Weather Service Move May Buffet Owners of Recreational Boats

The recreational boater, already being squeezed out of Southland small craft harbors by rising costs and declining numbers of slips for small boats, is being hit with another obstacle to a leisurely outing at sea.

The National Weather Service last month ended its century-old tradition of calling local harbors when it issues a small-craft advisory. Upon receiving the call, local harbor patrols would alert boaters by raising a large, bright orange flag.

One orange flag means winds of 21 knots--about 24 m.p.h.--are expected. Two orange flags indicate gale-force winds of at least 34 knots, or about 37 m.p.h.

Joyce Hughes, a spokeswoman for the National Weather Service in Silver Spring, Md., said the practice was discontinued because of personnel cuts and to make boaters more responsible for learning weather conditions on the radio.

“The coastal warning display system was just not as effective as the weather radio broadcasts,” Hughes said. “There have been technological advances that can get the information to the mariners quicker through NOAA’s radio network.”

NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is part of the Commerce Department and runs the National Weather Service.

Another Problem for Boaters

But some Southland harbormasters say the loss of the flag system will hurt small-boat owners.

While skippers of bigger boats are likely to have expensive marine and weather radios, owners of small boats, who often go out only on weekends and holidays, are not as likely to own even an inexpensive weather radio, harbor officials say.

“Boaters should be responsible for knowing weather conditions, but that is an idealistic statement,” said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Joseph Manusia, who is harbormaster at Marina del Rey. “The reality is that a high percentage of boaters are, quite frankly, people with limited experience.”

“Realistically, many small crafts do not carry radios,” said Orange County Sheriff’s Capt. Harry Gage, who is harbormaster for Huntington Harbor, Newport Beach and Dana Point.

The National Weather Service has left it up to harbormasters to decide whether to display flags based on the service’s radio broadcasts.

Many Southland harbormasters have continued raising storm-warning flags, saying the visible warning is needed to help protect small-boat owners.

Long Beach harbor officials are continuing to display flags by monitoring the weather broadcast every other hour, according to Dick Miller, manager of the marine bureau of the Long Beach City Parks and Recreation Department, which oversees the Long Beach Marina.

However, Miller said he is not happy with that procedure and if a more reliable system is not found, he will discontinue it.

Manusia said he learned that the weather service also issues its forecasts and small-craft storm warnings by teletype to the state Office of Emergency Services in Sacramento. That office in turn sends the information to the Los Angeles County and Orange County sheriff’s departments.

Manusia arranged for that information to be sent by computer from the sheriff’s downtown Los Angeles headquarters to a teletype in the sheriff’s substation in Marina del Rey.

Calls System Reliable

The information arrives within 30 minutes of the time it was issued. Manusia says that because he believes the system is reliable he is continuing the flag-warning system in Marina del Rey. Other harbormasters have adopted a similar arrangement.

But warning flags are no longer being posted in Santa Barbara, Avalon on Santa Catalina Island or in the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro.

Steve Lewis, harbormaster of Santa Barbara Harbor, said he discontinued the warnings because he has not found a system that is “absolutely reliable.”

Some Boaters Unaware

News of the National Weather Service decision to discontinue its coastal display system has still not reached many boaters.

At those harbors where warning flags are no longer being raised, some boaters may have a false impression that weather conditions are fine.

“If there is a danger in all this, it is non-uniformity,” said Santa Barbara’s Lewis. “What does the boater rely on, the flags or the radio? They could be lulled into a false sense of security. People will have to recognize that they are not getting uniformity (in harbors posting warning flags), and learn to rely on the weather radio.”

But some boat owners believe that even with the technological advances in weather forecasting, warning flags are still needed.

“The skilled yachtsman won’t be troubled by the loss, but what I would be most concerned about is those boaters with less skills who rely on those visual services,” said John Ballew, president of the Southern California Yachting Assn., which represents 85 yacht clubs with about 20,000 members.