Cetaceous Interruptus: Wandering whale waylays racing

NEWPORT BEACH, CA – On Thursday afternoon, the whale was spotted in Newport Harbor near Mariners’ Mile, according to Brian Stanley, a dispatcher with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Harbor Patrol. Stanley said the Harbor Patrol doesn’t plan to try to coax the whale back into the ocean.“We’re leaving it alone right now,” he said. “Hopefully it finds its own way out.” Hannah Fry writing in the Daily Pilot / LA Times. Full story.

In the meantime, your Ed. hears from Paul Blank, our esteemed Balboa Yacht Club friend and member of the Newport Harbor Commission, that for the first time in memory, BYC's Thursday evening Beer Can race (no-spinnaker, friends and family series that is run inside Newport Harbor for yachts under 50') has been cancelled out of respect for the presumably confused, hungry, or both, juvenile gray whale – no doubt upping the evening's bar revenue at BYC and other clubs around the harbor.

Young whale seen swimming in Newport Harbor (Newport Beach, CA) today, leading to a cancellation of tonight's Beer Can race.