As I write this article I am sitting on the bayfront at Mariners Mile.
Even though it is overcast, there are still summer activities. Paddle boarders and kayakers are venturing down the channel. I suspect the paddlers have rented them. There are kids 7 to 13 years old learning to sail on small boats from the Sea Base. Early evenings, the Sea Base’s larger sail boats have been out and training has been taking place.
Yacht crews are busy maintaining the larger boats along Via Lido Nord. Whether the boats are 30-foot or 100-foot, there is always maintenance to be done. Recently I have been working on maintaining a couple of windlasses. “Windlass” is the nautical term for winche that pulls up the anchor. These machines, like everything on a boat, are very expensive. A windlass for a 30-foot boat may cost $3,000-$5,000, depending on the manufacturer. The part above deck is 1/2 cubic foot. It is hard to imagine that chunk of chromed steel could cost so much.
The manpower a good windlass can save is almost invaluable if you are the one pulling up an anchor and sometimes two to three hundred feet of chain. The manufacturers recommend these machines have major maintenance every 2-3 years. Rarely have I known boaters who know this, much less follow the maker’s recommendations. This results in the windlass failing, usually at the worst of times: while cruising with friends or family where there are no mechanic and no parts available.
Most other mechanical items on a boat also have manufacturers’ maintenance recommendations. It is recommended that the main engines, generators or other equipment have a good preventative maintenance schedule that will keep emergency repairs to a minimum. I have found that someone like myself performing systems checks and sea trials actually saves an enormous amount of stress and money. This process also allows quality time on the boat with family and friends. Maintenance usually is done during the week while the owner is at work – his time is better spent pursuing his career, which allows the purchase of the vessel in the first place.
I have found that boating with friends and family is one of the most pleasurable activities available. As fishermen are known to say, “The worst day of fishing is still better than the best day doing something else.” We recently spent a couple of hours with friends bay cruising and had lunch at the American Legion. It seems that a couple of hours boating are equal to six to eight hours of leisure doing something else.
One of the busiest weekends of the summer is about a month away. Labor Day weekend is fast approaching. If the sun is out there will be hundreds of sail and power boats using our wonderful harbor. Catalina moorings will be in full use, and many more yachts will be anchored outside the coves. Long Beach Yacht Club anchors in Newport’s anchorage every year. They usually have 30 boats side-tied together and plan events for their members while here in the bay for the weekend.
Within a few weeks of Labor Day weekend, Duncan McIntosh and his crew start launching their docks for the September “In The Water Boat Show” at Lido Village. This is an inexpensive time to walk aboard new and used power and sail boats from 20-footers to sometimes 80-plus feet. Above the bulkhead (seawall) along the village there are more than 30 booths showcasing marinas, yacht accessories, insurance and brokerages of Southern California and further destinations. Along the brick streets of the village will be inflatable displays and sometimes exotic small boats.
Some of you may be unaware that McIntosh is a sitting member of the city’s Harbor Commission. This commission is a sounding board for the concerns or suggestions of boaters in Newport Harbor. They also study and advise the City Council with regards to harbor related issues.
In the 1930s and ’40s South Coast Shipyard designed and built small to medium-sized wooden yachts across from the Newport Pier area along the bayfront. During World War II they built wooden minesweepers at about 140 feet. Wild Goose, the former yacht of John Wayne, while not built in Newport Harbor, is an example of a 140-foot World War II wooden minesweeper. Wild Goose is still in the harbor, as a charter yacht owned by Hornblower Yachts along Mariners Mile. Hornblower added a third deck to the top of the “Goose,” which allows for more people to board. The former South Coast site is being demolished and will be condos and retail with new docks on the bayside.
I remember being at Catalina in the 1960s and early ’70s when the Wild Goose was anchored outside of Moonstone Cove. Moonstone has been the leased cove used by the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. The cove has a heavy use and support of the club’s members. When club member Gary Hill loads up his 80-foot tugboat, William B, in May, it is time for the members’ work weekend to get the cove ready for the boating season.
Most people know Gary as the hard-working owner of the fuel dock beside the the Pavilion in Balboa known as Hill’s Boat Service. If a client is too busy to fuel his boat they send Matt in a fuel tug to your boat without anyone needed on the yacht to be fueled. Matt has worked for Gary for more than 30 years. Matt has a 31-foot Crystaliner that’s a former city lifeguard boat, built in Costa Mesa. He enjoys using the boat to go to Catalina, where his family used to own a vacation home and boat mooring in Avalon. I would think it’s like going home to Matt when he heads to the island.
I hope everyone who can will spend the rest of the season boating in and around Newport Harbor as much as possible. It’s the good life!
Sea Ya,
Skipper Steve
