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The Harbor Report: The man who walks the docks

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This week, I had the opportunity to catch up with Troy Heidemann, the new dock master at the Balboa Bay Resort.

Heidemann has to have one of the best views I’ve ever seen from someone’s office window. Right in the middle of the resort, out on the end of the dock, rests his work place with almost a 300-degree view of the Lido channel.

This view is not necessarily new to Heidemann, who grew up in Newport Beach and has worked on the harbor most of his life. He met his wife, Deborah, during a Thursday night beer can race and now has a daughter, Rachel, and a son, Joshua, who are all very active on our harbor.

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As dock master at the resort, he spends his time working with maintenance crews, boat owners and captains while keeping the docks safe and in order. With over 150 slips at the resort, which appears to be full at this time, his day goes by fast.

I was surprised to learn that the resort is open to the public. For some reason, I always thought you had to be a member, but anyone can bring a Duffy to the guest dock and go on up and have breakfast, lunch or dinner at the Waterline restaurant or just watch the sunset from the A&Q Kitchen + Bar. The guest docks can hold up to 10 Duffys and are only available by first-come-first-served availability.

I also learned that if you want to bring your boat in and stay for a couple days or weeks, there are sub-lessees available to the public. Pre-approval by the dock master is needed before arriving, and you would then be able to use all the features of the resort: dining, beach, pool, spa, cable TV and Internet hook up, weight room and Duffy rentals all at your disposal. I’m going to have try this myself as a staycation and tell my customers to do the same.

One must be a member of the resort to become a permanent slip tenant. From my observations, the marina is very clean with good parking, dock carts and plenty of water underneath your boat to keep from grounding even in our king tides. The marina is about half an hour from the harbor entrance, and being that the federal channel runs in front of the resort, this allows even mega-yachts to reach this fine resort.

If you are reading my column and it’s Saturday, Sept. 27, you might consider getting into your Duffy and heading over to the resort for its OktoberFestival from 2 to 5 p.m. If you need more information, go to the resort’s website at balboabayresort.com and look under the “Activities” link.

Now that I have gotten reacquainted with Heidemann, I’ll hit him up for information and observations on the harbor’s activities, from the holiday boat parades to visiting mega-yachts. From his vantage point, he will see everything going on in our harbor.

Speaking of what’s going on, the Richley family, aboard their Choate 48 Amante, dominated last weekend’s Ahmanson Cup sailed out of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. Amante sailed in PHRF division 2, which had nine local boats all contending for this year’s Newport Beach High Point Series. With this win, Amante has taken the lead away from Brian Dougherty and his J 105 Legacy. Following in a close third place is Roy Jones’ J 133 Tango.

The next race in the high point series is the 14 Mile bank race on Oct. 4. Any of these three boats can take this year’s series, although I’d have to give the advantage to Tango because of the normal tight reach home from the 14-mile bank. Amante and Legacy are two of our harbor’s best-sailed boats, and the race will be very close; stay tuned by checking out my blog site at lenboseyachts.blogspot.com.

I thought I’d give myself a little plug before I go. I have a long waiting list of prospective brokerage Duffy buyers. If you are considering selling your Duffy, please give me a call. Or if you are just wondering what your Duffy is selling for, go to boseyachts.blogspot.com and scroll down page to obtain the best comparable sales information available.

Sea ya.

LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.

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