Regatta to boost economy

Lindsay Sandham

The inaugural First Team Real Estate Invitational Regatta, a

fundraiser benefiting Hoag Hospital’s Heart and Vascular Institute,

will take place May 20 to 22 off the Newport Pier, and many local

businesses are gearing up for the expected influx in tourism.

Executive director of the Newport Beach Conference and Visitors

Bureau Marta Hayden said she expects it will be good for the tourism

industry in Newport Beach.

“Obviously, it’s going to have a positive, great effect, and we’re

very excited,” she said. “We would love to see it continue on past

the inaugural race.”

She said not many local businesses know about the regatta, because

it is still in its launch phase.

The First Team regatta is expected to draw some of the world’s top

performing racers and bring some top-caliber yachts to the harbor,

such as the Pyewacket, owned by business executive Roy Disney.

The race will be a buoy course staged in a restricted area, so

spectators will be able to enjoy the show from the shore.

Glenn Zagoren, president and CEO of the Newport Harbor Nautical

Museum, said he has not heard much about the race, but he would like

it to be successful, because it would be good for everyone in the

community.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for Hoag,” he said. “I think

they have some big boats involved in it. I’m hoping it raises them a

lot of money. Yacht races, in general, are hard things to watch for

the general public, because they take place out in the water. So it’s

more what they have planned dockside that will bring people down.”

The festivities will begin May 19 with registration and a

reception at the Balboa Bay Club.

Restaurant owner Anthony Pesci, who runs Anthony’s Riverboat

Restaurant in the Nautical Museum, said they should be ready for the

event.

“It depends on how much business we’re going to get,” he said.

“We’re ready. Let ‘em come. We can handle quite a bit.”

Don Marcheano, owner of The Arches restaurant in Newport Beach,

said boating events have a positive effect on the city.

“They bring in a number of people,” he said. “They have to stay in

hotels; they have to eat; and they have to dance.”

Marcheano is also president of the Newport Beach Restaurant Assn.,

works with the Economic Development Committee and sits on the Newport

Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau board of directors.

“Anything that’s good like that for restaurants and hotels is

great for the city,” Newport Channel Inn general manger Brion Amendt

said. “It’s certainly going to bring in lots of business for the

hotels, restaurants and retail shops, and those are all wonderful

things.”