Rough-Hewn ‘Regatta’ Is a See-Worthy Event at Wooden Boat Festival

Last year at Newport Beach’s first Wooden Boat Festival, it wasn’t the shiny, classic yachts that drew the biggest crowds. It was four crudely built, 8-foot, plywood boats held together with nails and caulking.

And it didn’t matter that two of the whimsical plywood boats sank. After all, they were thrown together in a feverish 45 minutes of frantic competitive boat building described as a kind of “free-form madness.”

“The Down and Dirty Boat Building Contest”--in which two-person teams, using only hand tools, build a boat and then race it around a buoy and back--is one of the most popular events of the festival, said Marshall Steele, chairman of the festival.

It will be held today and Sunday at the Sea Scout base at 1931 W. Coast Highway, Newport Beach.

Last year, 25 people tried to enter the contest, which was limited to four teams. This year, more than 40 entries were received. Contestants were required to submit plans for boat designs to the festival weeks before the event. Because of the high interest, the contest is being expanded to include eight teams--four amateur and four professional, according to Steele, manager of the South Coast Boat Yard, a Newport Beach yard that specializes in restoring wooden boats.

Amateur competition will take place at 11 a.m. today; professional competition will take place at 11 a.m. Sunday.

“We give contestants two sheets of plywood, 30 feet of 2-by-2s, nails and caulking--no power tools are allowed,” Steele said. “Then they are timed. Most boats last year were done in 45 minutes. Afterwards, we stop the clock and let the caulking dry.”

Later, contestants paint their boats with fast-drying paint, launch them and paddle around a 200-yard course--without sinking.

“We decide the winners by elapsed time,” Steele said.

The weekend festival is being combined this year with Newport Beach’s traditional Character Boat parade, which will get under way at 3 p.m. Sunday in the turning basin, near the bridge across West Coast Highway, leading to Newport Peninsula.

The theme for both the Wooden Boat Festival and the Character Boat Parade, official Orange County Centennial events, is “100 Years of Boating.” Fifty to 75 boats, decorated to reflect the theme, are expected to take part in the 28th annual parade. Both events are sponsored by the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce.

More than 70 classic wooden boats--including the 62-foot Silver King, a powerboat built in 1925 and meticulously restored by its current owner, William Lyon--will be on display.

Other boats, from as far away as San Francisco, will include everything from small runabouts and tugboats to 68-foot topsail ketches and 76-foot schooners.

“There will even be a pirate ship replica, complete with cannons,” Steele said.

In addition, there will be nearly 30 exhibitor booths, featuring boating-related products for do-it-yourselfers. Wooden-boat enthusiasts can learn from experts during demonstrations, videos and seminars on such topics as varnishing, painting, engine repairing, and surveying.

Mimes, jugglers and a bluegrass band, all costumed to carry out the centennial theme, will entertain. And there will be a children’s boat-building school, in which youngsters can learn to build model boats under supervision of the Sea Scouts.

Photos from the “48-Hour Photo Project,” an official centennial event, will also be displayed during the festival. The exhibit includes a selection of prints based on more than 3,300 photos shot by 55 photographers March 18 and 19 in the county.

On both days, tall ships--including well-known local craft such as Kelpie, Spike Africa, Resolution and Argus--will offer harbor cruises. And a sailboat regatta, open to all wooden sailboats, will be held at 11:30 a.m. today.

“It’s really an event for the entire family,” Steele said. “We have so many things going on. And it’s all hands-on stuff.”

Last year’s festival attracted more than 2,000 people. Steele expects an even bigger turnout this year. Festival hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission in $3 for adults. Children under 12 are admitted free.

Proceeds benefit the Sea Scouts and the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Shuttle buses will be provided to the Sea Scout base from the Newport Beach public parking lot on Tustin Avenue, half a block from West Coast Highway.