Annual Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival Returns to Balboa Yacht Club June 7-8
By Newport Indy Staff – March 14, 2024
Source: Newport Beach Independent https://www.newportbeachindy.com/annual-newport-beach-wooden-boat-festival-returns-to-balboa-yacht-club-june-7-8/
The 8th Annual Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival will return to the Balboa Yacht Club, June 7 – 8, 2024 with more than 40 wooden vessels of all sizes on display, and a collection of master artisans and craftsmen at work.
This year’s festival theme is “The Art & Craft of the Wooden Boat” in celebration of the creative artistry, intricate craftsmanship, and timeless beauty of wooden boats.
“Event guests will be able to immerse themselves in the centuries-old artform of wooden boat building, and the fine woodworking and artistic details that adorn the boats,” said event chair Stephen Paljieg. “This year’s event will be bigger and better than ever. Its theme captures the essence of the passion and artistry behind these magnificent, one-of-a-kind watercrafts and the inclusion of the master craftsmen who build and keep them in ‘Bristol condition’ takes it to a whole new level of experience.”
In 2017, the event was officially recognized by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, who proclaimed the second weekend in June the “Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival Weekend.”
Event guests will be able to stroll the Balboa Yacht Club docks, board the wooden boats that have come for the festival and talk to owners about what makes their wooden vessel special.
There’s also an opportunity to step back in time to cruise aboard the America – a replica of the 139-foot wooden sailing yacht that won the historic Royal Yacht Squadron’s 100 Guinea Cup race in 1851.
There will be plenty to do on land where maritime craftsman will be at work, guest speakers will be telling tales of experiences with wooden boats, and plein air artists will be capturing the beauty of the boats in Newport Harbor. Add live music, activities for kids, specialty craft cocktails with artisan foods and you’ve got something for everyone on Saturday, June 8.
Astor won the People’s Choice Award at the 2023 Wooden Boat Festival | Photo by Jim Collins
A first this year: an expansion of the weekend’s festivities to an Inaugural Opening Night on Friday, June 7. The evening will include cocktails and appetizers aboard the America, early access to tour some of the amazing boats and craftsmen exhibits. Dinner, music and a live auction under the stars will follow.
The 2024 Newport Beach Wooden Festival is hosted by Balboa Yacht Club in collaboration with the City of Newport Beach, the County of Orange, and Visit Newport/Newport Beach & Co.
The Balboa Yacht Club is at 1801 Bayside Drive in Corona del Mar.
Festival tickets are $15, Cruises on the America are $75, Inaugural Opening Night tickets are $175. Children under 12 are free. All tickets can be purchased in advance online. Saturday Festival Tickets can also be purchased at the gate on the day of the event (June 8).
Visit https://www.newportbeachwoodenboatfestival.com for tickets and more information.
By Newport Indy Staff – March 14, 2024
Source: Newport Beach Independent https://www.newportbeachindy.com/annual-newport-beach-wooden-boat-festival-returns-to-balboa-yacht-club-june-7-8/
Photograph by D Ramey Logan, CC BY-SA 3.0Some 175 community leaders, harbor residents and elected officials gathered at the Balboa Bay Resort yesterday for a kickoff luncheon acknowledging the fundraising success of the Newport Harbor Foundation (NHF). The NHF announced that they’ve raised more than $275,000 to support an effort to have the Newport Beach Police, Fire and Harbormaster assume sole jurisdiction over controlling our harbor.
What made the $275,000 announcement even more exciting was the fact that an anonymous donor gave a matching gift, immediately making it $550,000.
Former Newport Beach Mayor and current City Councilmember Marshall “Duffy” Duffield was also recognized at the luncheon for his longtime service to the community and in particular to the harbor. The timing, coincidentally, celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Duffy Electric Boat.
“Today, I was touched by the community’s outpouring of financial support for my family business and Newport Harbor – the heart of our city. Now the hard work of ‘Taking Back Our Harbor’ begins,” said Councilmember Duffield.
Duffy built his first electric boat as a 16 year old growing up on Newport Harbor. Then, over the next half-century, Duffy followed up building and delivering 30,000 Duffy Boats throughout the world.
So, what’s ahead for the NHF? In 2019, a group of concerned Newport Harbor residents organized, recognizing “decades of benign-neglect of the harbor and the need to begin creating our own Harbor Public Safety Department. The Foundation plans to purchase a fire boat and four patrol boats to jump start the effort. This is the first step to “Taking Back Our Harbor.”
Why do it?
Duffy said, “We want to make our harbor healthier, cleaner and to get the public educated on what makes this harbor so special.”
Continue reading at https://www.stunewsnewport.com/
By Sandra Barrera, Orange County Register
Remember the waterfront mansion on Newport Beach’s Balboa Peninsula that generated international buzz with a YouTube video that spoofed Cali Swag District’s viral dance hit “Teach Me How to Dougie?”
The video for “Teach Me How to Duffy” helped sell the house for $35.008 million – about 22.2% less than the $44.995 million asking price when it hit the market in Oct. 2018.
Even so, the house, which sold on Aug. 28, set a record.
The sale is highest-priced home to ever sell in Newport Harbor, said Tim Smith of Coldwell Banker, the listing agent. The record previously was held by the home of actor Nicolas Cage, which sold in 2008 for $35 million.
But Smith expected as much.
The house was designed by Robert Sinclair, built by Patterson Custom Homes and finished by Blackband Design.
“The type of buyers that buy these (homes), and the buyer that bought this isn’t going to go through the five-year entitlement process and build a house,” he said. “They’d rather have something turn-key and they’re OK paying for it. That’s why we had more than one offer.”
The towering 14,000-square-foot, five-bedroom house presented as party central in the “Duffy” video stretches across three lots, with 90 feet of bay frontage. It boasts a theater, sauna, solar system with three Tesla batteries, 57-foot-long pool with underwater speakers and a private beach with a dock.
“You can park eight Duffies on the dock just for starters,” goes the song in a viral video that starred Smoove da General and Mr. Swag of Cali Swag District and a variety of young Instagram influencers, models and dancers.
Other highlights include a floating underlit staircase illuminated from above by a large skylight, 16-foot stone fireplace and 1,100-gallon aquarium.
There’s also a five-car garage with EV plug-ins.
“The job of the ‘Duffy’ film was to let everybody in real estate, especially, know about this house,” Smith said. “It did its job and because of that it gave us exposure that we never would have got.”
More than half of the showings, he added, were people from outside of the area and saw the film first.
Tara Foster Shapiro of Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty represented the buyer, whom she wouldn’t identify.
But she said, “Their interest in the house stemmed from their admiration in architect Rob Sinclair’s work. That is why we toured the property.”
Photo Credit: Tim Smith, Coldwell Banker
Visitors to Newport Beach today might know the coastal Southern California city from “The Real Housewives,” “The O.C.” and “Arrested Development,” all of which were set amid its rolling green hills and picture-perfect beaches. But I had come to Newport Beach to commune with the stars of Old Hollywood, who began staking their claim to this idyllic spot just one hour south of Los Angeles during the silent film era.
In the Golden Age of Hollywood, Newport Beach’s lure was not so much its land, dotted as it was with big-band ballrooms and smoke-filled cocktail bars. It was its water, and specifically the sprawling recreational harbor where the stars docked their yachts and sailboats.
Continue reading at The New York Times…
Photo Credit: Beth Coller/The New York Times
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