The Shields Is Still One of the Prettiest

The Shields is among the prettiest small craft that sail Newport Harbor.

It’s easy to spot a Shields because the design is old-fashioned compared to racing hulls, which are beamy and have a chopped-off appearance bow and stern. A Shields’ overhangs seem extreme. The well-proportioned leg-o’-mutton rig, almost evenly divided between mainsail and foresail, seems odd to those accustomed to “handkerchief” mainsails and vast overlapping foresails.

Yet the Shields glides with a minimum of turbulence in the wake. Orange Coast College, which owns most of the Shields in the bay, uses the craft to teach sailing. The sloops are simply identified by the shield-like insignia on their sails.

Those who notice the insignia, however, probably don’t know the vessel is named after its designer, Cornelius Shields, an Eastern yachtsman and boat designer. Shields was a friend of yachtsman Robert M. Allan Jr., a former commodore of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club. Through their friendship, Shields were introduced to Newport Bay as sail training vessels.

The Shields story came to a nostalgic climax in late December at the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club. Allan, who spends much of the year at his Carmel home, participated in a rechristening ceremony for the Shield Barbara, which once was used by the Naval Postgraduate School’s (NPS) Sailing Assn. The sloop sank under stormy conditions during a race in 1980 off Monterey Beach.

The sloop Barbara, named after Shields’ granddaughter, was first christened by Barbara MacMurray McNitt, wife of Rear Adm. Robert W. McNitt, who served as an NPS superintendent (1967-71).

Barbara McNitt was killed in a traffic accident in 1971, the year the sloop was donated to the NPS Foundation.

It sat at the bottom of the bay for nearly a year until the minesweeper Pluck made a port call in January 1981 to demonstrate its sonar to NPS students. In the process, Barbara was discovered and raised. She was deemed a total loss and the title was sold to Allan.

But through Allan’s efforts and donated labor from NPS sailors, Barbara has been fully restored.

Sailing Notes:

The topsail schooner Californian, official California tallship, now wears her carved figurehead, representing Queen Califia, legendary ruler of islands of California. Modeled after actress Catherine Bach and carved by Frank Morgan of San Diego, the figurehead was unveiled last week at a ceremony at Dana Point Harbor. Six local Sea Scouts will sail aboard the Californian as she leaves Dana Point Harbor on her maiden cadet sail training cruise of 11 days on Jan. 27.

Boating skills, sailing and seamanship classes will be offered by the Tustin Flotilla of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary beginning Feb. 5 at Tustin High School. For further information phone Elva Swoffer, 528-2468; Calvin Rohrs, 544-8980; or Ray Cleeland, 525-4743.

Friends of Newport Bay will offer a guided tour of Upper Newport Bay Saturday from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Groups will depart from the intersection of East Bluff Drive and Back Bay Road about every 15 minutes. This 752-acre coastal wetland, managed by the state Dept. of Fish and Game, is being visited by thousand of migrating birds from the north.

Newly established guidelines for handling stolen boat incidents will mean more involvement by the U.S. Coast Guard in assisting victims of boat theft. Under the new policy, the Coast Guard will keep a file on any stolen vessel case referred to it, issue a vessel lookout, conduct search/harbor checks as appropriate and coordinate action with appropriate federal, state and local authorities. The Coast Guard further warns Southern California boaters of possible danger of hijacking and acts of piracy along the Pacific. It stresses that most of the hijacking incidents have been carried out by persons who came aboard with the vessel operator’s permission and knowledge.