MIKE WHITEHEAD -- The Harbor Column

Ahoy.

The Army Corps of Engineers surveyed specific areas of the harbor in

June to tabulate the channel depths for seven channels (entrance, Corona

Del Mar bend, Balboa Reach, Harbor Island Reach, Lido Isle Reach, Turning

Basin and Balboa Island’s North Channel).

The new table was printed in the Oct. 9 Local Notice to Mariner’s

issue 41/01 to update your charts. The controlling depths are from

seaward in feet, calculated at mean lower low water (MLLW).

There also is a caveat stating: “Consult the Corps of Engineers for

changes subsequent to the above information” (referring to the table).

Looks like 4.9 feet is the lowest spot listed, which is the right

outside quarter of Balboa Island’s North Channel that ranges from 4.9

feet to 7.8 feet, with project dimensions of 10 feet at MLLW. The other

surveyed channels range between 8.8 feet and 19.3 feet, with all areas

having project dimensions of 20 feet at MLLW.

It is very apparent in these figures that the harbor does need

dredging to maintain just the set dimensions from the corps.

Dredging serves a few purposes to help the overall well-being of our

great resource.

First off, dredging improves the safety of any harbor. Water depth is

required for boaters to safely navigate while underway, preventing the

vessel from grounding, which can cause bodily injury and spillage of fuel

and oils if the boat sinks.

Also, dredging helps the water quality by increasing the volume of

water in the harbor. The harbor water is exchanged with the open ocean

water by the two daily tides.

And the dredged sand can be used to replenish the numerous bay beaches

and in front of the sea walls that has been eroded throughout the harbor.

There are areas in the harbor that, due to their location, are subject to

sand being washed away and deposited elsewhere.

***

There’s good news for Chris Craft after being sold when OMC went

bankrupted. The reborn Chris Craft Co. now owns its own name for the

first-time ever. In the past, an annual licensing fee was paid to use the

name by OMC, the former boat manufacturer. Stellican Ltd., a

Julius-controlled company, looks like they are repositioning the line to

be very competitive in the 20- to 60-foot boat sizes. Keep an eye on

Chris Craft as my sources hint that there is funding and a renewed

excitement with active hiring at the Florida location.

***

Marty Kasules, who is the Newport Harbor Master and a very active

boater, sent me three boating tips for this week’s column.

Capt. Kasules wants to remind boaters to use visual observations to

check for the direction of the tides when entering the harbor. Look at

the direction of moored boats such as Deerfoot (at the southeast corner

of the Balboa Yacht Club mooring area) to determine whether the tide is

coming in or going out.

When tied to a single mooring can, Deerfoot and its predecessor,

Newsboy, are affected more by the current than the normal prevailing wind

due to their deep keels.

For general knowledge, the bow of a boat points toward the direction

the tide is coming from when the boat is secured to a single can mooring

or bow anchored. If you observe the boats pointing in all different

directions, then it is probably a slack tide. Keep in mind high profile

power boats are sometimes influenced more by the wind than the current.

In a May column, I discussed the laser light atop the Harbor

Department’s facility that directs boaters back into the jetty entrance.

Well, Capt. Kasules says the laser lights were removed when the Harbor

Patrol’s maintenance garages were re-roofed last month.

Since the system was never an official aid for navigation -- rather a

long-term experiment on loan from the company that developed the

technology -- there are no plans to replace the laser lights.

Kasule and I have a question for you that we’d like you to answer:

“Did you like or dislike the laser lights and should they be

reinstalled?”

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 .