Harbor speeds, races in question

Newport Beach Harbor Commissioner Seymour Beek said Wednesday he wished the community could go back to a simpler time where speed limit laws and other regulations were enforced by the local Harbor Patrol in a “loosey goosey” fashion during sailboat races on Newport Harbor.

“I think the sport is probably safer now than ever before,” Beek said. “We’ve all gotten along pretty well in the past, but something has changed recently.”

The commission voted Wednesday to create a new task force to examine speed and other safety issues relating to sailboat racing after concerned local boaters packed Newport Beach City hall during a commission meeting to voice their opinions on recent Harbor Patrol crackdowns on races.

County and city laws set a speed limit of 5 knots per hour in the harbor, but the rules are rarely enforced during races.

A time-honored and beloved tradition in Newport Harbor, racing and the lack of exact rules governing the practice has long been viewed as a safety issue for harbor patrol officials, said Capt. Deana Bergquist of the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol.

“This is not a new issue,” Bergquist said. “It is an issue that has been brought forward a number of times in the past by my predecessors... to say we are picking on yacht clubs is simply not true.”

A few racers recently were cited for traveling at unsafe speeds on the harbor, according to Harbor Commission staff reports.

The crackdown has raised the ire of some people in the boating community.

“It sounds as if bureaucracy has taken control on this, and I hope you can put the issue to bed quickly,” said Newport Beach resident Roger MacGregor and founder of MacGregor Yacht Corp. “I don’t know of a single yacht that I’ve built that is in a harbor with a speed limit of 5 knots that is being enforced.”

Many boaters said they feel the Harbor Patrol has unfairly picked on race participants, and that speed limits and other rules are rarely enforced for other boats in the harbor.

“I believe the racing community has been singled out for special attention,” said Irvine resident Doug Bells, a longtime boating enthusiast who regularly sails on Newport Harbor. “If you enforce it on us, you must enforce it on everyone else in the harbor.”

Other racing enthusiasts said enforcing the current speed limit would mean an end to local racing.

“We have not understood ourselves to be lawbreakers for the last 40 years or so,” said Newport resident and Balboa Yacht Club member Andy Rose. “The fact is it will kill sailboat races if you cannot race over 5 knots.”

Harbor Commission officials said Wednesday the task force, which will include members of the boating community and other stakeholders, would probably hold its first meeting in March.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].