Surf city: A longboard extends from a pickup outside Noll Surf Shop. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

The annual Noll Longboard Classic starts Friday, and local surfers and businesses are ready.

Referring to the rainy weather during much of last year’s event, organizer Beverly Noll said, “we made it past it, the superstitious 13th even brought a storm, but the smiles remained on everyone’s faces last year.”

And, according to National Weather Service Met­eorologist Jeff Tonkin, this weekend’s forecast doesn’t look too bad.

“It probably won’t be sunny,” Tonkin said. “But it should be pretty decent.”

Hosted by Noll Surf and Skate and sponsored by a variety of Crescent City businesses, the event was started as a chance for local surfers to compete.

“The Noll Longboard Classic began for me as a venue for competition, and has evolved into a wonderful coming together of the best people I know, full of camaraderie,” said Rhyn Noll.

The theme of this year’s competition is the Polynesian word “makai,” which means down to the ocean, according to a press release from Noll Surf and Skate.

“In the Hawaiian language, the word makai literally means ‘towards the ocean’ or ‘toward the sea’,” writes Rhyn Noll. “It is a directional term and is used the way north, south, east, or west might be used.”

Not only is the theme fitting, since participants will be meeting “down by the ocean” on South Beach, it is also personal for the Noll family, because it is the name of Rhyn Noll’s new daughter.

• Friday: Second annual Stand-up Surfer Event, 10 a.m., South Beach

• Saturday: Longboard Classic heats begin at 7:30 a.m., South Beach

• Sunday: Quarter and semi-final heats, finals and the awards ceremony, with first heats starting at 7:30 a.m., South Beach

• Sunday night: Wipe Out Night, Chart Room Restaurant; “Come eat, drink and talk story.”

The harbor was lit up Tuesday night, but no tsunami materialized. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

Despite concerns that the initial surge was expected to come at high tide and measure up to two feet in height, the waves did little more than raise the docks and jostle the fleet of ships inside the inner boat basin.

“So far as we can tell at this point there’s no damage,” Harbormaster Richard Young said. “We tried to do a survey of the harbor and didn’t find anything broken or damaged.”

The first surges arrived around 9:30 p.m., which is when the National Oceanic and Atmos­pheric Administration estimated the waves would hit Crescent City. It wasn’t until about two hours later that larger surges started to come in and a noticeable current could be seen at the mouth of the inner boat basin.

While most of the emergency personnel that were at the harbor went home around this time, an NOAA tide gauge recorded some of the largest oscillations from 11 p.m. Tuesday to about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.

“There was quite a bit of activity from midnight on,” Young said. “All the action took place around low tide, so it was okay from that standpoint.”

The Community Assistance Network is moving forward with plans to develop a new, larger garden and adjacent park on Northcrest Drive.

The non-profit organization eventually wants to have community gardens scattered all over the county so individuals and families can grow their own food.

CAN is also looking into buying farm land and growing crops to sell to the local community and possibly export out of the county.

The Del Norte Community Garden and Park with a playground is envisioned for about 4-5 acres just north of the Community Health Center. CAN could be ready to break ground next spring, said Kendra Howerton, CAN’s director of community development.

In the meantime, a planning committee will be designing the garden and park.

Looking at problems in the community, and not being able to afford nutritious foods stood out, Howerton said.

A 17-year-old male student was arrested for bringing a concealed weapon to Del Norte High School on Monday.

The handgun wasn’t loaded and was inoperable due to a missing firing pin, authorities said.

“A teacher at Del Norte High received info from a student that there was another student in possession of a firearm,” said Crescent City police Sgt. Erik Apperson. “The teacher reported it to our school resource officer.”

Resource Officer Justin Gill, with the help of Crescent City Police Department K-9 Officer Dominic Mello, apprehended the boy near the school within minutes, Apperson said.

“This was a great example of cooperation between the school and law enforcement personnel,” Apperson said.

The student was arrested on suspicion of possession of a concealed weapon on school grounds.

Apperson said that California law allows this charge despite the fact that the student wasn’t actually on school grounds, because once students have gone to school they are considered at school for the rest of the day.

Apperson declined to comment on why the student had brought the gun to school in the first place.

The harbor was lit up Tuesday night, but no tsunami materialized. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

But at 11:15 p.m., as the water near the mouth of the inner boat basin started bubbling like a river current from an incoming surge, anxiety was replaced with laughter and relief at the underwhelming spectacle.

According to Del Norte County’s Emergency Services Manager Cindy Henderson, this was the pinnacle of Tuesday night’s tsunami and it only reached a height of about 16 centimeters, or about 6 inches.

“It was pretty uneventful, which is good,” she said.

Even though the water level inside the inner boat basin rose and fell by more than 18 inches throughout the night, no damage was reported in the harbor as a result of the surges.

Several boats had left the harbor by 10 p.m., prompted by a tsunami advisory issued hours earlier, and crews were waiting aboard several others to see what the evening held.

Silt-filled water spews into a pond out of a pipe connected to the dredge. The work began Tuesday afternoon. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

The long-awaited activation of a dredge transferring silt from the harbor floor into dredge ponds occurred Tuesday afternoon, but was stopped hours later  due to a tsunami advisory following an earthquake in the South Pacific.

“It’s great to finally be getting stuff off the bottom of the harbor,” said Harbor master Richard Young before receiving the advisory.

At that point, the dredge was sucking up the harbor’s inner boat basin floor and transporting it via pipe around the basin to the harbor’s dredge ponds.

“We don’t have an exact number, but we estimate that the dredge moves about 100 cubic yards an hour,” Young said. “We’re going to dredge right at the edges of the mouth, and along the inner breakwater until crab season, then we will keep dredging, but out of the way.”

The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

The reason that the ponds limit the amount of dredging that can occur is that taking dredge spoils anywhere else requires shipping and large additional costs.

Barring any additional tsunami-related damage, the dredge should be operating during daylight hours through December, weather permitting, Young said.

“Unfortunately you can’t operate the dredge during bad weather,” Young said. “So that will be one thing that could cause problems.”

 The current dredging project is one of two scheduled for the upcoming months, and is funded by dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the California Office of Emergency Services.

The second project is the Army Corps of Engineers’ dredging of critical sections of the federal channel, which is scheduled to begin in October.

A firefighter watches Crescent City Harbor’s water level Tuesday night. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

Several boats had left the harbor by 10 p.m., prompted by a tsunami advisory issued hours earlier, and crews were waiting aboard several others to see what the evening held.

“If this is going to be a big one, most of these are going to take off,” said harbor employee John Marques, referring to the occupied boats that lit up the harbor.

Shortly after 10 p.m., an official confirmed that a first surge had occurred at 9:32 p.m., but that it was only a couple of inches high, leading to oscillating waves up to about 6 inches higher than normal high tide, which occurred at 9:13 p.m.

Additional surges, possibly stronger, were expected over the next couple of hours, said Cindy Henderson, emergency services manager for Del Norte County.

Hours earlier, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had issued a tsunami advisory along the California and Oregon coasts after a strong earthquake shook the Samoa Islands in the South Pacific and wave surges there killed dozens of people.

The utility that owns four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River has agreed to terms for their removal, a key milestone in efforts to restore what was once the third biggest salmon run on the West Coast and end decades of battles over scarce water.

PacifiCorp, the states of California and Oregon, American Indian tribes, federal agencies, irrigators and conservation groups announced the draft agreement Wednesday. Signing is expected by the end of the year.

Yurok Tribe Policy Analyst Troy Fletcher, who was involved in the lengthy negotiations, said the agreement was just the beginning of what he sees as a larger effort to help the Klamath and its salmon rebound.

“This is a significant step toward restoring a healthy Klamath River and its fish population,” Fletcher said. “The tribe looks forward to resolving the complex issues in the Klamath Basin, and we’re going to continue to be an advocate for fish and the health of the river that the Yurok people depend on.”

Much of the Yurok Tribe’s culture revolves around salmon. Its reservation extends one mile on either side of the Klamath River from its mouth to about 40 miles upstream.

A bomb threat at the courthouse resulted in part of downtown Crescent City being cordoned off for more than an hour Tuesday.

Juliane Magarino runs with her dog, Fudgie, during the Coastal Canine Olympics. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

More than 50 dog owners signed up their pooches for the second annual Coastal Canine Olympics hosted by the Humane Society of Del Norte (HSDN).

The event raised about $2,200 to support  the spaying and neutering of animals for families that can’t afford the regular price tag, according to HSDN President Cheryl Wilson.

Clear skies brought out more than a hundred people to watch the dogs vault over obstacles, participate in dog-owner look-alike contests and even hunt for treats.

Shylo, a Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, runs the agility course during the event at the Del Norte County fairgrounds. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

Wilson, who was staffing the T-shirt and sweat shirt booth, said the event came about last year not only as a fundraiser, but also as dog and owner entertainment due to a lack of that sort of thing in Del Norte County.

“We actually thought of it because there really wasn’t anything for dogs to do,” said Wilson.

The event sparked the interest of several local businesses, and more decided to donate this year. Food was also sold to raise funds this year.

The success of last year’s event played into this year’s as well, due to word of mouth, she said.

To see more photos from the Canine Olympics go here.