Redondo Beach’s City Council has now taken steps to make King Harbor a safer place for new stand-up paddleboarders.
On April 7, the City Council voted to move toward restricting classes for novice stand-up paddlers toward lower-trafficked areas of King Harbor. Actions approved by the city begin a Request for Proposal process to contract five companies to be the City’s approved stand-up paddlecraft instructors.
A map of staff’s recommendations would designate two zones for beginning SUPers: One near the Small Boat Launch, and a second, larger area by the harbor’s breakwall.
Redondo Beach Fire Chief and Harbor Master Robert Metzger presented the item to the City Council, noting that “unsafe Stand-Up Paddlecraft operator actions are generally taken by beginners — people who are well-meaning, but don’t necessarily know the rules,” he said. As Aspel put it, beginning paddleboarders simply “can’t move in a straight line,” presenting a danger both to themselves and to other watercraft. “Like a motorcycle hitting a car, they’re going to lose” if they hit a boat, Aspel said.
The goal, Metzger says, is to ensure proper training is taking place, saying that they can’t presently regulate unqualified instructors, “short of them not having a business license with the city.”
“We’re trying to establish positive business practices, with documentation of qualified instructors and the kinds of classes they will be putting on,” Metzger said. “Concessionaires that we approve will be known to us so as these classes cycle through harbor we know who instructors are, and if we see something amiss, patrol is all over it.”
