ON THE WATER -- A clean sweep

Mathis Winkler

For 14 years, Dan West made the world’s oceans his home.

As a 18-year-old, he enrolled in the Navy, in which he still serves as

a member of the special warfare command reserves in San Diego. Four years

later, he switched to skippering private yachts, bringing his bosses to

Alaska, Hawaii, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean.

“It took me everywhere,” West, 43, said. “The best times of my life.”

But about 11 years ago, the skipper felt it was time to settle down.

His years out at sea made him feel like the captain of the Love Boat,

West said.

“Just like anything, it wears on you after a while, because you’re

gone most of the time,” said the owner of naut-a-care in Newport Beach.

“I like Disneyland, but I don’t want to go there every day.”

Falling in love with the boss’ daughter on the last yacht he skippered

finally convinced him to call it quits.

“I’m a family-oriented guy,” said West, adding that his wife, Dina,

just gave birth to their daughter, Kelsey, three weeks ago. “I love my

wife.”

Getting back on land, West briefly tried his luck in construction

business.

“That was not for me,” he said. “I’m a true blue mariner. That’s what

I am.”

Together with his father, Harry, a retired Navy captain, West set up a

company that steam cleans bilges and takes care of boat oil changes.

With about six employees, naut-a-care services boats in harbors from

Newport Beach to Los Angeles. One of West’s boats -- a float-like

structure with a cockpit house and cleaning machinery taking up most of

the deck -- now docks off West Coast Highway opposite the big yachts he

used to drive.

When he first started the business, “I went by my friends at the

Balboa Bay Club,” West said. “They laughed [at the boat] and said, ‘Hey,

what’s Danny West doing?’ ”

“Now they all use me and wish they had my business,” the Huntington

Beach resident said, sitting in his one-room office, where pictures of

the yachts he skippered hang on the wall.

West sees his new job as a way to do his part in protecting local

waters.

If it weren’t for him, about 1,500 gallons of polluted water would get

dumped out at sea month after month. By sucking the oily residue out of

bilges and providing no-discharge oil changes, his crews help to keep

dirt out of the water, West said.

Protecting the marine environment still leaves time to dream about

waters far away. West said that he’s currently studying for his

third-mate marine license, which would allow him to drive even the

largest of ships. So far he’s limited to 1,600 tons.

“He’s always working to go back out,” Harry West said, jumping into

the conversation from his desk in the corner of the office.

Dan West, who mentioned that his wife doesn’t mind him going on the

occasional trip, said he just wanted to prepare for eventualities.

“I like to keep up with speed on everything,” he said. “You just never

know if you might be called to duty. I’m still playing the game. I love

navigation. It’s my life.”