One more night of Christmas, parade cheer

Ahoy.

One of my favorite boating events of the year takes place tonight: the Christmas Boat Parade Awards Dinner and Auction. It is hosted by the Commodores Club of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce and will be held at the Balboa Bay Club and Resort.

Tonight’s master of ceremonies is the Daily Pilot’s own Tom Johnson. Now there’s a publisher who carries a joke book in his back pocket.

From one commodore to another, I have a little nautical advice I can lend to Tom for the evening.

First, Tom, remember that the tiller is not a nine iron. Second, the classic golfing phrase made popular in the movie Caddyshack, where Bill Murry says “it’s in the hole” -- well, in the boating world that means your boat is safely in its slip, not that there’s a hole in the boat.

As you might have guessed, Tom is an avid golfer, so I thought a little boating advice might help keep my column in the paper.

Tonight’s dinner is where the winners who entered their boats in the parade and the Ring of Lights are honored for their decorations and creativity.

What many people don’t realize is that the chamber needs cash, and lots of it, to organize a parade of this caliber and size. The New York Times has called our parade “one of the top 10 holiday happenings in the nation.” So this evening will help to raise the necessary funds to continue the parade year after year to the parade’s centennial in 2008.

If we raise more than enough money, I can’t wait to see all the new accompaniments to the announcer’s booth on the Balboa Peninsula, where I was this year’s voice of the parade to spectators onshore.

LOCK UP THAT BOAT

Did you know that boats are stolen and that many are easy picking? If you want to know just how easy, ask the boat owners who forgot to leave me the keys when I was scheduled to leave the dock at 4 a.m. for a delivery run. However, many boats on trailers are stolen out of driveways by someone just backing in and hitching up the trailer. Duh.

What made me think about this was an interesting e-mail I received from Scott Croft of Boat U.S. about his organization’s top 10 list of stolen vessels. Seaworthy, the damage avoidance newsletter from Boat U.S. Marine Insurance, recently culled data on recreational-vessel theft from the last five years of association claims files.

“The problem with owning a popular brand of boat is that other people want to own it too,” said Bob Adriance, Seaworthy’s editor.

Adriance found that 90% of all boats were stolen while on their trailers, and the average size of stolen boats was just more than 20 feet.

Personal watercraft top the list, and less mobile vessels, such as sailboats and heavy, slow trawlers, were decidedly unattractive targets for thieves. In Newport Harbor the boat might not be stolen, but the thieves break into it for goodies such as TVs, stereos, microwaves, fishing gear and electronics.

Here’s the Boat U.S. top 10 list of most frequently stolen boats and the chances per 10,000 of their being stolen: First place goes to Yamaha (PWC) at 15.30, followed by Kawasaki (PWC) at 12.80; Bombardier/Sea Doo (PWC) at 8.19; Mako at 7; Chaparral at 5.22; Regal at 4.92; Wellcraft at 3.70; Boston Whaler at 3.36; Four Winns at 3.06; Chris Craft at 2.80; Bayliner at 2.57; and Sea Ray at 2.25.

TIP OF THE WEEK

Tip of the week is to protect your boat and the items inside from being “disappeared” by unscrupulous landlubbers. Do not leave items in sight or lying around the inside of your boat. And lock your trailer’s wheels or the tongue to something so it cannot be hitched up and towed away.

Tune in to the No. 1 boating talk radio show in the nation every Saturday at noon. “Capt. Mike Whitehead’s Boathouse Radio Show” is on KCBQ-AM (1170) or online at www.boathouseradio.com.

Safe voyages.

* MIKE WHITEHEAD is the Pilot’s boating and harbor columnist. Send him your harbor and marine-related thoughts and story suggestions by e-mail to mike@boathousetv.com or visit www.boathousetv.com.

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