Little Protection at New Anchorage : Live-Aboard Boaters Have Rough Time in Gale Winds

The storm winds that swept across San Diego Bay on Sunday proved a point that Emory Cove live-aboards have been trying to make as several craft were forced from an unprotected anchorage off National City’s 24th Street Marine Terminal.

A 34-foot power boat that Richard Shields lives on was dragged from its anchorage and swept nearly a quarter of a mile to a pier at the former ITT Marine Cable Co. plant. A sailboat and a smaller motorboat also were beached in the blow. No one was reported hurt, a Harbor Patrol spokesman said.

Shields, his wife, Cathy, and their two children, Tim, 9, and Tina, 11, had been living on the vessel, Samadi, in Emory Cove until the San Diego Unified Port District ordered all craft out of the Silver Strand anchorage and over to the new site on the eastern side of the bay.

Shields and his family had been living at the A-8 anchorage for about a week when the storm came up Saturday. He put his family ashore but stayed aboard to ride out the storm Saturday night. The boat shipped about 14 inches of water but was not damaged.

Winds of 25 to 30 knots caused a heavy surge, which dragged several anchored craft into a deep-water ship channel and onto shore at the 24th Street terminal and Sweetwater River channel.

Port District officials served eviction notices on about 40 boat residents anchored in Emory Cove near Coronado Cays last month and ordered the craft to move to the A-8 anchorage. The deadline for the move is today.

District officials said they are closing the Emory Cove and other South Bay anchorages because shallow water, sunken craft and uncharted shoals make the areas too dangerous for unregulated small boat usage.

Emory Cove inhabitants are fighting the eviction, contending that the new anchorage is unprotected and unsafe for use by live-aboards. The forced move, the boat residents contend, is an attempt to remove them from the bay.

Sunday’s winds, which were below gale force when the accident occurred, prove that the new anchorage is unsafe, an Emory Cove community spokeswoman said.

The cove waters were “like a lake compared to A-8,” she said.

Emory Cove craft were reported riding out the storm with no problem.

An attorney retained by the Emory Cove live-aboards will attempt to obtain a restraining order in Superior Court today to prevent the Port District from removing the boat residents from their South Bay anchorage.