Windsurfers Win 10-Year Battle

In the aftermath of a collision that killed a Long Beach windsurfer four months ago, the Los Angeles Harbor Commission took a crucial step Wednesday to ban all powerboats and personal watercraft from a portion of the harbor and Cabrillo Beach.

Citing safety reasons, the board unanimously approved a measure to set speed limits and to create an exclusive zone for nonmotorized vessels for at least 90 days beginning Feb. 15. It also asked the harbor police to develop an enforcement plan and to assess the new restrictions within two months.

The action may help resolve a 10-year dispute over the safety of the Hurricane Gulch area off Cabrillo Beach, where the proliferation of windsurfers and riders of small, high-speed watercraft has created a potentially hazardous mix of uses.

“I wish this would have been done a lot sooner,” said Jack McClure of San Dimas, the father-in-law of Mickie R. Good, 34, who was killed at Cabrillo Beach four months ago. “Mickie would still be here enjoying what he liked to do.”

Good suffered fatal head injuries Sept. 25, when a small two-seat vessel that was driven like a motorcycle struck him as he windsurfed near the sea wall at Cabrillo Beach. A witness told harbor police that the driver of the personal watercraft might have been exceeding the area’s 20-mph speed limit.

The board’s decision bans all motorized vessels from a 60-acre rectangle that extends from the boat launch ramp on the west to the fishing pier on the east. North of the zone, the port will create a no-wake zone of about 35 acres with a 5-mph speed limit.

Under the plan, all personal watercraft, such as Jet Skis, must be put into the water at the boat launch ramp, eliminating them from the beach within the nonmotorized area.

Commissioners are considering whether to extend the zone another 90 days when the first period expires.

Eventually, a measure to permanently bar all power vessels from the area may go before the Los Angeles City Council.

“We need to give this a chance to see if it works,” said Theodore Stein Jr., president of the Harbor Commission. “There have been deaths and near-misses out there.”

The decision was a victory for the area’s windsurfers, who have been contending for years that conflicts between slower sail boards and high-speed personal watercraft have resulted in a dangerous situation off Cabrillo Beach.

They say that there have been dozens of close calls in Hurricane Gulch and several accidents in which windsurfers have suffered fractured skulls and broken limbs from collisions with Jet Ski-type vessels.

“The board’s action is excellent,” said Ed Martineau, 68, of Garden Grove, a veteran windsurfer whose right leg was shattered in March 1997 when his sail board was run over in a hit and run accident. “Safety has been an issue out there for almost a decade.”

The measure, however, was strongly opposed by watercraft enthusiasts, who said the zone unfairly appropriates the best waters off Cabrillo Beach for sail boarders, leaving the users of personal watercraft the rougher and more heavily traveled portions of the harbor.

San Pedro is one of the few areas in the region where personal watercraft are still allowed, they said. Many other cities and counties on the West Coast have banned their use entirely for safety and environmental reasons.

About 18,000 power craft of all types are launched every year from the boat ramp at Cabrillo Beach.

“Just because of one death, you don’t shut down operations at LAX. You don’t close the freeways,” said Gerald Wiegert, chief executive officer of AquaJet in Wilmington, a maker of personal watercraft. “The majority of users has been excluded from the bay by an undemocratic process.”

Mark Daniel, another personal watercraft user, said the proposal will prohibit him and others from launching at the beach, which will create a substantial inconvenience for many people, including families.