Newport Beach Harbor – Lido Anchorage

Newport Beach is a southern california classic. Part upscale residential community, part Coney Island, and part busy nautical hub. Racing of all kinds goes on year-round, and surf and beach fun are to be had every day of the year.

Approach:

Wide open along the beach in either direction, but keep an eye out for seasonal kelp beds. The channel entrance is obvious, and wider than many in Southern California. This makes it easy, but also more likely you will find opposing traffic under sail. Once inside the harbor, traffic channels are obvious, but not particularly wide, and boats are EVERYWHERE. Keep your head up and you speed down.

Anchoring/Mooring:

If anchoring, you can make your way directly to the Lido anchorage, off the near side of Lido Island. Because of traffic, seasonal winds, and inexperienced boaters, they ask that a person be aboard at all times. If you have to leave the boat, make sure there is a prominent note giving your contact info (good idea anyway, no?)

If looking to pick up a mooring, stay straight along the south edge of the harbor and tie up temporarily at the harbor master dock, if there is space. If not, you can proceed to the mooring of your choice, tie up and send some crew back to the office to figure out where you can be for the night. Moorings are reasonable cost and provide excellent access to the many fun things to do in Newport.

Ashore:

Newport is littered with restaurants and shops. Too many to list here. Go explore. Dinghy docks are spaces along the harbor edge, with a time limit based on the color of the dock area you tie up at.

Don’t Miss:

A trip here is not complete without a visit to Minney’s Marine Supply (and nautical history museum). Recently renovated, we hope Minney’s has not lost it’s funky vibe, but instead only made stock easier to locate and purchase. Almost entirely used gear here is in volumes and varieties fit to outfit any kind of boat entirely from scratch.