NEWPORT BEACH : Toplessness on Board Repels Some Ashore

Balboa residents’ complaints about noise and distractions created by topless entertainers at shipboard parties have prompted a proposed city ordinance to limit adult entertainment aboard charter boats in Newport Harbor.

Today, the City Council will consider the proposal, which would bring charter vessels under the domain of the city’s adult business and public nudity ordinances. Those rules prohibit exposure of some body parts in the view of homes or other vessels, and forbid contact between topless entertainers and patrons.

“We’ve had some rather enterprising marine charter operators who I guess have gone beyond what many consider the normal parameters of charter operations,” City Manager Kevin J. Murphy said, adding that some operators have “bikini parties where they become monokinis.”

Though he declined to say which businesses offer the problematic charters, Murphy said he believes that only one or two of nearly 100 charter boats operating from the city are involved.

The proposal is framed as preventing “undesirable secondary effects” of sexually oriented businesses. Violators would face public nuisance charges in Superior Court.