Paddleboarding still looking for ways to fit in

Erin O’Malley has heard the complaints about stand-up paddleboarding. They remind her of the complaints from skiers that were directed at another board sport, snowboarding.

The member of the U.S. snowboarding team in the 1990s said that when the winter sport was in its infancy, it encountered much pushback.

“I remember when snowboarding came about there was a big controversy,” said O’Malley, who owns Sunset Stand Up Paddle in Laguna Beach. “Now people say, ‘This stand-up paddling is so dangerous.’ It has the exact same tone to it. The surfers don’t want more people in their waves.”

A year after the City Council adopted an ordinance focused on commercial stand-up paddleboard businesses, the operations continue to be a hot-button issue in Laguna Beach.

The ordinance was adopted in response to complaints by Laguna Beach-based stand-up paddle business owners that mobile companies conducting classes in town were reaping the financial benefits while creating parking problems and beach congestion in the city.

The ordinance requires the businesses that offer stand-up paddleboard instruction to register with the city and pay a $150 license fee with a yearly renewal cost of $100. Regulations also call for a mandatory orientation for business operators, limits on instruction class sizes, and proof of liability insurance in addition to a standard business license.

But beyond the tensions between the brick-and-mortar and mobile businesses is a general sense that surfers and other oceangoers are forced to vie for precious space on the beaches and in the water with paddleboarders, whose boards also represent a safety hazard for swimmers and body surfers.

And so frustrations among business operators, water sports enthusiasts and marine safety staff continue, and the topic continues to be hashed out, as it was at the July 21 council meeting.

According to a city staff report presented at the meeting, the city has since October issued 21 citations and more than 300 verbal warnings. Stand-up paddle operators have violated Laguna’s municipal code by storing their boards and other equipment on residential and commercial property and illegally parked or blocked public access to the beach. People have also complained that operators take up too much space on the sand while setting up for a class.

In response, the council amended the current ordinance at its July 21 meeting to allow owners a 15-minute orientation session with their clients on the beach before heading into the water and approved a revocation policy that would punish business owners for “egregious” or recurring violations.

“The goal is compliance, not to put people out of business,” City Manager John Pietig said last week. “People have to be aware that this is a serious issue.”

Marine safety officials say that storing boards on the beach takes away public space, hindering visitors’ enjoyment of the coastline.

But Billy Fried, former Coastline Pilot columnist and owner of La Vida Laguna, which offers outdoor recreational activities, said it would be unprofessional and dangerous to have clients carry their boards down stairs to the beach, and that they should be set up beforehand.

“Every beach is different,” Fried said. “A blanket policy is onerous.”

Jim Hall, owner of Soul Surf shop on South Coast Highway, said it comes down attitude, whether the person is a surfer, swimmer or stand-up paddler.

“Regulating paddleboarding to certain times is unrealistic,” said Hall, who offers surf classes of no more than three students and asks that participants carry their boards down to the beach. “Surfing and paddleboarding don’t mix unless the paddleboarder is respectful as for sharing waves.

“I don’t have any animosity to paddleboarding. It is the way it is being handled.”

O’Malley, who has taught stand-up paddling in Laguna since 2011, said she gives her clients a comprehensive safety briefing before going into the water and only launches one person at a time.

She said that in four years she has never witnessed a collision or needed a lifeguard to rescue one of her clients.

“I’ve never seen a SUP accident, but I’ve seen surfers collide with each other,” said O’Malley, who also surfs.

At the council meeting, O’Malley suggested that instructors be held to higher standards, perhaps being required to have a teaching certificate.

Marine safety staff and stand-up paddle operators were scheduled to meet to discuss potential solutions. The city will report the effects of the new rules to the council in the fall.