San Diego Bay Off Limits to Soviets

The Cold War has resurfaced in an unlikely arena--the America’s Cup.

Despite the new political climate of cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union, a national panel in Washington has banned a Leningrad-based challenge syndicate from San Diego Bay, home to scores of U.S. warships and a secret submarine base.

While the Soviet Union’s Red Star syndicate will be allowed to compete in the 1992 Cup regatta off San Diego, the edict by the Port Security Committee mandates that the Soviets find berthing space in Mission Bay, away from major Navy installations.

San Diego is one of 12 U.S. ports with sensitive military installations that remains closed to any Soviet-flagged vessels as well as shipping from certain Eastern Bloc countries. The Soviet Union also has 12 ports closed to U.S. ships.

“They keep us out of their ports; we keep ‘em out of ours,” said Coast Guard Cmdr. Don Montoro, captain of the San Diego port. “It’s a reciprocity-type thing. Things might change with the way the world is now and maybe this closed port thing will become a thing of the past, but right now it’s government policy. I’m not here to evaluate it. All I’m doing is implementing the policy.”

Comprised of representatives from the State Department, FBI, Navy, Coast Guard, Commerce Department and other federal agencies, the Port Security Committee is charged with overseeing classified U.S. ports.

Mission Bay, primarily a recreation area, technically is part of the restricted zone but the Port Security Committee has extended a waiver to the Soviets for the America’s Cup.

“The up-front waiver was a pretty nice thing to do. That was a major concession,” Montoro said. “It’s not like Mission Bay is an undesirable area. It’s not like we’ve put them at a disadvantage. The Japanese have decided to locate there. I don’t see where there’s a problem.”

But most of the remaining 10 challenge syndicates plan to establish operations on San Diego Bay, and Cup organizers have scheduled race ceremonies and boat inspections there to verify that the yachts were constructed within the rules.

The actual racing will take place outside the bay, several miles off Point Loma in the open ocean.

In a letter sent to Red Star syndicate chairman Vsevolod Kukushkin in July, Coast Guard officials said the Soviet entry would not be permitted to enter San Diego Bay at any time for any purpose and that it should plan transits to the race course for practice and competition through Mission Bay’s ocean access.

The Soviet entry also could be subject to periodic boardings and inspections by the Coast Guard.

Doug Smith, a retired San Diego County marshal now working as a maritime insurance broker, is the U.S. liaison for the Red Star syndicate. He said the Soviets would like to be based on San Diego Bay.

Smith said the Soviet syndicate last week delivered a letter to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow asking the ambassador to convey a request for reconsideration of the restrictions.

“The Soviets feel it’s going to be worked out,” Smith said. “Their preference would be to locate on the bay for competitive reasons and logistical reasons. They, like all other syndicates, want to participate on a level playing field.”

Smith said he saw no reason to exclude the Soviets from San Diego Bay on security grounds. He described the port security restrictions as an antiquated relic of the superpowers’ confrontational past.

“I don’t think they have anything to fear from these sail boaters,” Smith said.

He noted that Soviet athletes now compete frequently in the United States without extraordinary security restrictions.

Smith also pointed out that several high level Soviet military officials have visited San Diego and toured area military installations during which “they were shown everything but the kitchen sink” by their U.S. counterparts.

“They rolled out a Triton submarine for one,” he said.

This summer, three Soviet warships visited the city for five days on a goodwill tour, docking at the San Diego bayside 32nd Street Naval Station.

But Montoro said the longterm presence of the Soviet’s Cup team was another matter. An advance contingent of the Red Star syndicate, the Soviet Union’s first America’s Cup entry, is expected to arrive in San Diego in two weeks.

“I’m not a security expert but there’s a big difference between an 18-month stay versus a three- to four-day stay,” Montoro said.

For their part, officials of the America’s Cup Organizing Committee hope the situation works itself out to the satisfaction of both sides.

“We’re working with the Navy and the Coast Guard to get a further relaxation of the restrictions,” said Pete Litrenta, the organizing committee’s vice president of communications.