MIKE WHITEHEAD -- The Harbor Column

Ahoy.

As you read this, I will be preparing for a two-week corporate yacht

delivery from Tacoma Yacht Club in Washington, located below Seattle in

the Puget Sound region, to Refuge Cove, located in Desolation Sound,

Canada. The trip will be an exciting voyage through that area, visiting

all the remote ports and coves where if you break down, you are on your

own. At the end of the trip, I will be flying out on a floatplane back

to Washington for a connecting flight at SeaTac to Orange County. In the

upcoming columns when I return, I will tell you about any exciting

occurrences and I will post an article about the trip on my Web site.

In federal news, there are two issues on the radar for the Coast

Guard. One is the carbon monoxide poisoning occurring on houseboats and

are now being traced to motor yachts, as well. The other is a federal

life jacket requirement for children. Since the publicity of the deaths

of the two boys swimming under the swim platform on a houseboat, Congress

held a hearing on this subject to recall the boats in question. Recalling

houseboats do not affect boats in our harbor, but as I mentioned in a

prior column, watch out for carbon monoxide poisoning affecting your boat

as the hearing pointed out that other vessels could be affected.

While underway or at dock with the wind blowing over the stern of a

vessel, the exhaust fumes are carried into the open salon door creating a

hazard. Remember the problems with the station wagons driving down the

road with only the tailgate window down and the low pressure at the rear

of the vehicle caused the exhaust fumes to enter the rear window? Do not

let this odorless, colorless gas sneak up on you or your guests.

Also a blip on the radar is a mandatory requirement that all children

12 and younger wear an approved personal flotation device, more commonly

known as a life jacket. California already has this law for vessels 26

feet and shorter unless the child is in an enclosed cabin or tethered to

the vessel.

A question arose as to whether an enclosure like the electric Duffy’s

have around the vessel constitutes an enclosure for not wearing a life

jacket. According to Capt. Marty Kasules of the Orange County Sheriff’s

Harbor Department, soft enclosures such as that do not meet the

requirements due to the fact that the protecting covers can unsnap or

unzip, allowing a child to fall in the water.

I think that parents should go one step further and require children

to wear their life jackets not only on the boats, but also while on the

docks as a child could easily fall into the water. If the proposed

federal law goes into effect, then every state will have the same life

jacket laws as California.

Have you noticed all the bent channel markers in the harbor,

especially markers 8 at the Corona Del Mar Bend directly in front of the

harbor department and 10 at the upper end of Balboa Reach off Balboa

Island’s point before the auto ferries? Do you remember when channel

marker 8 was a floating buoy and not perched up high on a pole that most

small boats cannot see at night? What do you think about the navigational

markers in Newport, do we need more or less?

After traveling to many other harbors, it seems to me that for our

size of harbor, we have the least navigational aides for visiting

boaters. Also, when a vessel is entering a harbor, it is proper to pass

the red buoys on your right side, red right returning. When one passes

marker 8, it is proper to pass it to your starboard side, but doing so

will put you directly into the outbound traffic scheme.

So, I propose to either change marker 8 to a mid-channel marker or

move the marker northerly by the Balboa Yacht Club moorings to facilitate

proper traffic flow according to maritime regulations. What do you think?

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 [email protected] or o7 https://www.BoathouseTV.comf7 .