Seaworthy Again : Ventura: Pier reopens after 14 storm-damaged pilings are repaired. Dozens visit despite cold temperatures.

Denizens of the Ventura Pier braved ear-numbing and finger-freezing cold Thursday, returning to the structure the city closed earlier this month after a storm pounded loose 14 pilings.

Roger Tidd, who has fished on the pier for 20 years, said he came down at 6 a.m. Thursday to see if the repairs were completed. When he saw they were and that the structure was back in operation, he telephoned two friends who also fish there regularly to tell them the good news.

“I’ve been here every day waiting for it to open up,” Tidd said. “Why? Because I’m a crusty old fisherman.”

Tidd was just one of many plying the pier’s planks Thursday. As beach-goers ashore flew kites in the brisk wind, the pier teemed with fishermen, bicyclists, stroller-pushing parents and promenaders who were glad to see that their familiar haunt had reopened.

City officials closed the pier Dec. 19 after a powerful storm packing waves as high as nine feet wrenched loose 10 pilings. Four additional pilings washed ashore in the days after that initial destruction.

When repairs started a week ago Wednesday, authorities resolved to have the pier open before New Year’s. City Engineer Mark Watkins said a fast-track schedule was necessary to protect the pier from further damage.

Fortunately, Oxnard Harbor District was able to supply Ventura with 10 60-foot pilings, and city officials had in reserve four 70-foot pilings that were used to replace several lost near the farthest bend of the pier.

Watkins praised the Santa Barbara contractor hired to make the repairs for completing the job in seven working days.

“We’re certainly indebted to Cushman Construction for getting out there and getting it finished as quickly as they did,” he said.

Watkins said the repairs cost Ventura about $40,000, which came from a city maintenance fund. The expenditure comes on top of $3.5 million the city paid Cushman in 1993 for a 1 1/2-year reconstruction project. During the reconstruction, Cushman replaced 100 of the pier’s 600 pilings, based on the city’s directions.

Watkins said Thursday that city workers examined the pilings that washed up on the beach last week, and only one looked rotted. “That one broke and probably took out a few of the others,” he said.

The construction project closed the pier for a year, and the structure’s extreme end was closed for several years before that. Watkins acknowledged that the pier was damage-prone and admitted that future shutdowns are inevitable in view of its age and wooden construction. The pier is the longest in California, and Watkins believes it may also be the oldest.

Pier users, though, expressed frustration.

“What we hear from everybody is, ‘We just spent all that money!’ ” said Don Smith of Ventura as he waited for fish to bite on the pier’s breezy tip. His fishing buddy, Mike Leslie of Ventura, noted that the Hueneme Pier never closed.

“I thought the idea was this time it would withstand,” said bicyclist Olaf Wolff.

While Tidd was also dismayed that the pier had closed so soon after reconstruction, he praised the city for reopening it quickly.

“They did a good job,” Tidd said. “I’ve got to pat them on the back for that.”

Beach-goers today will find slightly milder temperatures, according to the National Weather Service. Forecaster Ed Wentworth said temperatures were only in the upper 50s Thursday because of a pocket of cold air passing over Southern California, but should reach at least the low 60s today, with wave conditions returning to normal.