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OC LIVE! : Navigating on Shore Footing : Newport Festival Launches Fun by Land and by Sea

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

A steady wind and a true course are a sailor’s boon companions, but a couple of salts at last year’s Newport SeaFest could have used a crowbar too.

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During the Nail and Sail--one of the quirkier events in the annual ocean-themed festival, which opens this weekend--teams use plywood, nails and caulking to build a seaworthy vessel, then seek to keep it afloat long enough to race it around a marker in Newport Harbor.

As one team discovered, it’s a task easier said than done.

“We use this caulking that’s really watertight and strong,” explained Marshall Steele, a wooden-boat restoration specialist who started the event nine years ago. “This one team used so much of it, when it was time for the race, their boat literally stuck to the dock,” he recalled with a laugh. “By the time they pried it off, the whole boat fell apart.”

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Even if all launches go smoothly this year, there will be plenty else to talk about at SeaFest. Friday at 5 p.m., the event kicks off with the Balboa Days’ Wooden Boat Parade, a moving exhibit of more than 60 modern and vintage wooden boats ranging from kayaks to tall ships. On Saturday and Sunday, visitors can board some of the craft during the Tall Ships to Dinghies boat tours and take a quick cruise on a few for a small fee (adults, $5; kids free).

Other Balboa Days events include kids’ fishing lessons, children’s storytelling and crafts and a new Balboa Island treasure hunt. On Saturday, there will be a rare U.S. Coast Guard demonstration in which a man is lowered from a helicopter to rescue someone from the water.

The festival winds up Sept. 17 with an 8K run, the White Linen and Jazz concert and buffet benefiting the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the final day of the popular Taste of Newport food and music festival in Newport Center. Most SeaFest events are free, and almost all are suitable for families. Last year’s SeaFest attracted more than 75,000 visitors over the two weekends, said chamber president Richard Luehrs.

SeaFest is coordinated by the Newport Harbor Chamber of Commerce; nearly 1,000 community volunteers help run the event. The lineup changes from year to year: There won’t be repeats of last year’s collegiate water polo tournament, kite festival or antique festival, but old favorites such as the wooden boat festivities, the sandcastle contest and the Taste, which features food from 34 local restaurants and headline entertainment, are back.

This year’s SeaFest also provides a showcase for athletic prowess. Sunday morning at Newport Dunes Resort, the Danskin Women’s Triathlon will feature amateur and professional athletes ages 14 through adult competing in a half-mile swim, 12-mile bike ride and three-mile run. You can register at a free pre-race fitness expo Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. at the Hyatt Newporter Hotel. After they’ve caught their breath, SeaFest visitors can move on to Corona del Mar State Beach for the annual sandcastle contest, beginning at noon Saturday. Sand artists can adorn their works with food coloring, flowers or “anything that’s natural and biodegradable,” said organizer Chuck Hirsch. Sculptures, which have included ships, animals and cityscapes, can’t exceed 15 square feet at their base. There is no height limitation, but as Hirsch points out, “sand has a limit on how high it wants to go.”

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