Kids are getting out of school and Junior Guards is starting up next week. It’s officially summer.
There’s summer, and then there’s summer in Newport.
Duffys on the bay. Bikes to the beach. Sabots out for sailing school.
If you are thinking about raising a family in Newport Beach, this is the season that makes it all make sense.
Newport Beach Junior Lifeguards
The Newport Beach Junior Lifeguard program is one of the most respected youth programs on the Southern California coast. Around 1,400 junior lifeguards participate annually, spending their summers learning ocean safety, building physical fitness, and developing the kind of confidence you can only get from the water. I have raised my kids here and put them through the program. There is nothing quite like it.
The program is based out of the Benjamin M. Carlson Lifeguard Headquarters at 70 Newport Pier, named in honor of Ben Carlson, a veteran Newport Beach lifeguard who gave his life in the line of duty in July 2014 while attempting to rescue a swimmer in distress. He was 32 years old and had served the department for 15 years. He was known throughout the department for mentoring both new and more experienced lifeguards, and was an accomplished swimmer, big wave surfer, and water polo player. The building that bears his name is a fitting home for a program built on exactly those values.
Learning to Sail on Newport Harbor
If Junior Guards is the heartbeat of Newport summers on the beach, Sabots are the heartbeat of Newport summers on the water. The Sabot is the traditional first boat for young sailors from Long Beach to San Diego, and Newport Harbor is one of the best places in Southern California to learn. Kids as young as first grade can learn to sail in an 8-foot single-person Sabot, picking up the fundamentals of points of sail, tacking, and jibing right here on the bay. On any given summer morning you can spot them dotting the harbor, little white sails catching the breeze, with instructors coaching from nearby boats.
The Newport Harbor Yacht Club is home to multiple Sabot fleets and hosts a full junior sailing program with dedicated coaches, a junior clubhouse, and boat storage. It is one of the most storied yacht clubs on the West Coast and a cornerstone of what makes growing up in Newport genuinely different.
Summers riding bikes to the beach, learning to sail on the harbor, and growing up steps from the water. It is a childhood that is genuinely hard to find anywhere else on the coast.
If you have ever thought about what it would be like to raise a family in Newport Beach, this is it.
