DANA POINT : Marina’s Birthday Celebrated at Harbor

Dana Point Harbor Marina opened in 1971 with a most inauspicious event. It was 18 years ago that Dana Point resident Bob Saxby, heady with the honor of being the first captain to officially guide his boat into the marina, forgot a basic equation: Vessels 22 feet tall do not fit under bridges 20 feet tall.

The collision almost snapped off Saxby’s mast, effectively docking the boat for the rest of the weekend’s celebrations. The ill-fated craft’s name? The Titanic.

On a gorgeous blue-sky Monday morning, the harbor’s “coming of age” 18th-birthday party ran a bit smoother.

There were balloons, babies, a band and a handful of political dignitaries on hand to wish the harbor a happy birthday and pay homage to Alton E. Allen, the late Orange County supervisor often referred to as “the father” of the Dana Point yacht harbor.

Calling the harbor “a crown jewel in the 5th District,” Thomas F. Riley, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, gave Allen credit for the “vision and leadership that gave birth to the harbor that we know now.”

Allen, he said, was a key figure in lobbying for federal financing of the harbor in the late 1950s.

Built at a cost of $27 million, the harbor “would cost over $200 million today, if it could be built at all,” Riley said.

The supervisor helped unveil a permanent monument to Allen in a corner of the marina overlooking the ocean.

Assisting was the late supervisor’s son, Jack Allen, who said Dana Point Harbor “was a special project of Dad’s. I know he would have been tickled pink.”

Jody Tyson, president of the Dana Point Harbor Assn., said the celebration would continue throughout the week, with jugglers, mimes and musical groups scheduled to perform.