From the Boathouse: New West Marine a coastal landmark

Ahoy!

Attention all boaters: Have you heard about the grand opening this weekend for the largest West Marine store on the West Coast? This gigantic flagship emporium encompasses more than 27,000 square feet, with 18,000 products in the showroom. West Marine built the store with boaters in mind, using the responses from a survey of Orange County boaters.

The store is built so shoppers can see and touch various products, including more than 100 marine electronic products, a new “Bait Shack” with fishing gear, and small boats from kayaks to inflatables. In addition, experts will be at the store this weekend to answer questions and host seminars for the recreational boater, fisherman and water enthusiast.

Raymarine will have a mobile showroom onsite, where you can learn about the latest and greatest marine electronics. The new store is located at 3433 Via Lido, Newport Beach, and you can see the schedule at westmarine.com/newportbeach.

On another topic, the recreational California spiny lobster season opened Sept. 28 for divers and hoop netters to search the sea floor for these mouth-watering treats. If you are going lobster hunting, then remember to closely follow the regulations for catching them and have with you a current fishing license, the lobster report card and a lobster gauge.

You can only catch the bugs (slang for lobsters) by hand or with a hoop net. The bug must be at least 31/4 inches measured in a straight line on the midline of the back from the rear edge of the eye socket to the rear edge of the body shell.

Those fishermen who will be hoop netting can only use five baited hoop nets per person, and no more than 10 baited hoop nets off of any boat. If you are fishing from a public pier, then only two hoop nets may be used per person. The daily bag and possession is seven lobsters per person, and this means seven total, including what you might have at home in your freezer.

Be sure to read the most recent regulations for any changes or corrections on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website. The site has a very helpful lobster information card that you can print out to carry with you and to show any newbies to the rules. Go to nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=36321&inline=true.

Interesting news: Do you remember the disaster when the Costa Concordia hit a rock and beached just outside of Giglio Harbor in Italy in January 2012? Well, the 60,000-ton ship has been tilted up onto a specially designed underwater platform that was built for phase one in refloating the ship. The operation to right the ship took 19 hours on Sept. 16, after 16 months of planning and preparation.

Immediately after stabilizing the vessel, divers searched inside the cruise liner and recovered the last two missing bodies, those of crew member Russel Rebello and passenger Grazia Trecarichi. Now, the ship will be examined to determine what hull patching and flotation chambers will be required to tow the boat to be dismantled.

The then-captain of the ship, Francesco Schettino, is facing charges in Grosseto, where recently he told the court that the crash is the fault of the helmsman, who did not obey orders. Schettino is testifying that the helmsman did not slow down and steered the ship onto the rocks by not initiating a turn away from the rocks on time. This cowardly captain abandoned the ship during the disaster, leaving passengers and crew members in peril, and now, he is trying to blame one of his former crew members — what a disgrace Schettino is to the maritime profession. Other crew members, who were aboard the ship, have already been charged and convicted in an Italian court.

Please be boat smart and boat safe. Lastly, please boat responsibly and look behind you before you turn the wheel at the helm.

Tune in to the No. 1 boating radio talk show in the nation, “Boathouse Radio Show,” broadcasting live coast-to-coast on the CRN Digital Talk Radio syndicated network. See times at https://www.boathousetv.com, https://www.facebook.com/boathouseradio and https://www.twitter.com/boathouseradio.

Safe voyages!

MIKE WHITEHEAD is a boating columnist for the Daily Pilot. Send marine-related thoughts and story suggestions to mike@boathousetv.com or go to https://www.boathousetv.com.