The Harbor Report: The good, bad and ugly for 2011
Watching the news and reading the Daily Pilot this week, I felt I better review my 2011 Harbor Report columns.
This year I wrote 40 columns, and to receive the best presentation of this year’s review you must recall the theme song of the Clint Eastwood movie “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” Then go online to Pilot’s webpage and type the keywords “Len Bose” into the Pilot’s search bar. Then all my columns will appear.
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The Good
I am going to assume most of you will agree that the best thing that happened this year was the completion of the Rhine Channel. There are far too many people to thank for completing this task, but our Harbor Resources Manager Chris Miller and his crew completed this project well ahead of schedule and did an excellent job. My column about it ran Aug. 5.
The stimulation of the Newport High-Point Series was with this year’s winner, John Szalay, aboard his boat, the Pussycat. John received awards from the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club and Balboa Yacht Club, and his boat was also mentioned in my column about this year’s 20 most interesting boats.
Newport Harbor’s Marina Recycling Center was another one of my silly ideas that I hope becomes a reality in 2012. Those columns ran in February and August.
If you are a history buff like myself, you should check out my three-part story in April about the history of boat-building in Costa Mesa.
My best response always comes from Newport’s 20 Most Interesting Boats and our harbor’s two most interesting people. Yeah, I placed a Duffy electric boat in the powerboat list.
While reviewing the list with one of our harbor’s travel lift operators, he told me he called five of his friends to tell them about the boat he was delivering to the shipyard.
In contrast, he pointed to a new 90-foot yacht and said I did not call anyone when I picked that one up. These stories ran in November and December.
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The Bad
The bad this year is when we lost Dr. Nina Nielsen. Later this year a special award was presented in her name to the first female finisher in the Sabot Nationals.
The Farwell family leaving the Swales Yacht Anchorage and apartments after 52 years was another sad occurrence. The Farwell family have always treated me very kindly and are good people. It was hard to see them have to stop managing the Anchorage.
This one had to be the most embarrassing for me. In my Nov. 29 column regarding our local fishermen, I asked Tom Pearson of Pearson’s Port “What type of weather keeps you from fishing?”
He replied: “The wind and swell. I am too old to snorkel anymore.” (Which means the waves are coming over the pilothouse and he needs a mask and snorkel just to work on deck)
The line was edited to read: “Yes, it’s a good life and it’s still exciting,” he replied. But, he added, he’s now too old to snorkel.
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The Ugly
It was a very good year in our harbor, but I still have issues with our tideland permits. I do not have enough information to comment on this subject, but I still have to wonder if the cost of permits has been spread equally throughout the harbor.
My ugliest mistake has to have been the mass email I sent telling everyone to look for my 20 most interesting boats story. I must have had five spelling mistakes. I learned a big lesson and have to give Chip a shoutout for that one.
Thanks for reading my stories in 2011, go to my blog site at lenboseyachts.blogspot.com for the full year’s review, and we will “sea ya!” next year.
LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.