Boat

Ahoy! The weather and sea conditions are looking very favorable for boating this weekend, with the air temperatures rising up to the low 70s on Friday and dipping slightly through the weekend to the low 60s by Sunday. However, we will have mostly sunny skies with patchy fog in the mornings. The sea conditions are looking great for boaters to venture into the Pacific Ocean, and remember, it is whale-watching season, so keep a sharp lookout for the mammals. The swells are expected to be one to two feet from the west, with a negligible one-foot south.

Organizers of the 104th Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade will celebrate one last hurrah - more specifically, the Last Hurrah - at the event's annual awards dinner and auction Friday night. Topped by a VW surf bus made of LED lights, the 84-foot yacht of that name won the 2012 Sweepstakes - as it has done four out of the five years it's appeared in the parade. Newport resident Rob Meadows, who owns the craft with his family, said doing up the boat with structures covered in more than 50,000 LED lights that move and change color is a months-long endeavor.

Ahoy! The recent cold weather has brought boat winterization to the forefront of my mind; however, we live along a portion of the Pacific Ocean where our boating season really never ends. Let me explain, before I get a flood of reader emails, that we do not need to completely winterize our boats for freezing temperatures along Southern California's coastline. We need to do that only if our boats are stored in our local mountains or high deserts. Keep in mind that the temperature only plays a role of how in-depth you will need to perform your winterization.

It was almost midnight when someone spotted the banana. Word on the boat spread quickly. Guys in the back corner were snacking on a bunch, people said, but it was unclear if they threw the talismanic fruit overboard. No matter - the damage had already been done. The Western Pride - a no-nonsense, 76-foot Ditmar that had taken off from Davey's Locker Sportfishing and Whale Watching in Newport Harbor about five hours earlier Wednesday evening - was headed back to port without having hooked a single squid.

As you can imagine, this was a very interesting year for the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade: the slack economy, the uncertainty of home and parade entries and, of course, the organized boycott of the event. As it turns out, we had one of the best Ring of Lights and boat parades ever. The constant nagging on the economic forecast and the disappointment by many of the boycott threats brought the community together bigger, better and stronger than ever. We had hundreds of homes do elaborate and beautiful decorations around the bayfront, and we had almost 90 boats registered in the Christmas Boat Parade.

Protest the protest. That's been the rallying motto as of late for the organizers of the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade amid an organized effort to boycott the 104-year-old tradition. And, by most accounts, it's working. More than 90 boats have signed up this year to make the nearly 14-mile run through Newport Harbor. The Balboa Bay Club and Resort was brimming with activity during the parade's opening night Wednesday, and according to one official's estimate, a "jillion" homeowners will decorate their abodes with lights.

Drivers should keep an eye out for road closures in Newport Beach during the Christmas Boat Parade, police said Monday. A Newport Beach Police Department news release said depending on traffic flow each night of the parade, left-turn lanes from westbound East Coast Highway to southbound Jamboree Road and the right-turn lane from eastbound East Coast Highway onto southbound Jamboree may be closed. The parade, which is hosted by the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce, is scheduled for 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

Preparations for the 104th Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade are chugging along, parade organizers said Tuesday - and it's expected to be smooth sailing, despite opponents of the city's residential dock fee increases threatening a boycott. "At the end of the day, the boycott backfired on itself," said parade Chairman David Beek. "The mentality was boycott the boycott. " The parade, which is hosted by the Commodores Club of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce, is scheduled for 6:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

The Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade will be held Dec. 19 to 23. No ifs or maybes. Count on it, and plan to be there. Despite what you may have read, the parade is not canceled. In fact, parade planning is on par with previous years, with more than 60 boats paying a fee to register and planning to participate as of last Friday. In fact, the recent publicity has brought new boaters to the table that want to join in on the fun. It is not our place to evaluate whether or not the Stop the Dock Tax supporters have a point with their protests about the dock fee adjustments.

Newport Beach's Christmas Boat Parade and Ring of Lights will shine on as planned, a Visit Newport Beach news release said Monday. In spite of threats of a boycott from harbor stakeholders in protest of the city's efforts to increase public tidelands use rents, the release emphasized that the show will go on, and that participation isn't diminished. More than 60 boats have already committed to participate, according to the release. "There is absolutely no change in plans," Gary Sherwin, president and chief executive of Visit Newport Beach, said in a statement.