Start the Fourth off with the boat parade

Ahoy.

Happy birthday America on this Fourth of July. Why not start your

nautical festivities with the American Legion’s Fourth of July Old

Glory Boat Parade in Newport Harbor? This year’s theme is “The

Freedom to Dream,” a salute to the Armed Forces members in Iraq.

The Legion will open at 7 a.m. with a pancake breakfast until 11

a.m. for only $6 a ticket, after which lunch will be available. Also,

there will be free harbor tours, live music and a missing man

fly-over formation.

There is no charge to enter the parade with your boat, but fill

out a registration form at the Legion. The boat parade awards banquet

will be on Saturday, July 19, and the cost is only $15. For more

information on the boat parade and the banquet, you can call the

American Legion at (949) 673-5070.

I will miss the boat parade because every year our family goes to

the City’s Fourth of July events at Mariner’s Park, where my

daughters ride their decorated bikes in the parade. Actually, for me,

it will be nice to be on land, as I just returned home from a

marathon of yacht deliveries.

My last trip was to deliver a Carver 404 cockpit motor yacht from

Newport Beach to Emeryville. I was joined by local charter boat

captain John Hammond and Bayport Yachts salesman Lee Scheele for

their first trip around Point Conception. The only problem is that

this is a gas boat and Morro Bay fuel dock is not selling gasoline,

only diesel.

So, we had to have someone drive a pickup truck to meet us in

Morro, where we would fill the tanks with five-gallon gas cans. Well,

everything was on schedule and going as planned until we arrived at

Point Conception, between Morro and Santa Barbara.

Point Conception is always unpredictable and a challenge for

boaters heading north. This time was no exception. After cruising

relatively good waters at between 18 to 21 knots, we had to slow down

to 8 to 12 knots at the point with 4- to 6-foot swells. However, at

this speed, our anticipated late afternoon arrival time to Morro was

moved up to 8:30 in the evening.

Immediately upon arrival, we started the task of filling the fuel

tanks with four trips to the gas station to fill the gas cans. Let me

tell you that the walk from the truck down the gangway to the boat

gets longer with every full gas can, and we did not finish fueling

until midnight. The weather reports were looking good, so we departed

early in the morning for our last fuel stop at Santa Cruz harbor,

which we never reached.

After only two hours out from Morro, the weather pressure system

had shifted, and the seas turned from good to bad. We called off the

voyage for crew safety and not to damage the boat, so back to Morro

Bay. The Morro Bay Yacht Club graciously assisted us by providing an

offshore mooring can to lay the boat up until the seas are passable.

Again, we will have to fuel using the gas cans again, but buying

gasoline from a regular gas station for a boat diverts the gas taxes

paid to the roads and not back into boating by the Wallop-Breaux

trust fund.

Speaking of Wallop-Breaux, our director of Boating and Waterways,

Ray Tsuneyoshi, sent me this e-mail:

“The Wallop-Breaux Boating Safety/Sportfishing Reauthorization

passed out of Senate Budget Committee last week. Needs to get a bill

number assigned. Now is the time for all good boaters to write to

their congressmen to urge passage.”

The Wallop-Breaux fund is instituted so that boat fuel taxes are

directed back into boating by boating safety programs, boating

facilities like launch ramps, pump-out stations and much more. I

think that everyone should follow Ray’s advice and boaters should

send in letters of support to reauthorize this bill.

Lastly, do not forget about ending the boating day by watching the

Newport Dunes fireworks. I am not sure how high up the fireworks will

go this year, but in past years, you could view the display from a

boat in the large turning basin area. Remember boating safety first

this long weekend.

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 [email protected] or visit BoathouseTV.com.