Kate Eastman couldn’t help but do a little happy dance.

The Newport resident had her eye on an 11-foot Hobie stand-up paddleboard, a light blue beauty that she was dreaming of cruising around the harbor on later in the afternoon. Other hopefuls shot their hands up and the price inched higher, but she wasn’t going to be outbid.

“I’m so jazzed,” she said after the auctioneer yelled “sold” following her bid of $320, a steal for the Hobie board that some whispered was worth closer to $1,000.

Eastman came away a winner from the boat auction Friday morning at the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol headquarters on the glistening Newport Harbor. Auctiongoers with pockets full of cash came looking for deals on everything from SUPs and kayaks to small boats. Some of the vessels were in decent condition, others were falling apart. Most of the items up for bid were from the Harbor Patrol impound, boats found abandoned and never claimed by their owners.

Funds from the cash-only auction go to either the county or city tidelands fund, depending on where the vessels were recovered.

“During the storm season, we amass a lot more boats. Small boats break free, and if no one comes to claim them, then they go to the auction,” said Harbormaster Lt. Mark Alsobrook. “There’s great deals to be had. We’re hoping they all sell and clear up the space for the summer season, because there will be more.”

About 150 people showed up for the auction, about double the normal turnout – possibly because there were more items up for grabs, Alsobrook said. He said people looking for kayaks and small boats came from as far as Big Bear.

Michael Smithson, who has attended the auctions for about a decade, uses the event to network for his boat repair company, Newport Mobile Marine. He peered into the biggest boat available, a 28-foot Chris Craft power boat that had water sitting on the cabin’s floor.

“Whoever buys it is going to have a crap shoot,” he said. “If the motor is bad or the rudder is bad, you’re looking at $2,000 minimum to fix one of those items. These are quality old boats, but you never know what the quality is, truthfully.”

Then, there’s the monthly cost of storing the vessel somewhere, which can run upward of $1,000 a month for a slip.

“You’re instantly committing to a lot of money,” Smithson said.

That boat started at $1,000, but the response was silence. Harbor resources manager Shannon Levin, serving as auctioneer, dropped the price to $500 – and still, no one bit.

Boats that no one buys get demolished and sent to the junkyard.

Newport resident Jim Pickell, with 4-year-old daughter Madison sitting on his shoulders, thought the auction would be a fun way to start the morning. He already had a small boat, and didn’t really need anything, but scoured the house and wife’s purse looking for cash before he came – just in case something caught his eye.

“Something like this would be so fun to refinish with my son,” he said of an old wooden canoe. “It’s a little elbow grease, right? Some of them I’d be nervous about. But a lot of them, you just have to work a little.”

Pickell got into a bidding war with Dan Cullinane over a carbon-fiber prone paddleboard. But after seeing how much Cullinane wanted it, Pickell stopped at $90.

That was good news for Cullinane, who drove from Midway City in search of a deal.

“I’m stoked about it. It needs work, but I like working on boats,” he said.

He’s never prone paddled before, but it’s something he’s always wanted to do, he said. “I haven’t because they are expensive.”

New models in the store can run upward of $5,000, he said.

R.J. Whiteside, of Costa Mesa, flashed two thumbs up when he scored a 10-foot skiff for $20. His plan is to put a motor on it and give it to a friend who has a boat in the harbor and is canoeing back and forth to shore.

It wasn’t the first time at the auction for Whiteside. At the last one, he picked up three sabot sailboats for $80 each, refurbished them, then sold them on Craigslist for $700 each.

Find out about the next auction at newportbeachca.gov.

Contact the writer: lconnelly@scng.com