MIKE WHITEHEAD -- The Harbor Column

Ahoy.

Watch out in Newport Harbor on Sunday as Art Gronsky will be firing

the starting gun for the 66th annual Flight of the Lasers, as he has been

doing for the past 20 years. The rumor from last year is he almost shot

down a jet taking off from John Wayne Airport.

Originally known as the Flight of the Snowbirds, then in the early

‘70s as the Flight of the Kites, and now the Lasers, this sailing event

is chaired by Seymour Beek, owner of the Balboa Island Ferry boats and

Island Marine Fuel. Seymour and his committee conduct this annual event,

sponsored in part by the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce’s

Commodore’s Club of which I am a proud member.

A major sponsor is the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, which provides the

Jim Webster committee boat plus the venue for the awards ceremony. Local

businesses provide sponsorships to offset the costs of the commemorative

T-shirts (wish I had a commemorative T-shirt) and the trophies.

Seymour is expecting nearly 100 entries this year, almost doubling

last year’s entries for the race. Speaking of last year, the winner was

New Zealand’s Allan Coutts, who was spending the summer in Newport Beach

working for the Balboa Yacht Club.

Also last year, Mat Richley was the youngest boy, at 9 years old, and

Amanda Barker was the youngest girl, at 10 years old, to race in the

event. However, the youngest skipper ever to sail in the race was only 7

years old, but that was back in the Snowbird days.

Art will fire the gun at 1:10 p.m., and I hope he has checked with the

airport’s control tower first. The starting line is located off Balboa

Island’s shore just east of the Balboa Pavilion.

The racers will head up the channel to the large turning basin to

round course marker No. 1 by the anchorage. Passing to port, the racers

will turn heading for marker U off the Lido Isle Yacht Club and then to

begin the long sail to marker Z in the small turning basin by Lido

Village. I wonder if any sailors have contemplated sailing under the Lido

Isle bridge versus going around Lido’s east tip to get to the Z mark?

If the normal prevailing winds are blowing, the racers will begin a

2.4-nautical mile reach to marker 4, located between channel marker 8 and

the Harbor Master’s office.

From there, they will complete the final leg to the finish line where

it all started. Good luck to all.

***

I mentioned in last Monday’s column that I am presently in Canada

skippering a corporate yacht; well, someone has to do it. I do not know

exactly where we will be located when you read this because we are

planning the trip while underway without an itinerary.

I can tell you that we should be halfway from the Tacoma Yacht Club in

Washington to Refuge Cove in Desolation Sound for my flight out on a

floatplane back to civilization.

As the Internet expands wireless service, in the near future I hope to

be able to post daily “Where is Capt. Mike?” on a Webs site for all of

you who follow my voyages. And thanks for the e-mails.

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 https://www.BoathouseTV.comf7 .