MIKE WHITEHEAD -- The Harbor Column

Ahoy.

Lately, there has been a lot of media attention, especially in

Huntington Beach, on the ocean and harbors’ water quality due to urban

runoff pollution and the new cleanup measures being introduced to help.

Well, a few years ago, I volunteered as the narrator and on-camera

host for an educational video titled “What Starts at the Drain, Feeds the

Harbor When It Rains.” It was sent to every elementary school in Orange

County for their outdoor science programs. The video was produced for the

Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce Marine Committee and paid for by

the generous donations of residents, businesses and the city of Newport

Beach.

I worked with Costa Mesa-based Your Video Productions, which produced

the video for less than half the cost, and we knew the video was on the

leading edge to water-quality education. We were delighted to learn that

the video received two industry awards for excellence. Educating the

youth was our goal, as we knew it is often too late for most adults. This

was too apparent looking at this year’s attendance at Clean Harbor Day.

I stopped by to help out at this year’s 21st annual Clean Harbor Day,

held at the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum on April 28. The weather was a

little drizzly, but what surprised me was the lack of support from the

community, as far as boat participation and local volunteers. Still, it

was nice to see students from Irvine, which is an upstream city.

As always, Wes Armand from Newport Beach was there coordinating the

boats, and one of the boats was Naut-a-Care’s, operated by Al Baltazar

and Tim West. You may have seen photos in the newspapers of the shopping

cart encased in barnacles, which the Naut-a-Care team recovered from the

depths of a bay beach. I hope that next year the community rallies around

this event that not only cleans up the harbor but also educates everyone

on ways to help stop urban runoff pollution.

***

To get in the mood for boating, all one had to do was walk through the

Newport Boat Show that just finished at the Dunes. I attend many boat

shows on the West Coast, and I think by far this is one of the best, with

the huge onshore vendor display and the amount of actual boats in the

water. When I first entered the big tent, I saw Eric Hovland -- a local

licensed captain who works for Pompanette -- who let me try out one of

the new captain seats. I want one for my living room.

I walked a little farther, where I spoke with Bob Jimenez who

represents Meguairs and Pettit Paint. Bob is an expert in boat finish

care and he has been on my Boathouse TV show.

I had to get on the docks to feel at home and there I ran into Ed

Arnold and Jack Means, who showed me the new Carver Yachts. I can attest

that Carver is well suited for entertaining and ocean travel, as I have

taken Carvers around Point Conception in very rough conditions.

As I was leaving the show, I spoke with Dole Cole, past commodore of

the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, and it is always a pleasure speaking

with an excellent sailor.

In closing, most of you know that the Sea Base’s renovation plans were

continued by the Newport Beach Planning Commission. Looks like the

commissioners lacked vital site-plan information in their packets and two

of them were absent. What an excellent enhancement to the Sea Base it

would be, and there has been great support from the community to bring

the facility up to the standards for maintaining such high-quality

programs.

Also, I would like to thank the Orange County Council of the Boy

Scouts for presenting me with the “Baden Powell Award” for my volunteer

service for the Sea Base.

Safe Voyages.

* MIKE WHITEHEAD is the Pilot’s boating and harbor columnist. Send him

your harbor and marine-related thoughts and story suggestions via e-mail

to o7 Mike@BoathouseTV.comf7 or o7 www.BoathouseTV.comf7 .