Up from the depths

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT HARBOR -- With the help of a Balboa Island salvage company,

the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Harbor Patrol raised a 29-foot

powerboat from the bottom of Newport Harbor.

The bow of the wood-paneled boat, which sank Monday morning, stuck out

of the harbor near the mooring where it went under.

The harbor patrol and salvager Chuck South raised the vessel from the

ocean and pumped out several thousand gallons of water between noon and

1:15 p.m. Tuesday.

The boat probably sank because rain poured in through an open window

and caused the cabin to fill with water, said Jim Slikker of the harbor

patrol’s diver search and rescue dive team.

A small kerosene spill, from fluids stored on the boat, was quickly

removed from the water’s surface near the spot where the boat sank -- in

the mooring area near West Coast Highway and Bay Shore Drive.

Repairing the boat, named After Hours, would cost about $30,000,

Slikker said.

Boat owner Paul Chan, who lives in San Diego, was not present for

Tuesday’s work.