From April of ’60 to Nov. of 65, I was a Police Officer for the city of Newport Beach. I was friends with many of the Harbor Patrol. They told me of a large Yawl which had run aground on the Balboa Jetty, before the CDM jetty was built. The keel was never recovered. Lead was at a premium at the time.

A friend of mine had a 26′ sloop and we borrowed a hookah breathing rig, put it on the sloop and I tried to find the keel. The Harbor Patrol came by and said we could not salvage that area in a boat that might cause traffic hindrance. We sailed the boat around to the CDM side, anchored and placed all the gear in the dingy.

My friend and I are both above 6′ tall, the hookah and gear and placed the 5 HP outboard on the stern. We powered around the CDM jetty and were hit by the waves and it sunk the dingy with all out gear in it. The water was very clear and we could see the gear in about 20 feet of water. We swam back to the sloop, and sailed back to the area of the sunked gear. The dingy was upside down. I would hold onto the anchor and jump in to get to the bottom. Tied the anchor to various pieces and we brought them up. The only thing we did not bring up was my diving knife which I could see but did not have the energy to make another dive. I hope that whoever found it, had better luck than I did.

Ron Speedling