you know it’s time for my annual recognition of our harbor’s sailing awards.

I’ll start with the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club’s (BCYC) awards night and the juniors. Sailing director Carolyn Smith stepped up to the podium for her first time presenting awards at BCYC, and she nailed it. One can always tell if the event is someone’s first rodeo, however, Smith’s a pro and she made the night fun and memorable with clear descriptions of the awards she was presenting. The Juniors awards always brings back good times, or even more so by diluting the agony of defeat.

The Officers and Directors 1959 Award was received by Chase Decker for his participation in the BCYC junior program. The Herb Hester Perpetual was awarded for sportsmanship and was presented to Mesa Uliasz. The top-shelf award at the club is the Jon Pinckney Perpetual, which is awarded to junior sailors with the most outstanding racing record this year. This year’s recipients were Zarrin Harvey and Kingston Keyoung. I have never seen juniors more excited about receiving an award than these two deserving awardees.

BCYC goes the extra weather leg for the Harbor 20 fleet recognizing the fleet’s top performers by awarding them the Gaudio Family One Design for the person with the best one design, racing record – the Rhonda Tolar Taco Tuesday for the best H20 record for the season and the Melanie Patterson Harbor 20 Perpetual. Not sure who was adding up the score sheet this season, yet somehow I was presented the Gaudio Family award this year. Phillip Thompson countered that by receiving the Commodore Taco Tuesday award. Thompson and I shared the Melanie Patterson Harbor 20 Perpetual, equaling out the night.

In the PHRF fleet, the Rhonda Tolar Taco Tuesday was received by Bob Kafka and a loyal crew aboard his Catalina 30 Halcyon II. Gabriel Nistor sailing XLR8 took home the Melanie Patterson PHRF Perpetual. Most honorable mention should be given to the Elmer Carvey Memorial Scholarship (until 1982, it was named the Balboa Bay Club Yachtsman of the Year) awarded to the yachtsman who most contributed to the organized yachting community. Past winners have been Cooper Johnson, Jim Emmi, Ted Kerr, Hobie Deny, Lorin Weiss, Len Bose, and Peter Haynes. The list reads on and on and includes Newport’s best yachtsmen. This year’s recipient was Paul DeCapua for all the years he has given back to the sport of sailing.

This past Sunday night’s (Nov. 12) Harbor 20 Awards presentation is always one of my favorite nights of the year, giving everyone a chance to gather and reflect on the sailing season. This year, we had many new faces attending, which is always an indication that the fleet is strong and growing with close to 100 attending the banquet at Newport Harbor Yacht Club. One of the true strengths of the fleet is that couples can sail while remaining competitive. The First Mate award is received by the top-placing couples in our fleet championships. This year, B Fleet winners were Anne and Ed Kimball. In A Fleet – these recipients are making a habit of this – Anne and Kurt Wiese aboard Ping. Team Wiese sailed an extremely impressive Fleet Championships this year with 17 points separating them from the second-place finisher.

The High Point Series is awarded to the top sailors with the best attendance on the race course. This year’s B fleet winners were Tom Corkett in 2nd Place with Anne and Ed Kimball standing next to the perpetual trophy for the photos. In A Fleet it was Len Bose. This award certainly will be a cherished accomplishment of mine in the years to come.

Next, we have the Rain or Shine Trophy for the best attendance in a sailing season. Tom Corkett’s name was placed on the perpetual; I was the bridesmaid finishing in third place was Anne and Ed Kimball. We also awarded a Grandmaster award received by the top finisher in fleet championships in A and B divisions for participants over the age of 65. This year’s B Fleet recipients were Ed Kimball over A Fleet’s Kurt Wiese, as both Annes preferred not to be noticed on this award.

The top award of the night is the Arthur B Strock Service Award presented to the person who has performed outstanding service for the Harbor 20 Fleet. This year’s esteemed winner was Chris Hill, who has gone the extra mile for the fleet as the measurer and promoter of true sportsmanship. A Bravo/Zulu for a job well done, Chris!

• • •

The County Model Sailing Club at William R. Mason Regional Park in Irvine has four different types of remote-control sailboats. I am making this award up, so let’s call it the Orange County Model Sailor of the Year award. This year, this award would be presented to Jim Sears for his results in the Dragon Flight 95 and Volvo 70 fleets. Sears has improved his consistency within these fleets this season, and we have high hopes for him in this year’s Dragon Flight 95 National Championships in Corpus Christi, Texas, taking place the first weekend of December.

Sea ya.

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

On the Harbor: Harbor Commission’s goals and objectives outlined

By LEN BOSE

I wanted to take the time to update you on what the Harbor Commission has been tasked with in the upcoming year by reviewing its objectives and goals, along with any observations I have made from the commission’s meetings.

Number One: The annual review of Title 17 and recommended updates to the City Council where necessary (Commissioner: Yahn). Title 17 is our harbor city codes. If you have questions regarding our harbor codes and enforcement, your contact is Matt Cosylion at mcosylion@newportbeachca.gov. What Commissioner Yahn has been tasked with is updates or additions to Title 17. The devil is always in the details, so when you start talking about Title 17, pay close attention when recommendations are made.

Number Two: Collaborate with the Water Quality/Coastal Tidelands Committee to partner on areas within the harbor where both Commission/Committees intersect (Commissioners: Svrcek, Scully). In my interview with Commissioner Scully last month, the interaction between these two committees showed proven results with the Water Wheel, along with working with the county and upland cities’ water runoff. Progress has been made, which I noticed when attending the Huntington Beach Harbor Commission meeting, starting at the beginning of the process.

Number Three: There has been successful implementation of the mooring reconfiguration initiative, including design, testing, permitting, execution, and monitoring (Commissioner: Beer). Ira Beer continues to work through all the different government agencies to start on the test mooring field.

 Number Four: Collaborate with Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission and staff to evaluate the best use for Lower Castaways and make a recommendation to the City Council (Commissioners: Marston, Svrcek). Commissioner Marston gave an update on this task at the last meeting. This objective has been on the books for a very long time, and my guess is it will remain on the books for an even longer period of time. One of the issues is this is one of the last open spaces around the harbor with no clear “best use” for this property at this time.

Number Five: Work with staff to identify opportunities to add additional Harbor Services (restrooms, additional pump-out stations, dock space, shore boat service, boat launch ramp, and development of the mobile app). (Commissioners: Marston, Yahn). There has been a lot of progress with the mobile app, public docks, and upgrades to the pump-out stations. The harbor desperately needs another boat launch ramp which is a huge task. I have my fingers crossed for this one.

Number Six: Continues with the participation of businesses, nonprofits, and the Harbor Department with a Newport Harbor Safety Committee to promote best practices, and address safety issues on the water (Commissioner: Scully). Scully had made huge progress on this task with as many as 35 companies attending the first harbor safety meetings. If you are active on the water you will want to stay tuned to any upcoming meetings.

Number Seven: Review Harbor Department responsibilities, evaluate the department’s readiness and effectiveness to deliver harbor services as necessary for normal operations and during emergencies, and make recommendations as determined necessary (Commissioners: Scully, Williams). From my interview earlier with Newport Harbormaster Paul Blank, much has been done regarding this task with drills with other agencies and equipment inspections.

Number Eight: Work with city staff on an update of the market rent to be charged for onshore and offshore moorings (Commissioners: Cunningham, Beer). This is always a heated topic, and the Newport Mooring Association is always quick to share its concerns and notify the public when this topic is placed on the agenda.

Number Nine. Evaluate establishing day moorings off Big Corona Beach (Commissioner: Williams). This one is dear to my heart, as I have always felt it would be a great idea to have day-use mooring off of Big Corona. This would be an opinion, rather than anchoring off of Emerald Bay or freeing up the anchorages. I need to step forward and work with Williams to make this happen.

Number 10. Support staff in all efforts related to the dredge completion of the Federal Navigation channels in addition to the upcoming agency renewals of the Regional General Permit (RGP54) shallow water dredging permit. (Commissioners: Cunningham, Svrcek). This is the mother of all other objectives and must be constantly monitored.

I wish there were three other objectives listed: navigation lights on top of the channel markers in the upper bay; the removal of the old fixed channel markers to floating buoys and marine recycling centers.

Sea ya.

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