Auction shoppers seek seagoing steals in Newport Beach

Standing on a dock at the Harbor Patrol office in Corona del Mar, harbor resources manager Chris Miller pointed to a run-down red sailboat that had been abandoned by its original owner in Newport Beach.

“Let’s start the bidding at $20,” he announced to a crowd of about 100 people who went shopping for bargains Friday morning at a vessel auction.

The group remained silent. A few eyed the boat and shook their heads, ensuring that it wouldn’t again raise its sails and skim the waves. Vessels that aren’t sold at the auction are destroyed.

Miller told shoppers before the auction that they shouldn’t bid on a craft they weren’t interested in using. Those boats often end up abandoned again.

“It doesn’t do anyone good to have derelict boats sitting in the harbor,” he said.

After a moment of urging bids on the ill-fated sailboat, Miller moved on to the next item, a yellow single-person kayak that appeared to be in good condition. It proved significantly more popular than the sailboat, and shoppers quickly pushed up the bidding to $180.

Brandon Brewer of Dana Point got locked in a bidding war with another man for the kayak but decided to give up on it. The 25-year-old set his sights instead on a canoe, eventually winning the prize for $40 — a steal even for a used one.

Brewer said he often picks up new “toys” at Newport Beach’s boat auction, which the city has hosted three times a year since 2003.

“I buy them for projects, something to fix up and have fun with,” he said.

After the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Harbor Patrol impounds a vessel, its owner has several months to claim it. If it isn’t claimed, the boat is auctioned, with proceeds from the sale going to the city or county, depending on where the boat was found, Miller said.

Friday’s auction raised about $2,000, which will go toward the cost of disposing the boats that didn’t sell.

“The goal is to find these boats a good home with someone who wants to use them,” Miller said.

Shoppers on Friday picked from among 33 sailboats, kayaks, canoes, whalers, dinghies, Bayliner Capris and inflatable boats. Miller said he couldn’t recall a larger crowd for the auction.

Mel Fitch of Newport Beach took her daughter Alix, 23, to the docks to check out the boats.

However, Alix’s father had given her strict instructions not to let her mother go home with anything from the auction.

Mel Fitch once went out for sandwiches and arrived home with a Chihuahua puppy, so her husband and daughter weren’t taking any chances.

“I’m just making sure my mom doesn’t overspend for the holidays,” Alix Fitch said.