Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

A Sailing We Will Go!

Fact: Duffy boats were invented by Marshall “Duffy” Duffield.  He was a teenager living in Newport Beach, and he took a golf cart battery and a beat-up day boat and created this quiet cruiser in 1970.  These can be seen all over Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, and Long Beach.

When he made his first Duffy boat 50 years ago, as a teenager working in his parents’ Linda Isle garage, he hit an unexpected home run. Today, about 30,000 Duffy boats are in use worldwide, most on the West Coast, with around 4,000 docked in Orange County.

We were looking forward to this afternoon’s adventure, so we diddled around the house while the cleaning folks were here.  A little later, we went to TJ’s to get four cases of wine and do our grocery shopping.  We got all sorts of goodies.

We continued binge-watching “In The Dark” and talked to Colleen.

We got cleaned up and headed to Newport for our adventure; we are sailing on a Duffy Boat around Newport Harbor.  How do you make a boat feel better?  Give it some vitamin sea. 

We are at the dock and ready to go!

Where are we going??

Sailing, Sailing, over the bounding main!

The Captain was ready to go!  I was expecting a nautical uniform, but this was acceptable.  Dan’s legs did scare the birds away!

Captain Dan takes us out into the bay!

Paula kept busy pulling goodies out of the ice bags.  They must have been six feet deep!  We were filling up on cheese, crackers, grapes, and other goodies.

Wine, cheese, and crackers galore!

Mary was glad she brought a cover because the temperature dropped ten degrees once on the water.

It was fantastic on the water!

This home was beautiful and was loaded with flowers; it looked quite Mediterranean!

John Wayne’s home on the bay!

We heard loud stretching sounds and something that sounded like, “Slow down, pull over, we are boarding you!

A birdie pirate boarded us!

Mary, it turns out, speaks fluent Sea Gull and dispatches the little critter within minutes.  He didn’t even get a cracker!

We enjoyed the trip!

It looks like the house is getting a new foundation!

Construction/reconstruction is underway everywhere.

We were careful because watching this building makes dancers break out in a foxtrot within a matter of minutes; we controlled ourselves!

The Pavillion is 120 years old and going strong!

Did You know? The Balboa Pavilion in Newport Beach, Orange County, California, is a California Historical Landmark and a National Historic Place. Established on July 1, 1906, the Balboa Pavilion played a prominent role in the development of Newport Beach by attracting real estate buyers to an area formerly designated as “swamp and overflow” land.

The Balboa Pavilion is one of California’s last surviving waterfront recreational pavilions from the turn of the century. The Pavilion continues to serve the public today as a marine recreational facility and is Newport Beach’s most famous landmark, as well as its oldest standing building.

The names on the boats were quite interesting, some were very funny, and some were a tad on the odd side.

I love the names on the boats!

Did You Know?  USS YMS-328 is a decommissioned US Navy YMS-1-class (YMS-135 subclass) Yard Mine Sweeper (YMS), built in Ballard, Washington, at Ballard Marine & Railway in Ballard, Washington (Seattle).  She was classified as a Mark II design, and her hull is constructed entirely out of 3″ vertical grain Douglas fir.  Sister ships include Jacques Cousteau’s RV Calypso.  After serving in the Navy in World War II, the boat was converted to a private yacht.

YMS-328 was delivered on 26 May 1943.  She served in the Aleutian Islands during World War II, sweeping enemy minefields at Attu and US minefields at Kiska and patrolling out of Adak.

She was en route to Dutch Harbor to be fitted for the invasion of Paramishiru Island in Japan when Japan surrendered.  YMS-328 returned to Bremerton, Washington.

She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in 1946.

In 1962, she was bought by John Wayne and underwent a significant renovation.  Wayne changed her name to Wild Goose.  He kept the ship for the last 17 years of his life.  He entertained a who’s who of the time, including Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

She is owned by Hornblower Cruises and serves as a dinner-cruise boat in the harbor.

John Wayne’s converter mine sweeper is still in use today.

After the cruise, we went to dinner at The Winery.  We were early birds, so the restaurant was exceptionally quiet.  We ran into some dance friends, Marianne and Craig, and visited for a few minutes,

We had a front-row table overlooking the bay!

Mary enjoyed the New Zealand Venison.  I asked Mary, “Who puts money under the deer’s pillow?” Everyone at the table was puzzled, so I blurted out, “The hoof fairy.”

The game this evening wasNew Zealand Venison.

The 12 Oz steak was quite remarkable; very tender and done perfectly.

I settled for a simple steak!

Our dinner partners had a good time as Paul harassed the wait staff unmercifully all night long.  Sky, our waiter, was sharp as a tack firing back immediately with an excellent response; I may have met my match!

____ and Dan; it was a delightful dinner.

We are having a wonderful time sharing stories of yesteryear!

We headed home and did an hour in the Swin Spa before crashing.

About Paul

Just an old retired guy trying to finish out my last years on this planet. I lost my best friend and wife in early 2020. I was blessed again by reconnecting with Dr. Mary Côté, a long-time friend. Mary and I got married July 28th, 2021, and are enjoying life together and plan to spend the rest of our lives being a blessing to our friends and family.
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