How safe is paddleboarding in Newport Harbor? Study will look at boarders and boaters

With the creation of an ad hoc committee to study stand-up paddleboarding, Newport Beach harbor commissioners hope to strike a balance between boaters and boarders.

The Harbor Commission voted unanimously last month to create a committee composed of Chairman Dave Girling and Commissioners Paul Blank and Bill Kenney to study who uses stand-up paddleboards in Newport Harbor and how board rental companies educate their customers about how to safely navigate the waterways.

“The goal is to review the educational practices that are currently implemented by the [paddleboard] operators at the point of sale and to gain a better understanding for all [paddleboard] operators in the harbor,” Girling said.

The sport has become increasingly popular in the past five years, and with the harbor becoming more crowded, people have expressed concerns that boaters could hit paddleboarders. Paddlers stand on a large surfboard and have nothing to protect them but a paddle, making them more vulnerable than people in other watercraft.

This isn’t the first time the commission has looked into stand-up paddleboarding in Newport Beach.

In 2012, at the behest of then-Councilwoman Leslie Daigle and other harbor users, the commission created a committee to look at implementing policies for the use of stand-up paddleboards in the harbor to increase safety.

At the time, the committee explored creating special “paddleboarder lanes” but ultimately decided against it.

“We determined that the best approach at the time was that the operators needed to provide safety education at the time of rental,” Girling said. “For the most part, that seems to have been effective.”

Recently, however, boaters and other harbor users have suggested that the Harbor Commission revisit the issue to look at how many people are using stand-up paddleboards, how they move around the harbor and coexist with boaters, and whether rental companies need to do more to ramp up education efforts.

“It wasn’t reactionary,” said city Harbor Resources Manager Chris Miller. “Nothing happened to prompt it. It’s a growing sport and they’re increasing exponentially in the harbor with various rental companies. The commission decided to study the issue to increase awareness about safety.”