Step Into Nautical Nostalgia (and a Bit of Old Hollywood Glitz)
Yesterday, Monday, April 21st at the “Best of Laguna Beach” radio show, I had an especially fun discussion with Balboa Yacht Club’s Steve Paljieg, who’s Co-Chair for the club’s upcoming, always-amazing Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival on June 13th & 14th.
Balboa Yacht Club annually hosts this event and it is always open to the public. This year, it’s a Hollywood theme – Stories of the Sea: Wooden Boats in Film & Fiction – with classic wooden boats arriving from all points of the country that have been owned by Hollywood celebrities or have starred in movies, books and more. This “fest” is taking on mammoth proportions and it’s time you scheduled some out-of-Laguna time for this fun.
Before I get into all the details of our talk (below) here are the facts you need:
👉 Where: Balboa Yacht Club, 1801 Bayside Drive, Newport Beach
👉 Date: Friday & Saturday, June 13th & 14th
👉 Free Parking: Park at Newport Beach Country Club for free shuttles to and from the event.
👉 Lodging: The Hyatt Regency Newport Beach is offering special Festival rates with Balboa Yacht Club shuttles taking you to and from the festival. Check out their lodging page at the Wooden Boat Festival website to make reservations.
Friday & Saturday in detail:
💎 Friday Night, June 13th - The Friday Night Premier with limited tickets available at just $95/person. As Steve describes it, this is a “Hollywood-Glam-Meets-Maritime-History Opening Night Event” with red carpet walk, plenty of champagne, high-end food stations, 3 wineries featuring their vintages wines, live music and dancing, live auctions and - most importantly - special previews of the visiting boats with plenty of time to chat with their captains. (Just 300 tickets available and they’re already selling fast.)
⛵ Saturday Festival, June 14th 10 am-6 pm - just $15/person (kids under 12 are free). This is a full day pass to multiple sea and land events for kids and adults, alike. Buy tickets online (a better bet) or at the door.
🎙️ Hear ALL the details in the audio replay of the radio show up there ☝️
Read the highlights in our Show Notes below 👇
What’s happening at the Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival:
✅ Steve announces this year’s Wooden Boat Festival theme: Stories of the Sea: Wooden Boats in Film & Fiction, and we talk about the few wooden boat festivals (and boats!) that still exist in the country. At least 30 boats are gathering from all parts at the Balboa Yacht Club on June 13th and 14th.
“They boat owners tell us they come to see the love of their boat reflected in the eyes of the people that are viewing them.”
✅ We begin the celebrity name dropping of famous boats starting with John Wayne’s Wild Goose, a converted mine sweeper from the 1940s. On Saturday, June 14th, there will be two Wild Goose cruises on Saturday at 1:00 pm and at 3:30 pm - a John Wayne themed event – and tickets are just $65/person for the cruise, which includes the price of admission to the day’s festival. (Kids, of course, are welcome on these cruises, too.)
✅ The Western Flyer, a wooden boat who’s actually an official National Historic Landmark, has a storied history from the 1940s when John Steinbeck traveled with Marine Biologist Ed Ricketts to explore the marine life of the Gulf of California. Steinbeck ended up writing the book, "Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research," which eventually became a movie, too. The famed Flyer is in the Sea of Cortez right now, and will be coming up this way to participate in the festival and offer tours of her phenomenal marine oceanographic laboratory in what used to be the fish hold. Listen in as Steve explains more tie-ins with marine biology research that week.
✅ Other famous boats in attendance include Errol Flynn’s Cheerio II, which was built in 1937, Judy Garland’s boat, Sovereign, an 80-foot 1940s mine sweeper and a multitude of wooden boats featured in several major films.
✅ Newport Aquatic Center will be bringing in a slew of “Boys in the Boat” 8-person, 60-foot sculls, one-man sculls, competitive kayaks and even a vessel that won the Olympic games.
✅ There are plenty of events happening on the land, too, including
A spotlight feature on six of our famed Laguna Beach plein air artists. Steve explains the “painting task” they’ve each been assigned for the day’s event.
A Hollywood Wooden Boat “Walk of Fame” on the sidewalks
An art gallery of famous photos and paintings, including a borrow from the Charlie Chaplin exhibit in Paris, France. (Yep, he owned a wooden boat, too.)
Newport Beach Library’s “stories from the sea” for children and adults, alike.
Presenting Sponsor Whittier Trust is serving up one of its famous scavenger hunts (like they do at the Rose Parade), and Kaiser Permanente is queueing up to screen hundreds of people (for free) for skin cancer. (Last year, they helped more than 900 people).
Bid now on these Live and Silent auctions … 🥳
I like to think of auctions as my early holiday shopping spree … and, yes, ahem, sometimes that spree is for me. You’d better hope you get ahead of me on these …
✅ We talk about the crazy-amazing Live Auction, which is live and accepting bids NOW on the Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival website. That auction closes Friday night, June 13th. Live auction items include trips to Iceland (yep, I said Iceland), Portugal, Bryce Canyon for star gazing, The Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting Gala, and all sorts of pampering boating cruises, original paintings and more.
✅ The Silent Auction, which runs through Saturday, the 13th, is also accepting bids NOW on the website. It’s offering up VIP events (like 4th of July and opening night of the Christmas Boat Parade on the water in Newport), actual slips available for these events, and everything from Transpac racers to romantic gondolas offering up champagne cruises, brunches and sunset tours. Then there are chef’s tables, private happy hours, custom paintings done of your boat (or a boat you love), and more.
Food, libations and even a few spaces left for a few awesome boats
✅ A sizable BBQ and additional food and libation stations will also be available. 💳 Note: Bring credit cards - no cash accepted.
✅ The festival is still taking applications from wooden boat owners who might still want to be included in the event. Once again, find all this at their website.
Classic Boats. Hollywood Legends. One Dazzling Evening & Day in Newport …
$95/person for the Friday night “Hollywood” premiere evening.
$15/person for an all-day Saturday pass (kids under 12 are free.)
Count me in! Let me know you’ll be there, too!
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