Episode #187: Steve Paljieg on the Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival

This week we chat with Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival co-chair Steve Paljieg about the festival taking place on June 13-14 at Balboa Yacht Club. This is the 9th Annual Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival, this year with the theme, “Stories of the Sea: Wooden Boats in Film & Fiction.”

Hear why Croatia has the most beautiful coastline in the world, the history of the Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival, famous boats and actors in the wooden boat community, what makes wooden boats so special, and some wooden boat puns you’ll wish you ‘wood’ forget.

Here’s a sample of what you’ll hear in this episode.

• How sponsors can bring the event alive and also serve the community
• A virtual tour of the Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival
• Wouldn’t it be fun to take a ride on John Wayne’s yacht?
• Where else could you get sailing history, hollywood stories, and wooden boats all in one place?
• What does BOAT mean?

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and your other favorite podcast spots — follow and leave a 5-star review if you’re feeling the Good Jibes!

Buy your tickets at NewportBeachWoodenBoatFestival.com and connect with Ryan at Ryan.Online.

Show Notes

• Steve Paljieg on the Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival, with Host Ryan Foland
  • [0:21] Welcome to Good Jibes with Latitude 38
  • [1:43] Are you going to the Wooden Boat Festival?
  • [] Welcome ahoy Steve Paljieg!
  • [2:39] What moment on the water shaped Steve?
  • [5:32] But what about the castle?
  • [9:45] Steve’s boat is Turkish Marine Architecture 
  • [12:40] If you make it to the Wooden Boat Festival, be sure to mention Good Jibe sent you!
  • [13:10] All about sponsors
  • [17:06] Does Steve have a sunscreen sponsorship lined up?
  • Explore the Wooden Boat Festival Virtually
  • [19:16] Are we ready for the virtual tour though the festival?
  • [21:20] On June 13-14, you can wander Newport Beach like Hollywood royalty for just $15. Buy Friday tix in advance!
  • [26:30] Learn the journey of the Flyer, 85 years ago compared to today
  • [30:40] Back to the virtual tour!
  • [34:52] Check out our classy classifieds at Latitude38.com 
  • [36:35] Wouldn’t it be fun to take a ride on John Wayne’s yacht?
  • [38:38] Don’t forget to look down!
  • [41:40] Going back in time to the festival last year
  • [44:15] What does BOAT stand for?
  • [46:46] Learn more about the Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival
  • [52:52] Make sure to follow Good Jibes with Latitude 38 on your favorite podcast spot and leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts
  • Check out the April 2025 issue of Latitude 38 Sailing Magazine
  • Theme Song: “Pineapple Dream” by Solxis

Episode Transcript:

Note – Transcript is not 100% accurate.

00:02

When can you spend a day at Newport Beach Harbor looking at floating works of art and hearing all the stories from the sea for 15 bucks?

00:22

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Good Jives, a podcast brought to you by the legacy magazine Latitude 38, which has been talking about West Coast sailing since 1977. And today we have a very special guest, somebody who spent a lot of time on the water  and on the land. He is helping people access amazing watercraft and you’re going to learn all about it today.

00:47

Our guest is Steve Paljig. He is the co-chair of the 2025 Newport Beach Wood Boat Festival. Welcome to the show, Steve. Ryan, thank you very much. I’m just really so delighted to be here. know, on behalf of the 100 plus volunteers that put on the show, the Balboa Yacht Club that hosts it, partnerships with people like the Newport Beach Library System. This community I represent is just delighted to…

01:14

be here and help get the word out about the show that we’re putting out this summer. one of my last guests, actually the last guest I interviewed, Kiki, she said at one point, you know, the coolest thing is that no matter who you meet in the boating community, they’re like the nicest, coolest people ever. And it’s through this linking of community, especially along the coast here and even Newport. And the way that we were connected is that I was talking with Jennifer Kale, who is a good friend of mine and she’s with 70 Degrees.

01:43

And she was  on this podcast talking about the history of boats and the lore and how to document. then after the podcast, she’s like, are you going to the Wooden Boat Show? I’m like, oh my gosh, I’ve heard about it, but I’ve never gone. Next thing you know, we’re on email. We’re here connected. And it’s just amazing how all these dots connect. Well, I bet you didn’t know that the second weekend of June by proclamation of the County of Orange is actually Wooden Boat Festival weekend in the county.  No.

02:12

broadly, broadly recognized and celebrated in Southern California on the second weekend of June, which means we’ll be putting out another show June 13th and 14th of 2025. Okay, that is coming up and we want those who are listening to get this on your radar. What a great excuse to cruise down from San Francisco. What a great excuse to cruise up from San Diego. What a great excuse to get out and check these things out. Now, before we jump into the boat show,

02:39

and I’m going to ask you to give us a virtual tour as best you can. But let’s learn a little bit more about you and the wood behind your entrepreneurship as part of an extracurricular activity here. Tell us a story that has shaped you on the water. What’s a moment that stands out? Now, I know that you’re a power boater and there’s a power boater in all of us because many of our sailboats have engines in that we all have to make our own wind. Sometimes people want.

03:09

My laser doesn’t have an engine, but I still have to make wind when I have to skull and it’s totally dead. So we’re all power voters at the end of the day until we sail. But what’s the story that has shaped you out there on the Big Blue? Well, you know, it’s really cool, right? I have just found throughout my couple decades of voting that being underwater just gives you a completely different perspective of the world.  And I’ve used that along with my wife and others to travel the world. Just last summer, we were in Croatia.

03:38

on a beautiful  six cabin Turkish  Gullet.  And, you know, we saw what is my homeland Croatia in a way that just absolutely fascinated and surprised me. You know, everything from the beauty of this, you know, original sailboat to the ports of calls in Hvar and Kortula  and this, and you can just go on and  on with the beautiful islands of Croatia.

04:06

And it’s not just visiting the islands, but how we visited them. You know, you’re on board the boat, you wake up in the morning, you have on the stern, just a little bit of a continental breakfast and you’re underway. And before you know it late morning, you’re putting in that a little hidden swimming hole that, know, only the captain and his crew knows of. So before you even kind of get into what really isn’t the hustle and bustle of a Croatian Island,  you’re just relaxing in a

04:34

beautiful picture perfect Adriatic pool of water relaxing doing a little snorkeling right doing a little swimming just having fun in the water and you pull up the anchor and you’re put into a port like Havar  and while it’s got its hustle and bustle of nightlife you know you can experience the history by walking up the hill to Havar Castle and looking down on the Adriatic and your sailboat in the distance  it’s just this  romantic

05:03

connection with the world that being on a boat like that, being on the water brings to that kind of travel experience. I don’t think you can really recreate it any other way. You literally brought me back to my time in Croatia with three couples  on a 47 foot, you know, not as cool and old as yours, but we rolled up to Hvar.  We rolled up to all these different places. We got to six islands in seven days. And as you were  speaking, I was like,

05:32

biting my tongue not to jump out and be like,  what about the swimming in the morning? And you’re like, and we found the swimming hole. And I’m like, but what about the castle? And you’re like, and then there’s the castle. Like literally,  I would have taken those exact words and just  said, this is it. It was so much fun.  Thanks, Ryan. And you know, the other thing my wife would mention if she was on a podcast with us is truffles. No, I’m just kidding. We believe the coastline of Croatia is the most beautiful we’ve ever seen. There is just something about first.

06:00

The country is, you know, a little still off the radar. So there’s not a lot of development down to the water line.  And when you go there, you see beautiful blue Adriatic water, beach, white chalk cliff line, and then these beautiful like native forests. It’s just it’s just an amazing thing to behold. And the people. OK, I’m Croatian, but I have to say the people are really exceptional,  Were the Cercadas active when you were there? Yes, they were.

06:29

Yes, I remember the circadies and every time I hear them, I was in France recently, I heard them and it brought me back. just like the constant,  you hear them and then I just remember like a little kid on shore trying to find them and trying to see them and they were so camouflaged. Like I hear you, but I don’t see you. Yeah, they’re all kind of little treasure hunts there in Croatia. Yeah, I remember rolling up to and we didn’t have a tour guide. We’re just on our own. But like we roll up to an island and we’re like, what’s that? It looks like a little shack or shelter. Like roll up, throw an anchor, swim to the beach and it’s like

06:59

this little tiny hut that’s selling french fries and  something rather with cold beers and there’s like two people there and it’s just like, it’s so far away from everything. The other thing I was  really not expecting was how flat the Adriatic Sea is.  Sands the big ass waves from the big ass boats. Like the only waves we encountered were from these mega yachts. But I was just fascinated. There was at one point we were going.

07:26

close to 19 knots on this huge boat, like 30 knots of wind. And it was just like a lake. It was crazy. And then just take it to the next level. You’re on that lake and it’s potluck with all, with hundreds of little islets and islands  that you’re sailing in between. It’s best experience on the water that I can think of.  And you did mention something when you talked about the food. So the other memory I get is in my belly, because if you like good seafood, that’s a wonderful place to say out of the water, you know.

07:56

into the oven and onto the plate kind of eating. It’s just fantastic. saw my first blue lobster there and then we also  went to this place called Lonely Paradise with it was on the side of a hill and this butterfly  double coved  ringlet from an island and you pull up on the dock and you walk up on the hill and there’s like seven or eight tables all in different spots of the hill, a centralized kitchen. And we ran into a whole bunch of other sailors, of course. And then somebody

08:25

bought a shot for our whole table and then we bought a shot for their whole table and then you know the party just completed the whole mountain and then we ran into him on another island like four days later. This is crazy. Yeah I don’t know how you did it Ryan but we book ended the cruise with  a start and split  and a stop in Dubrovnik. Yes. So it was just terrific. Yes and

08:48

the, I just remember all the stone and the architecture and you just, feel like you’re very like Roman at different points and cobblestones and all kinds of stuff. Well, you said that was the coolest experience on the water and I’m going to challenge you because I think the only thing cooler than that is going to be on some crazy wooden boat at your boat show in Newport,  in Newport beach. So. Well, I’m down with that. I totally agree with you. We could talk about Croatia all day. You know, maybe it might be fun to get a group of folks that don’t know each other.

09:16

I guess we know each other now, but just like put a call out and say, who’s gone to Croatia, had a good time and wants to talk about it and just get a whole bunch of strangers that have done the same thing on different boats  and different times and different seasons and different eras and just like swap stories. I think that’d be a med make for a great episode. Okay. All right. And then we’ll get more into sponsor that one. All right.  We say your boat again that you were on because you said it fast. It sounded really cool.  Cool.

09:45

I think it’s basically Turkish marine architecture. Okay. It was built in Turkey, two masted,  probably a hundred foot long, six cabin. Wooden? Was it wooden? All wooden.  All wooden. Of course. woody. Yep, absolutely. It’s on brand, on brand. We would have had to stop the show if it was fiberglass. No, I’m just kidding. So let’s talk about the show. How long have you been involved with this? How long has this been going on? Just give us a breakdown of the history. People might have heard of it. Maybe  they have wanted to go forever or maybe they’ve never heard of it.

10:15

Well, this year is the ninth annual Wooden Boat Festival officially running 10 years. But like so many things, we had a little bit of a break there during COVID. yeah, 10 years ago, ninth annual Wooden Boat Festival.  Really neat story, Brian, about the founding. There was a member,  very devoted wooden boat owner himself named Ralph Rautheim, who in the latter part of his life was stricken with ALS.  And one of his last visions and gifts to the boating community in Newport Beach Harbor was to start.

10:45

the Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival. And in fact, we honor Ralph’s memory a couple of ways. is his widow, and he’s still involved with the festival. She’s the one that’s handing out the trophy. So if you see Penny and you want to say thank you to somebody, she’s a good person to seek out at the festival. But even more importantly, we really believe in community at the festival. And as part of the philanthropy work we do, we do pass some money back to the ALS Foundation and Ralph’s memory and as an acknowledgement to the wonderful gift that he gave to the wooden boat community.

11:15

And to the port  of Newport Beach. So  it’s a really cool start.  It’s entirely a volunteer run endeavor. OK,  we’re fortunate to have the bubble club  be making its facilities available. And then we’ve just got support of community organizations, because like you said, it’s really about community this year from the Newport Beach Public Library system to the Oasis Center here in Newport Beach  to the city of Newport Beach and.

11:43

I will mention a whole host of very generous commercial sponsors too. It takes a village. Drop a couple sponsor names. Let’s make them feel good about about throwing money your way because at the end of the day, we want this podcast to motivate our listeners to come down to the show. And in a digital world, it’s hard to track who found us or your boat show through this conversation. So I have a crazy idea here and  I’ll roll with it. We can roll with it. We can roll with the roll with the waves here.

12:13

Can we come up with a code word and you can come up with a code word.  And when somebody hears this episode and they’re so inspired to check out the show and they come down and they buy their ticket, we’ll talk about ticket prices and everything. Sounds super affordable. This is an amazing opportunity. But when they show up and they hand in their ticket or scan their QR code, can we have somebody at your registration say, hey, great to see you. How’d you hear about us? And then if the person says code word,

12:40

then I will make sure that they get a fresh copy of latitude 38. Does that sound good? That sounds great to me.  When we were talking, we’ll use the word good job. I like that. I like that because it just identifies the fact that they’ve been part of your community joining our community. And I think that’s just a a great phrase. So let’s make the good job. Code word good, good job. Well, let’s go good jives. Let’s go plural. Okay. All right. Because there’s the only thing better than one good jive is another good jive and then another good jive. So

13:10

If you are so inspired to come and check out the 2025 Newport Beach Wooden Boat Show, get on down there and at the front, tell them you heard about us from from CodeWord Good Jives and get your hands on a grubby fresh magazine from Latitude 38. All right, Steve, so you mentioned sponsors. I’ve got three brief stories to tell you, because I think this festival is all about stories that we want to make people aware of. The first is one of our

13:40

Well, we all very generous sponsors. But one of our sponsors is Kaiser Permanente, the health care system.  And when they started working with us on the Wooden Boat Festival, it was both in terms of financial support,  but also what can we do to bring our brand alive and serve the boating community?  And they came up with a terrific idea that happened last year and it’s also happening this year. So if you come to the Wooden Boat Festival on Saturday, look for the Kaiser Permanente banners and you will get a free skin cancer screening.

14:10

by a trained dermatologist MD. Oh my God.  I’m the proudest ginger around. And that sounds like  I’m getting really excited now.  Right. Kaiser screened about  900 people last year, okay,  as part of its service to the boating community. and  I’m going to get busy at kind of round numbers, but of that about 30 people were referred for some follow-up work because of how they presented. And I actually had a captain of one of the wooden boats.

14:40

rather young guy approached me after the festival said, you know, I went to the Kaiser booth and I do have something that’s cancerous, pre-cancerous. I want to thank you and thank Kaiser for making this available.  So I think that’s one of those that is so sponsors dig in with you, right? And do something that’s a little bit above and beyond. So that’s one, one, one big sponsor story.  do think that sometimes people are timid about getting checked by the reality that they’ve been on the boat for so many years. There might be something there.

15:10

And  to those people, you need to be brave because knowing that there’s a leak in your boat before it gets bad is way better than having something go down. And you mentioned 30 people got referred in this one captain, but that’s 870 plus people who went in there left and they’re like, woo, I’m good  to go. I’m doing the right stuff. I’m wearing my sunscreen proof shirts. like I’m excited. That is such a cool connection with the sponsor. I thought it was. So we got another great sponsor this year.

15:39

The Hyatt Regency Newport Beach. You know, you can mention folks sailing down from San Francisco or motoring up from San Diego. If you come to the festival, why not spend a weekend in Newport Beach? And we’ve worked really hard and the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach has been amazing  to come up with a weekend stay package. Okay.  So you will not get a better stay rate at this particular property in Newport Beach,  which is only a mile from the festival. So you can walk it or we’ll get you there free of charge.

16:09

And the Hyatt itself has stepped forward to say, you know,  this is such a big deal for us. We’re going to promote it inside of our  hotel. They’re doing a continuous  video loop on their guest channels of the Boat Festival.  They’ve got a honking big TV in the lobby bar that plays beautiful scenes of Newport Beach. We’re going to splice in a little bit of Wooden Boat Festival stuff.  You know, another way to have people that are traveling, right, through the community,  see and acknowledge.

16:38

this connection with Wooden Boats. They may not even realize they have, but they kind of develop. They get a little curious and maybe check in on the show.  So,  just see Newport Beach, big thanks to them. You can find their state package on our website and then go directly to  make your booking. If you’re on that booking the hotel,  go ahead and try to put good jibes in there as a coupon code discount. Just try it. And  maybe you can feel like you got the discount with some of this love as well. Okay, anyways.

17:06

The Hyatt and us have love for everybody, Ryan. We do. And I just had another idea before your third story. Back to the skin cancer screening. Do you have a sunscreen sponsorship lined up? We actually do have  some products that are going to be recommended by Kaiser. So during the assessment. Yeah. OK, because I was thinking, I mean, I have my favorite sunscreen brand. And so maybe they would even want a partner, right? Because  you tell them if they’d

17:33

done good or bad and then you give them something to put on. Well, maybe a little late in the cycle for this year, but we’ll certainly look for it next year.  Okay. There’s always, all right, get back to the third sponsor story. Let’s go. Really fortunate to work with Whittier Trust down here  in Southern California. And not only have they stepped up to be a presenting sponsor in terms of their sponsorship role,  but they keep challenging us and making us better by thinking about how they make their brand come alive at the festival.  So they brought us an idea from the Rose Bowl Crane.

18:02

I thought this is really cool. This is like really cache. You know, it’s like we’re getting this like thing that they do at the Rose Bowl parade applied to our festival. And what you do is  there will be a I’ll call it a baseball card like collecting experience. OK,  so you will go around to various parts in the festival where you’ll be able to pick up a card. OK,  and that card. Will represent something in this year’s theme stories from the sea.

18:31

Wooden Boats in Film and Fiction. It may be a great novel that features a wooden boat.  And you’ll put these cards together and you’ll get this beautiful image on the backside of our featured boat this year, which we’ll just talk about in a few minutes. You get playing cards. You create this artifact, right, of the festival as you wander around and you kind of create it, build it as you wander, kind of like mode. And so  we found that people last year just loved it, people of all ages. So.

18:58

You know, Whittier also helps us create immersive experiences for, you know, the boat lovers, the boat curious,  the, don’t know why I’m here. It’s a beautiful day, but wow. Now look at those boats. Everybody seems to have a really great time with this particular way of exploring the festival. Very cool. All right. Are we ready to explore the festival now? I got all excited and jumpy. Let’s take a virtual walk. All right. So we’re rolling up. Where do I park? First of all,

19:25

I mean, granted that I’m not staying in the hotel and walking because that’s priority number one granted which you know if you’re coming up from San Francisco, you absolutely wanted to but OK so we have got remote parking at the Newport. Country Club on the Coast Highway in Newport Beach  to go to our website. There’s a location tab. It’ll give you a map. You it’ll give you everything you need to go to find that particular parking location.  You’re also welcome to park in the neighborhood immediately adjacent to the club.

19:54

Uh, the Bebo yacht club on Bayside drive in Corona Del Mar, but it’s going to be a little bit of a squeeze. So we really encourage people to do the remote parking option. Doesn’t cost you a cent free parking. Yeah. Free parking. As long as you good jibes to the parking. Yes. Uh, good jibes please. Okay. Go ahead. Yeah. You’re in for free. There you go. And you know, we’ve got shuttles running back and forth all day, 30 minutes before the festival opens to a half an hour afterwards.  And they’ll drop you right at the festival gate.

20:23

And when is it open? Talk to me about the time. What time in the morning is this for the early birds that want to show up beforehand? We actually have a festival weekend. OK, OK. Yeah, it’s not one day. It’s two days. OK, it’s like it’s like a music festival. Yeah, I mean, it’s like Woodstock for Wood. Woodstock for Wood and Boats or something like that. but Saturday is the main festival day. OK, the hours are 10 to 6 on Saturday and this is when we have the remote parking.

20:52

This is when we also have that shuttle service. Uh, and this is when we have our $15 general admission price, which we hope makes it accessible to everybody. No matter where you are in your journey with wooden boats, that’s Saturday. can’t even buy a burger for 15 bucks. Yeah. When can you spend a day under port beach Harbor looking at floating world of art and hearing all the stories from the sea for 15 bucks? know exactly. Remind us of the dates again.

21:20

June  14th is the main festival day, June 14th, 2025. Now  let’s talk about Friday.  Friday night is a special preview night and what we’re doing, and this is by advanced ticket purchase only. So you can’t come to the door Friday night and say, let me in, buy a ticket, even if you say good job, right? Okay.  But on Friday night, it’s a special preview and we really wanted to create a  totally immersive experience for people.

21:49

to experience the festival in a very different way.  So Friday night, we’re open from 6 p.m.  to 10 p.m. Advanced purchase only.  You can drive to the festival yourself because we have valet parking.  When you valet park your car, you will enter the festival down the red carpet of classic runabouts.  Now, it’s like Oscarville. We’re gonna have it lit, we’re gonna have the red carpet, we’re gonna have Rivas and Chris Crafts and all the beautiful

22:19

models of runabouts that you think when you think about  George Clooney motoring around Lake Como in Italy. Okay.  That’s the festival entrance and that’s the experience Friday night of getting into the festival. When you’re in the festival, there’ll be, the attendance is going to be capped at about 300 people on Friday night and you will have the experience of a Hollywood opening. Okay. Hence the red carpet, the lighting. We’re going to have themed entertainment.

22:46

All the main exhibits are gonna be open  as a special preview for the show. We’re gonna have high end food stations.  We’re gonna have all kinds of food and beverage. We’ve just had a major sponsor sign up, Moe and Hennessy, to pour a little bubbly when people arrive at the end of the red carpet.  This is the total intersection, Ryan, of Hollywood party and love for Wood and Bo. Hollywood. Hollywood, again.  The wood is there. The wood is the foundation of everything.

23:14

It is. And I ask you this question. Where else in Southern California can you get to the intersection of Hollywood and Wooden Boat? It’s just perfect for Southern California. Newport Beach. Newport Beach. And I learned that it was named Newport because somebody was like, oh, let’s make this a Newport and then became Newport. Funny how those things happen. You know, I heard the same story.  So Friday night, OK, you know, you’ve got this Hollywood gala.

23:41

We’re going to have, I said, themed entertainment, a few surprises along the way. And real quick, you have to buy these tickets in advance, correct? You do, because we only have room for 300 on Friday night. So you have to go to our website and you have to buy the ticket in advance. Share that right now, because some people might feel the scarcity and they might want to put awesome pause and go check it out. How would they find these? Jump now. OK, so our website is  www.NewportBeachWood and Boat Festival dot com.

24:10

It’s a little long, but it is memorable because it is also the of the event.  and you will find there a. In many different locations on the navigation bar. Place to buy tickets, a place to learn more about the Friday event, because I can’t possibly name everything that’s going on there. A place to name the Saturday event, which will get to in a second, but also easily a way to go to a ticket site and buy your ticket and reserve your spot.

24:37

And we’d love to see everybody there. We think it’s kind of a one of a kind experience.  My wife is the co-chair for the event. does a lot of research and we, you we looked at, she looked around at what’s going on at Port Townsend with their boat show,  what’s happening at Mystic.  And how do we honor the tradition of great wooden boat shows? And we’re part of that tradition, but how do we make it a little bit different? And I think we’ve got a great theme this year. Stories from the sea, wooden boats and film and fiction that really bring the legacy of wooden boats.

25:06

sailing and motorboat and boats alive for everybody who’s interested. It’s awesome. So Friday night, I’m going to be there. So there’s only 299 spots available. You’re there. There’s only 290. Your wife’s the tickets are going fast. No. And let me tell you, I will just also mention this ticket sales began officially April 1 on our website. So, you know, when people are listening to this podcast, it’s the time to go and buy. Perfect. I love it.

25:36

where the Friday is a crazy experience only for the Hollywood elite who gets  their tickets first.  And then Saturday  they roll up and they can have the lit experience and walking through all the old runabouts.  What else is there? Like I imagine all kinds of stuff. So you’ve gotten there for free. You park for free, you shuttle for free, $15 admission ticket. You walk down the red carpet of runabouts and you see the festival just open up both on the shore and on the water.  So you’re on the shore still.

26:05

And you’ll see right in front of you, the captain’s bridge. It’s the main stage for the festival. OK,  so a lot of the opening and closing ceremonies will be there. But importantly, that’s where we’re going to have some really terrific speaker series discussions.  In fact, the wooden flyer, John Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts historic boat. I’ll get to that in a second.  The folks that lead that foundation are actually going to do a talk about.

26:32

The journey that Steinbeck and Ricketts took down to the Sea of Cortez in 1940, okay, to do a marine survey of the Sea of Cortez. And contrasting that trip in the 1940s to the trip that they’re on right now, 85 years later. No way. Yeah. It’s the story of two voyages. The voyages of this boat, which is on the historic registry of the US in 1940, with all the photography and stories.

26:59

compared to that voyage they’re creating 85 years later, right now, as they journey down to the Sea of Cortez. I think it’s going to be amazing. Wow. How big is this boat? I just created the vision in my mind, and I’m just curious. It’s a 77-foot-long wooden sardine trawler. Wow. Yeah. Go to the website. We’ve got a page on the Western Flyer itself. OK. What’s really cool is a great story.

27:28

Part of the story you’ll hear at the top part you’ll see on the website,  but long story short, wonderful gentleman named John Greg raised her off the sea bottom, had her restored and then decided wonderful boats like this are not just museum pieces. They’ve worked their entire lives. We should continue to put them to work. And the hold of the Western flyer is the most modern part of the vessel along with the propulsion system.  It’s a marine, it’s a certified marine laboratory.

27:58

OK,  so she does. In fact, she’s registered with the Coast Guard as a certified oceanographic vessel,  so she’s still working. She’s she’s here. She has a new life before fishing now, just, you know, exploring the ocean. And in fact,  Ryan, when she comes to Newport Beach to visit with us at the festival just beforehand, she’s going to be doing some research at the Kirchhoff Marine Institute, which is right at the harbor entrance to Newport Beach. Another way that the festival is creating community, right?

28:28

Great research festival, great research Institute  run by Caltech at the Harbor entrance.  Let’s get them together and they’ll do some special stuff together for hopefully the benefit of everybody who’s spending time on the waves. Wow. Very cool. I’ve got the captain’s deck. got talks. We got entertainment. If you journey to your right from the captain stage, you’re going to go into a exhibit of. Wooden boats  and the Hollywood stars that they owned them a photographic exhibit. Okay.  And you’re going to see.

28:58

the relationship that stars like Buddy Ed Epson, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, many of the greats of Hollywood history had with their particular boats  through the original photography and some artifacts that celebrate that. A little mobile museum. What we should do is get  a few of the photos from Friday night and then sneak them in there and see if anybody knows.  You know, it’s going to be a really real way to experience the stories of wooden boats.

29:28

through photography and the relationship that these actors and actresses have with wooden boats.  And I got to tell you, there’s innumerable stories about that. Who’s maybe the most famous, most exciting, doesn’t have to be most famous,  somebody that, whether it’s local or international,  a picture of somebody with a boat that might stick out that we can go see. Here’s a really unique one, Charlie Chaplin, right? Remember him from like old time movie days, right? I want to believe everybody knows him. Although this new generation, I’m not sure, but I would still think that

29:57

that they would even recognize him like I think he’s that strong of a historic brand. Yes, Charlie Chapman and he has a history of owning classic wooden motor yachts. One was the Sea Dog.  She’s still afloat.  We are. Hoping to lure her down  to Southern California,  not confirmed yet, but working on it. We actually my wife, I should say, actually went to the Charlie Chaplin Museum virtually in Paris to go through the photographic records and look for these particular photos.

30:27

that show him in the setting of his classic boat. Wow. The investigation and curation  and  stories that have been able to be built around these  actors in their boats is really, I think, going to be a marvel to behold in this photographic exhibit. So you got to check that out. If you pivot to the left from the captain’s bridge, which is what we call the South Yard on the property of the Bobo Yacht Club, we got another piece of our community. The Newport

30:57

aquatic center, which is a major rowing center on the back Bay of Newport Beach Harbor.  Generously provided a  wide range of work in rowing shells from like eight man shells  to  wooden kayaks to small row boats, some of which have even competed in the Olympic games. And so they have their own little stories to tell. Okay.

31:24

And we’re going to create a immersive display and partnership with the Newport Aquatic Center of wooden boats. Sometimes I think about wooden boats. I think about the big sailboat, the big tall ship, or I think about the big motor yacht. There is something miraculous too about the beauty of a 60 foot long, eight person wooden shell and how it was built and what its story is. Did you say 60 foot? I’ve been told, I haven’t measured it, but I’ve been told it’s about 60 feet long. That is insane.

31:53

That is so I wouldn’t even expect that. Right. So so come experience what on the water in a different way made possible through this collaboration we have with the Newport Aquatic Center. So that’s off to your left. OK. Now, if you’re on the land, just you’re going to be we’re going to feed you. OK, we’re going to make sure that you’re you’re well hydrated with beverages of all sort. And you’re really just kind of like enjoying the on the line. Like I like to say, Ryan, it’s.

32:22

home for the boats, but stay for the day. Because while the wooden boat is the center of the festival,  we are going to just create an amazing set of activities and exhibits around it to help people really kind of dig in and  kind of get what wooden boating is all about. We’re going to go to the docks. Okay. All right. Let’s go to the docks. The bar and then the docks. Yeah. Okay. You know, we, we’re now hydrated. Okay. We’ve done everything on the land. It’s time to go and venture and explore the boats.  We have a collection of about

32:51

30 wooden boats that come from all parts of the West coast.  We have some coming out down from the Sacramento Delta.  A few come up from San Diego, the Western flyers coming down from Moss Landing, just north of Monterey. They all gathered together to have their own camaraderie. But also as one wooden boat owner told me to have people look at their boat, have their jaws drop and just rekindle for this person that was talking to me, this boat owner, the amazement that he felt.

33:21

when he first got introduced to wooden boats.  And so it’s sort of like this great validation of the love that they have for their boat  that they see when they say, somebody who might not even like know anything about wooden boats just stops, looks, you can just see process things in their head.  How is this possible? This thing is just,  it’s made out of wood and their jaws drop. It’s those moments that they really kind of come for, okay?  So  we gather this flotilla of wooden boats and their owners and we add to that.

33:51

We’re also thinking about how we can show the restoration process of wooden boats  because while they look beautiful and they’re in brisk condition, whether it’s a sailboat or motorboat that happens by the festival, they weren’t always like that. So  we’re to try to tell the story of  a very particular restoration, hold the space, not ready to announce it yet, but that’s  going to show people the work and love that goes into restoring  one of these  beautiful  floating works of art, as you mentioned.

34:19

So wander the docks, the boat owners love to talk about their boats. They love to tell you stories about their boats.  And you know, you will probably see a few boats that tie back to Hollywood history. That will be interesting to  hear their particular stories.  Are any of these boats going to be for sale? We don’t allow sales at the festival. OK. You know, you’re not going to see here for sale signs hung up and  we want to create a comfortable environment for everybody that’s attending. So we think that’s not probably appropriate.

34:47

But it doesn’t stop you from asking a question if you like a lovely wooden boat and say, hey, has this boat ever been on the market? OK, OK, no, this is good. One of our most popular features on the website and in the Latitude 38 magazine are the classy classifieds. And myself, I just love to look and just cruise and just peek and poke. And so it’s always fun. But it’s actually kind of nice knowing that they’re not for sale because it’s a zero pressure environment.

35:16

right for people who maybe haven’t been to a boat show because I love boats but I just haven’t been to many boat shows and  one of my sort of  unjustified biases that I just have in my own head is that like if I go to a boat show it’s gonna feel like going to a used car show or a used car lot do you know what mean? this is just like  I haven’t been to them enough

35:41

I love the idea of just like, mean I get to come on your boat and it’s not like an open house and like I’m just here. That’s exactly right. That is what happens.  You can wander around quietly or you can go to engage the boat owner in conversation.  You know, you can do whatever you want while being respectful to the boat, of course, right? To experience what that wooden boat is like.  And that’s what we want to create for people, a chance to get up close and have that sort of like.

36:09

one-on-one experience with these beautiful watercraft. I will be asking for permission to board. I’ve also done that. I’ve stepped onto somebody’s boat too quick and I’ve been like, oops. So we’ll make it easy for you. If there’s a boat owner there and sometimes there are a few, they will have a no board sign up, but everyone else is inviting you on board. So you don’t even have to ask for permission. Okay. All right. So you’re under docs and you thought, Hey, I’ve had a great experience looking at wooden boats. Wouldn’t it be fun to take a ride on one? Sure. All right. So we have got.

36:40

John Wayne’s Wild Goose  coming to do a couple of harbor cruises. Okay. One and three PM on Saturday.  Now, do know anything about the Wild Goose?  I unfortunately don’t, but I’m ready to hear about it.  She’s a Woody. Okay. She’s actually an ex World War II minesweeper. So Wooden Hall can’t have magnetic mines, magnetic halls.  So Wooden Hall and she was converted specifically to be the private yacht of the movie actor, John Wayne, who also happened to be a Newport Beach resident.

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Okay,  so the wild goose will pull up to the docks  and she’ll take 127 people at a time. Big actor, big boat. Wow, yeah, that’s  okay. Big experience.  And while you’re on board, the captain’s gonna be talking about John Wayne’s particular experience on the boat and you’ll be able to see many of the living spaces that were part of the original boat.  Part of it has been converted for  kind of an entertainment space.

37:38

But a good part of it has been made in its historic condition. And one of my favorite spots to visit Ryan is there’s a parlor where card games were played, you know, and you can just see like going back to that era of Hollywood, people sitting at the table. I’ve been told, you know, John Wayne was there. Catherine Hepburn would be there. Humphrey Bogart, all those legends that space on a great wooden boat on the water. And you know what? Like we all do getting away from it all. Yeah.

38:08

Right. Right.  In fact, there are so many stories of Hollywood stars who spent their time out at Catalina Island. Absolutely. Yeah, that used to be. I mean, that makes sense if you can get it’s the closest furthest place you can get. And yeah, I’ve been fascinated with that as a hot little Hollywood spot. Yeah.  So visually, that’s kind of the panorama of the festival. But I should mention one other point. Don’t forget to look down because on the ground will be our own.

38:37

I recalling it the wooden boat walk of fame. So borrowing a little bit from the Hollywood walk of fame that we’re all probably familiar with,  we’re gonna re-curpice that theme for the wooden boat festival.  And you’re gonna be able to, while you’re moving through the festival, don’t bump into anything, but take a look down and be able to connect a great boat with a great author  or a great film star  and be able to understand, you know,

39:05

what that particular legend looked like as we capture it on that particular star. I should also mention that, you know, we got room for families. So we’ve got family friendly activities. There’ll be activities for children.  We actually have some of our exhibits that we’re gearing for children. So  when you think about books and literature, my mind goes to movie, movie posters,  and, you know, covers of great books, right, and great literature.  So we’re going to take you through

39:35

in another exhibit, a walk through history of wooden boats and the important roles they played in books and movies. Starting back with like writing on Egyptian papyrus and the wooden boats there, right? And then moving up to the present day of stories like the Coast Guard rescue, I can’t remember the name of the movie, off the coast of Massachusetts in a 36 foot wooden lifeboat, right? And that was brought to the screen recently in the movie starring Chris Pine.

40:04

But we’re also doing a complimentary timeline of this for kids too, right?  Because wooden boats  can be appreciated by everybody.  you know, we will also appreciate the role of wooden boats in movies and like the Chronicles of Narnia. Great wooden boat in Peter Pan, right?  So we can start building in this love and connection with wooden boats, even for our youngest guests. just think too, I don’t want to be punny, but the root of it all.

40:34

the stories that are created, the growth  of these trees that have been repurposed into floating vessels to even, you you say you were from Croatia,  I am from somewhere in Europe, and then some people took a boat across the United States. Like the world is blue. Like I think we forget sometimes how massive and of scale and as humans just our ability to see a palm tree and cut it down and make a canoe or strap a couple together to make a raft. Like it’s just so ingrained.

41:02

But it’s ironic because how ingrained it is in our history and our culture, still so many people  will never have the opportunity to physically see them or proximity to the ocean or if they’re in an inner city or underserved area to even get out there. And for a $15 ticket  to have everything from a Hollywood experience to  literally understanding history,  living history,  what a cool opportunity.

41:30

We’re also committed to keeping the event fresh. So what you see this year will be different than what you saw last year and will be different from what you’re going to see next year.  Now it’s always going to be Ryan, these beautiful wooden boats that the festival.  But if I were to go back in time for a second, I’d say last year, the festival theme was the art and craft and wooden boat.  So we had from the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building outside of Seattle, some artisans come down and show their craft working wood.

42:00

We brought down a high act maker named David Lake, also from the Pacific Northwest featured in wooden boat magazine who makes these beautiful wooden kayaks with these absurdly gorgeous wooden inlays that celebrate nature on the water. They are literally, I couldn’t imagine putting one of these in the water. And they’re, so beautiful in such works of art. what we did was we allowed people to see the craftsmanship that goes into wooden boats to come alive on the property.

42:29

And that’s what we highlighted last year, along with how it’s how the wooden boats are celebrated in art. So if you were there last year, and I excused you for not coming, okay, you didn’t know about it. But there were plein air artists  from Laguna Beach all along the waterfront, creating their own paintings of these beautiful wooden boats.  So that was that last year scene. You come this year, right? It’s not really about the  in-person craftsmanship.

42:58

not about necessarily creating the art in the moment, but it’s about now a different twist, right? Stories from the sea. How are Wooden Boats talked about? How do they star in great movies and great books? And next year, who knows? We’re working on the theme for next year, but we’re always trying to give a fresh and different perspective year in and year out. So you come this year, come back in 2026 and see what the new twist is on the Wooden Boat story.

43:22

Nice. Well, here’s a here’s a proposition for you, because  I am going to be there, but I would like to be there with a couple of microphones, getting an actual tour, maybe talk with some folks, maybe talk with some kids, maybe talk with some boat owners, maybe turn it into an  on location podcast. All I need is a media pass. I’ll be there Friday night and then we can relive the experience who actually made it  and those who didn’t make it just to sort of give them the FOMO to make sure they make it next year.

43:50

You know, I think that’s a great idea, right? So I am totally down with that. And you know what? We also ought to take advantage of the opportunity to  hop in on a few boat owners and hear some great stories. Yes,  stories. That’s it.  That’s that’s what we can’t get by just seeing the boat.  The fact that the owners are there. And I don’t know if you’ve heard some of the different acronyms around boats. And I always like to try to come up with new ones. But  have you heard of some of the classics? What boat stands for? No, educate me.

44:20

So  one classic is bring on another thousand. OK, another one is bring on another task.  And I just asked Chad GPT to see if we could come up with some for wooden boats in particular. And so here’s a couple I want to see if anything if anything sticks. So boat  wooden boat stands for built  out of artisan tradition or bringing  old artistry together.

44:51

or barnacle obsessed antique technicians.  Or beautiful old timers always that one’s not that great. I don’t know. kind of like barnacle obsessed antique technicians  or  the built out of artisan tradition. don’t know. You know what? I love the word tradition.  I do, because I think that word tradition associated with wooden boatings can take you to so many places, right? It can connect you back to the history of an individual boat.

45:21

Right.  It can connect you back to the individual of somebody who’s been a serial wooden boat owner over time and has maintained that tradition in their lives. It can take you to Hollywood films. It can take you to literature. Wooden boats are. You know, it’s almost like we talk about the the sea being this primordial soup, right, that we all kind of connect to. We all kind of like came out of the sea. You know, I feel like today’s this festival in June was kind of remind us all with that connection to the sea.

45:50

and all the various ways we find that facilitated by the boat. I love it. you know, chat GPT is not always accurate, doesn’t always follow directions and technically built out  of artisan tradition is BOOAT. But  we can we can just get rid of the out and it can be boat, which stands for  built  of artisan tradition. Boom, I like it. there we go.

46:18

So people who want to come and hang out with us, if they want to hang out on Friday, they got to go online and get the tickets beforehand. If they want to show up on Saturday, they can show up on Saturday. Either way, they’re they’re saying good jibes and they’re getting a free magazine. But remind us of the website again, the final call for why they should get connected with this Primordial Soup event. And then we’ll bring this thing back to the dock and and  we’ll look forward to the event. Loving it, right? So.

46:46

The way to find out anything you’ve ever wanted to know about the Newport Beach Wooden Boat Festival  is our website  www.newportbeachwoodenboatfestival.com. When you go there, you got everything you need. Where we are, how to park, how to get there, everything that’s happening on Friday, everything that’s happening on Saturday, how to buy all your tickets, and also

47:11

if you’re going to spend a weekend, how to take advantage of this really generous relationship we have with the Hyatt Regency here in Newport Beach  to give you a whole weekend experience in our beautiful harbor.  That’s the place for all information.  As I mentioned, Brian, our tickets go on sale April 1. We’re encouraging people to buy early. Our last year Friday night event did sell out. There’s something about having a beautiful party around some beautiful boats that just.

47:37

people like to click in on.  I heard John Wayne’s gonna be there too, signing on, you know, the spirit. You never know who’s gonna show up for a holiday opening of the Wooden Boat Show. Especially Hollywood themed, you never know. I’ll just leave it at that, okay? So the website again,  www.newportbeachwoodenboatfestival.com. It’s got everything that you need to know. We believe that our mission is to serve a number of different populations.

48:06

We want to help these wooden boat owners keep these boats alive  and reflect their passion for them back to the community. Whether you’re somebody that lives on the water, it has a boat and maybe  sail or motor around in fiberglass and want to get a sense of like maritime history through what these boats are. If you’re anybody out there that’s listening that, and maybe these are friends and family that you invite that have never had the experience of being on the Port Beach Harbor,  haven’t really had a chance to click into

48:36

wooden boats and all the stories associated with them. Even hop above board John John Williams Wild Goose for a harbor cruise as part of the experience. is a tremendous way to get connected with the water in this boating history. So we’re trying to make it work for everybody, no matter what level of interest you have in wooden boating. You’re not trying Steve, you and your wife and the rest of the co-organizers are doing. There is no try here. There’s only do. And that’s the only attitude you can have with a wooden boat because guess who’s going to fix it?

49:05

You guess who’s going to build it? You guess who’s going to maintain it? You. And so this whole wooden boat festival is really in my mind a big wooden boat that you have all built and you maintain. And that’s part of the love of having a boat is to not only bring on another task, but it’s at the end of the day, it’s all built of artisan tradition.  also will have a limited number of experiences up for auction.  Oh.

49:33

So there is something for sale. We can get some memorabilia or some cool stuff, but the proceeds go to help support our philanthropy. we’re like whether it’s in wooden boat restoration or  or ALS society or you’d sailing, whatever it is. But we are trying to give people experiences that are unique and associated with wooden boating. So we have got. And these are. Amazing experiences. Where we’ve had wooden boat owners as part of our set of experiences.

50:03

donate experiences on their wooden boat.  I see what you’re doing here.  Stop renting Duffy’s right by a package. Brian, wouldn’t you love to? Get a bow or a Serenella Italian water taxi just like in Venice. We got a few of him in Newport Beach, OK?  And one of our boat owners is going to take people out on a cruise,  right? And last year he did it with.  Bellinis and breakfast on board this Italian water taxi, OK?

50:32

So we’re even going to give you some experience, experiences you can take away and have outside of the festival, creating your own little adventures. Okay. And many of them featuring wooden boats.  Look for them on our website also. Just another way to say,  you know, I’ve never been on an Italian water taxi, so you better hurry up because I might be bidding on that myself.  Yes. And, you know, as a final, as a final shout out to those who are, let’s just say are

50:58

are single or solo sailors, those people who are looking for someone to sail with,  maybe that single crowd, not even single-handed, but just, know, maybe you’re looking for somebody to be a shipmate or maybe you’re looking for a relationship. What better way than to not go online and swipe left or right, but to literally show up in an environment that has this culture, that has this tradition, that attracts a certain

51:26

sort of demographic of folks who are drawn to this swampy, this swampy blue water and the things that float on it. And who knows, you you can meet somebody there. This could be a great date opportunity. If the date goes well, you upgrade to the package that might give you the next one. Like I’m just saying, just shout out for our single-handed sailors, the men and women out there. Brian, I love how you think about it. I love how you think about it. I’m married. Okay. So don’t, don’t anybody think they’re going to come to me, but you know, maybe I’m for Ryan up to show for that reason.

51:55

Yeah, you can come on the podcast. know, we can have a relationship for sure, but no, this just sounds super cool and energizing  and classic. So we’ve brought this  boat cast back into the dock and you  have fun working and doing the final woodwork to pull this thing off together and kudos to your wife and all the other folks and everybody that is not just doing this to do it, but that’s doing it to teach, to bring community together. And at the end of the day,

52:22

the latitude 38 nation.  are a community that I think could fill all these 298 spots, 97 spots, 96 spots since we all love that same kind of stuff. Oh, you know, one last pun around wood. We can all together go through the journey from wood to could and did. Yeah. And not should. All right, Ryan. Fantastic. While you’re out there, make sure that

52:48

in the big worldwide web that is the internet. Make sure you connect with Latitude38. I saw there’s a couple social channels that you guys are connected with as well. So when you’re there, make sure to spread the love and share. Latitude38 is always looking for stories. And if you want to ask us to be collaborators on your Instagram posts or feature you, just tag us.  Great community out there  so that sailing is 24 hours a day, 12 months a year as a West Coast sailor.  And if you want to connect with me, if you want to

53:17

connect with me prior to the boat show and meet up and even do a little snippet interview for the good jibes podcast I’m going to recording. You can find me super easy online. It’s just Ryan dot online. That’s my website. So Ryan dot online.  Find all my information,  my four TEDx talks, my podcasts, all this kind of stuff. And I would love to connect with you. So  I will be there.  You should be there,  Steve.  You will be there  all channeling the spirit of everyone who is there.

53:47

Ryan couldn’t have asked for more. Thank you to good jives latitude 38  and welcome to our community  celebrating winning boats and everything that they mean.