Newport Beach’s Blackball Rolls On

* I have never written before, but I felt your article on the blackball issue in Newport Beach (Oct. 11) was extremely one-sided.

It presented the Newport Surf Council as justified in whining that they cannot surf anywhere in Newport Beach from noon until 4 p.m. As an older body surfer and longtime Newport Beach resident, I was disgusted by how selfish these surfers are today.

Surfers used to take pride in that they were complete watermen. They used to be excellent divers, paddle boarders, swimmers and body surfers. Now they are whining kooks claiming that 10 of the 14 hours of daylight in the summer and the other nine months of the year with no restrictions are not enough to surf.

Surfers claim the surf is great during blackball hours and they cannot surf. I do not understand. Why can they not go in the water without their surfboard? When did their surfboards become part of their body? Why can’t they go body surf the waves during blackball hours and enjoy the waves like everyone else?

I am so happy the Newport Beach City Council did not approve the proposed all-day surfing areas. The Newport Surf Council is a group of “surfers” who believe that the beach belongs to surfers and everyone else is allowed to sit on the beach but is not welcome in the water. They do not understand that other beach users like to go swimming without fear of being run over by a surfer.

JON THOMPSON

Irvine

* In these days of drive-by shootings and carjackings, how utterly refreshing to go to the Newport City Council meeting and witness a discussion of surfing. The subject was a designation of 7.5% of Newport Beach’s Westside for all-day surfing.

Speaking were elementary school kids asking the City Council to relax the regulations so they could surf after summer school [and] Rep. Dana Rohrabacher [R-Huntington Beach] stating Newport Beach was the only city in California not to have an area set aside for all-day surfing. Mothers with surfing “grommets” spoke in support. Surfing industry people in Newport Beach’s back yard offered financial support if necessary. Surfing high schoolers who normally live in shorts and Airwalks donned suits and ties to plead with the council and used the “democracy” angle in an attempt to get the council’s ear. A wife spoke [about] how her husband returned home from surfing relaxed and spiritually focused! Hundreds were in attendance on the innocent issue.

All for naught. After 1 1/2 hours of discussion, council member Janice A. Debay read a prepared statement negating the compromise plan that a committee worked months on. Obviously, all this evening’s spirited, polite discussion was ignored as her statement was prepared beforehand and read. Her rationale: People owning weekly summer vacation units would lose money as inland renters wanting to swim would not be willing to walk two blocks to a stretch of beach where surfing is not allowed. The council voted unanimously with Debay.

The young surfer citizens who spoke so sincerely were all stunned into silence. So much for their first civics lesson! Shame on you, city of Newport Beach. You chose to listen again to money interests over something as innocuous as 7.5% of the beach set aside for all-day surfing. You had an opportunity to show democracy in action to the kids. All they came away with is cynicism. No wonder the kids have no faith in the adults.

JOE KNOERNSCHILD

Costa Mesa

* The blackball was instituted by the city of Newport Beach to ensure safety. The large number of swimmers, surfers, body surfers and body boarders made the blackball necessary. The situation has not changed to warrant its elimination. In fact, there are more swimmers, surfers, body surfers and body boarders now than when the blackball was first enacted.

Who wants to see more tragic incidents like the one that took the life of a swimmer in August of 1987? If one remembers, a man was swimming near the 48th Street jetty when a surfer’s fin sliced his artery, which caused him to bleed to death in less then 10 minutes.

Surfers erroneously claim that the water is not being utilized during the blackball, from noon to 4 p.m. As a resident of Newport Beach for the past several years, I beg to differ. When the waves are small, tourists often like to go for swims. When the blackball is not up and surfers are in the water, many tourists are afraid to go for a swim. The tourists wait on the shore until the blackball flag is raised, then proceed to swim. When the waves are big, many professional and top amateur body boarders practice their skills. The water is rarely not being utilized during the blackball hours.

The blackball does not cause an undue hardship on surfers. It only is used for three months of the year. And of those three months surfers still can and do surf from 6 a.m. to noon and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Simply put, surfers still can surf 10 of the 14 hours of daylight in the summer. During the four hours of blackball, nothing prevents surfers from learning to body surf or body board.

DOYLE SANDERS

Newport Beach