In hot water

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- Art Vitarelli has been a national champion in

kayaking. He’s directed award-winning documentaries about the sport and

helped open up the Grand Canyon to kayakers in the 1960s.

The 59-year-old former teacher has made the 680 steps from his Newport

Heights home to the bay countless times to spend more than 10,000 hours

paddling through the water. He’s also participated in the Newport Harbor

Christmas Boat Parade every year since 1968.

But the last couple of times, his holiday mood was dampened by Orange

County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol officers who thought he was getting in

their way, Vitarelli said Tuesday.

In 1999, he was arrested and ticketed for failing to comply with an

officer -- a charge later dropped by the district attorney’s office, he

said.

When he entered the bay Sunday to paddle along the parade’s lighted

boats, officers again tried to intimidate him and push him away, he said.

“I don’t want to appear to be complaining about this thing,” he said.

“But it’s cuckoo.”

Those on the other side see things differently.

Harbor Patrol Sgt. Ron Peoples said Vitarelli had kayaked alongside

his officers’ boat, preventing them from leading the parade in an orderly

fashion.

“We don’t mind him paddling,” Peoples said. “But he wanted to get so

close to the lead boat that he is now impeding the entire parade.”

Peoples added that while his officers had not stopped or arrested

Vitarelli Sunday, they had paid “special notice to him.”

“If we have to pay more attention to where he’s at than us running a

safe parade, then he’s in trouble again,” Peoples said.

Still, Vitarelli said he’ll keep participating in the event.

“My response is, ‘I don’t need you to know where I am,”’ he said. “I

know where you are.”

An independent filmmaker who worked on the raft camera crew for the

movie “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” Vitarelli said he knows how

to stay out of danger and paddle in the parade without getting in the

way.

The parade, incidentally, is no longer what it used to be, he added.

The event, in its 92nd year, now draws about a million people to Newport

Beach. Vitarelli said in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Beek family

asked him to paddle alongside the ferry. Back then, Vitarelli stood at

the helm of his kayaking career and the ferry still led the parade.

“The Harbor Patrol is an excellent police facility,” he said, adding

that as the leading ship, the patrol boat’s sirens and blinking lights

dampen the festive atmosphere of the parade.

“They do fabulous rescues,” he said. “But they shouldn’t be leading a

Christmas parade.”

Parade officials said a growing number of private boats on the harbor

during the parade has made it necessary to have Harbor Patrol officers

lead the line of ships.

“Many of the spectator boats are not familiar with the parade route,”

said Richard Luehrs, the president and chief executive of the Newport

Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the parade.

“They camp themselves right in the middle of it,” Luehrs said. “Having

the Harbor Patrol lead the parade to clear the way is obviously

important. This isn’t Colorado Boulevard here. This is an open harbor.”

Luehrs added that Vitarelli is welcome to share his concerns with the

chamber at the annual wrap-up meeting, which will take place after the

parade ends Saturday.

Vitarelli said he’ll gladly take the opportunity.