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Arts & Entertainment

Local Benefactors Work to Buy Crucial Lifesaving Boat

Unique canvases are painted and sold to raise funds for the San Clemente Marine Safety Division.

July 15, lifeguards found their only city-owned dory boat destroyed by vandals. Since then, the San Clemente Marine Safety Division has tried to find a new one with no luck.

The division's luck might change soon, however.

Dory boats are plank-built boats with a special shape and shallow draft adapted for launching from beaches into surf, a characteristic critical to lifeguards' duties.

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“I had three yards of fabric left over from the ocean festival,” said Bob Harlow of Harlow designs. “With these tough times, we need to help the people who put their lives on the line to make sure we’re safe.”

His idea: Create canvases with a one-of-a-kind design on each of them, and sell them to benefit the effort to buy a new dory.

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“The lifeguards need $2,000 for a new boat,” said Peggy Vance, executive director of the “Plus, another $100 for painting, a trailer and equipment."

Harlow said only 21 of these canvases will ever be made, and they will go for a minimum of $100 each.

So far, six have sold.

“What I want to make sure of is that everyone knows that 100 percent of the funds raised from the sales will go directly to the new dory boat,” Harlow said.

To purchase a canvas, e-mail Bob Harlow at bob@harlowdesign.com or call him at 949-248-2084.

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