Wednesday night “Joint Task Force Newport” was created and has been assigned the task of evaluating sailboat " racing" activities in the harbor and provides future recommended actions. In a unanimous decision the Newport Harbor Commission has asked commission member Ralph Rodheim to lead a group of stakeholders to this task and report back to the commission at a later date.
The Council chambers were full by 1830 with a number of people standing in the halls. In attendance were past Americas Cup Skippers , yacht builders, yacht designers, charter boat owners and sabot sailors . A number of people stood up asking “why the strict enforcement of the speed limit”. Speakers hitting the nail on the head were Andy Rose, Tom Smith and Rodger MacGregor. With Andy and Tom speaking of City and County codes while Roger pointed out the damage that is occurring now by the Harbor Department and asked to put this issue to bed quickly. All three speakers were met with large round of applause after their presentations. Towards the end of public comments, Harbor Master Deana Bergquist presented herself to the commission. Her presentation lasted close to ten minutes and unfortunately I did not really understand what she was trying to say. She encourages staff recommendation to evaluate sailboat racing activities and plans on attending and participating within this committee. She will continue to enforce the speed limit for the public safety and will review the marine event applications on a case-by-case basis. The Captains loudest response came from the comment that no other harbor in Southern California allows sailboat racing within their harbor.
Commissioner Beek asked “Lets just change it back to the way it was”. Member Collins asked for a “cooling off period and continue with the old permit and speed enforcement until this was out of committee”. While member Rhyne expressed the need for the change in ordinance.
My thoughts are we need the change in ordinance so that we do not have to go through this again. I want to race in the bay this summer because I don’t have time to miss a summer of sailing with my son. Where do we stand at this moment? My guess is we won't find out until the first race of beer cans in May.
Sea Ya at the Mid Winters, I will be racing my boat inside the bay in Alamitos
5 comments:
Not sure if this was a mis-type, but the post states that no other SoCal harbor allows racing in its harbor. This likely should state that nearly every harbor ALLOWS it, with perhaps the exception of Dana Point harbor.
What hurts most in meetings such as this article reports, is that the government representatives do not take the time to gather anything resembling a fact, or facts. They take their administrative positions and use them as bludgeons upon the population. The "no other harbor allows..." is such a mundane showing of unprepared speak/speak that even a distant observer cringes at the image the report portrays.
In Dana Point I believe the Thursday and Friday night summer races finish inside the harbor up near the turning basin.
I've raced out of Dana Point for years and can readily verify that the previous post is in fact correct. The Beer Can Races on Wednesdays (DWYC), Thursdays (DPYC) as well as last year on Fridays (Adventura) finish up the outer channel in front the respective clubhouses.
In saying this though, I have to also mention that this is the main channel which is pretty wide and where no boats are moored.
The Harbormaster's comment regarding speed enforcement as a "public safety" issue seems to miss the point of "no wake" zones.
They are less about public safety and more about reducing property damage--especially damage to docks, moorings, and vessels attached thereto.
Sailboats (and large naval vessels at low speeds) rarely produce damaging wakes and should not be held to 5mph limits while under sail in coastal harbors.
We race in San Diego Harbor, both North and South Bays...
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