Boaters

The Newport Beach Harbor Commission is considering extending the time limit boaters can tie up to public docks, and prohibiting fishing from some of them. The commission will vote on the matter during its meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the City Council Chambers. At issue are 10 public piers throughout the harbor where boaters dock temporarily to load passengers and supplies, or where they park dinghies overnight while they stay on land. Fishermen often cast from these docks, setting up a maze of lines for sailors and power boaters to navigate.

More than a week after his disappearance, the body of a missing boater from Newport Beach has been found and identified by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. Frank Cipriano, 45, was reported missing Aug. 8 after his abandoned skiff was found a quarter mile offshore from Santa Catalina Island in a diving spot, Eagle Reef. Although Cipriano's body was recovered from the waters Wednesday at Lion's Head, northeast of Catalina's Cherry Cove, it took several days to establish his identity, said investigator R. Wert with the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

The search for a 45-year-old Newport Beach man whose skiff was found a quarter mile off Santa Catalina Island early Sunday morning was suspended Monday, according to a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman who said too much time had elapsed for the victim to still be alive. The nearly 24-hour search for Frank Cipriano, last seen wearing a polo shirt and board shorts, was called off at 9:55 a.m. Monday after numerous search-and-rescue boats and more than a dozen helicopter flights tried unsuccessfully to find him, said Jim Hiltz, a command center chief for the U.S. Coast Guard in San Pedro's Terminal Island.

"26 Miles (Santa Catalina)," sung by the Four Preps in 1958, helped make Santa Catalina Island a national household name. Many recreational boaters and passengers on the Catalina Flyer will travel the 26 nautical miles from Newport Harbor to Avalon. But most people are only familiar with city of Avalon, or members of the local yacht clubs only make the crossing to the clubs' boat moorings and beach areas on the island. A smaller percentage and usually only a boater crowd know about the hamlet of Two Harbors referred by boaters as the "Isthmus."

The Old Glory Boat Parade is part of the Fourth of July tradition in Newport Beach and sponsored by the American Legion Yacht Club. Thousands of people will watch the parade from the shoreline as well as from their own boats as the parade circles Newport Harbor. The ALYC is looking for a good turnout of boats, large and small, to participate in the parade this year. If you are a boat owner or know someone who is, they need you to deck out your vessel with a patriotic "Stars and Stripes" theme.

The greatly needed rain has moved through our area, and the skies should be sunny this weekend with only a few drifting clouds. The daytime air temperatures will be in the 70s with an afternoon breeze. Actually, it should be great for whale watching, especially if the 4- to 5-foot swells have double-digit intervals. Speaking of whales, it’s whale watching time again off our coastline, and through March, gray whales are migrating south. I am noticing that more and more boaters are being very vigilant to not disturb the whales while watching them in the ocean.

A 35-foot power boat caught fire about a mile off Cameo Shores in Corona del Mar on Saturday afternoon, sending a column of black smoke into the air. A passing boater pulled the occupant of the vessel, its owner, to safety before Orange County Harbor Patrol deputies arrived at the scene around 1 p.m., said Deputy Jim Slikker. Nobody was hurt in the fire. “The inside of the boat was completely gutted — it was a pretty hot fire,” Slikker said. The fire appeared to have started near the engine room and quickly spread through the vessel, which charred from stern to bow, Slikker said.