On Thu, 17 Mar 2005 17:29:51 -0500, "JimH" wrote:
"Dan Harris" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 00:10:13 -0600, Richard J Kinch
wrote:
I was dismayed to learn today that the beach from Pompano Beach to
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea is a "vessel exclusion" zone. The buoys say
"Ordinance 389" or some such, but Google turns up nothing relevant on
"exclusion zones" for "Flordia", "389", "Broward", "Lauderdale", etc.
This means I can't stop at my mom's private beachfront condominium and
pick
up passengers with a (motorized) dinghy at the beach. Nor can you fish
from the beach! As soon as I tried beaching today, a state boat appeared
withing seconds and gave me a warning. (Apparently there are busybodies
in
the buildings ashore that phone 911 if you try it.) The officer said you
can't even raise the outboard and oar yourself in, you can't have any
power
available on the boat, not even an electric trolling motor.
When did Florida start outlawing fishing and boating from the beach?
Just how does one find such picayune, strictly local laws?
Is there a boater vs swimmer lobby?
The buoys are there to indicate to boaters that they may not approach
closer than 300 feet from the beach.
This form of local ordinance is fairly common along the beaches in
southeast Florida and includes parts of Pompano Beach and Ft.
Lauderdale as well as other municipalities.
The intent is to limit the interaction between propellers and
swimmers! This is along the unprotected ocean. It is a dangerous and
risky practice to allow boaters along the surf line in close proximity
to swimmers.
This has nothing to do with fishing or 9/11.
HTH
Dan
--
Dan Harris
I agree with your logic Dan. However, if an entire stretch of beach is
closed off to boaters then tit is being taken to an extreme.
We have the some restrictions at certain beach areas on Lake Erie, such as
at Cedar Point beach, Huntington beach, Edgewater beach and at the north end
of Kelley's Island. We would normally just got to one end of the restricted
area, set anchor at about 4 feet and then pull the boat closer to shore
(perhaps to waist deep water) with a stern line and then set a stern anchor.
That way we could enjoy the beach while having the comforts of the boat at
hand.
I would agree that restricting an entire stretch of beach effectively
isolates boaters from land access. Many boaters like to "raft", beach,
or otherwise utilize a spot of land to anchor near.
I agree that sections of a beach, normally allocated as a swim area,
should have such restrictions for obvious safety reasons, but there
should be reasonable attempts made to accommodate the needs of boaters
as well. Some "no swim" buoys, and a dedicated landing/ beaching zone
perhaps.
Dave