Turning hazards into bargains: paddle boards, kayaks, more for sale at Newport Beach auction

Newport Beach Harbor officials collect a lot of lost or abandoned kayaks, stand up paddle boards, dinghies and various pieces of boating equipment creating potential hazards in and around the bay, Harbormaster Paul Blank told the Daily Pilot Friday. On one occasion they fetched a small outboard motor out of the water.

“It had been dropped overboard, and whoever used to own it didn’t have the wherewithal or equipment or want to admit to having dropped it overboard,” Blank said. “So we, on a low tide and in clear water, we saw it. We knew it didn’t belong there, so we went and picked it out of the water and put it in our inventory.”

City officials do their best to return the things they find to their owners. But they’re are hard to track down because found equipment and small vessels don’t normally have any identification numbers registered to people’s addresses, Blank said.

So, the Harbor Department sells anything held for 60 days or longer at auctions held twice a year, typically at steep discounts. The next happens Wednesday beginning 9:30 a.m. at Marina Park, 1600 W. Balboa Blvd.

A small number of the roughly 60 items up for grabs are almost brand new, Blank said. He has seen attendees walk away with barely used boards that might cost $1,000 at a store for half that price. Other sun-faded but still (probably) seaworthy equipment can sometimes be had for as low as $25. Other items for sale at the upcoming auction include anchors and three outboard motors, including the one Harbor Department officials yanked out of the bay.

“We do not guarantee or warranty any of this equipment will work, so it’s buyer beware,” Blank said.

The auctions are regularly scheduled in the fall and just before Labor Day. The events can draw a diverse crowd of people, including some who don’t plan on going into the water with the second-hand boating equipment they purchase, Blank said. He recalled one repeat attendee who creates children’s playground equipment out of old kayaks and dinghies.

The Newport Beach Harbor Department will auction kayaks, paddle boards, dinghies and assorted boating equipment at Marina Park on Wednesday.

(Courtesy of the Newport Beach Harbor Department)

“If he puts this in a park in Buena Park or some school, it’s an introduction to them for boating,” Blank said. “And who knows how some kid is gonna get inspired? He sits in a kayak in a playground in Buena Park and all of a sudden he’s a lifelong boater like me. There are a wide variety of creative uses for this equipment.”

Blank said anyone who might have lost a paddle board or some other piece of gear in the bay may also want to come out to the auction. A woman who came once to buy a pair of kayaks actually spotted the two she had owned and had been looking for among the items on the block. She took them back home after paying a storage fee for their safekeeping.

Blank said between 40% and 50% of the things with some sort of value they find left on a dock or floating in the harbor do make their way back to their owners. And out of the items that make it to auction, about 10% are usually leftover. Anything that doesn’t sell gets thrown out.

“If nobody buys it at this auction we chop it up and put it in a landfill,” Blank said. “We really try to avoid that.”