Newport lifeguards can expand surfing blackball

Newport Beach lifeguards now have authority to increase the number of days or hours when surfing is prohibited at the city’s beaches.

The City Council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday night giving lifeguard officials the power to blackball, or prohibit, hardboard surfing off city beaches whenever they determine that conditions are unsafe for swimmers, bodyboarders and users of skimboards, which are small flotation devices used in shallow water.

When a yellow flag with a large black circle is flying on the beach, hardboard surfers are not permitted in the water. The idea is to help prevent injuries by dividing ocean time between hardboard surfers and those who swim and surf without hardboards.

Newport Beach Chief Lifeguard Rob Williams said the resolution affirms a years-long practice in the department.

“We feel like the resolution was just cleaned up and clarified,” he said.

Under the resolution, surfboards are still prohibited at all hours between 40th and 44th streets and at the Wedge surf break from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 1 to Oct. 31. Those are the only spots that have explicit blackball periods.

For years, the blackball period has frustrated many hardboard users who say they don’t get enough time in the water, especially during morning hours when the waves and wind conditions often are the best. Several hardboard surfers have called for the city to designate a specific stretch of beach for surfing year-round.

Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach, along with several other coastal cities, have year-round surf spots.

The Blackball Working Group, made up of city commissioners, fire and police officials and staff members, began looking into alterations to the surfing regulations two years ago in an attempt to improve safety and access for all surfers at the Wedge and between 40th and 44th.

In April, the city Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission voted to recommend that the City Council reduce blackball hours between 40th and 44th streets to 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily from the Saturday before Memorial Day through Labor Day.

However, council members indicated during a study session on the topic in July that they wouldn’t favor easing blackball rules there and at the Wedge.