Richardson Bay liveaboards, heads up!

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by Wrong

You were fortunate to have only seen 45 knots. Just like everywhere else when you're in a storm, it's not the wind that gets you, it's the waves.. Particularly when the storm is a souther, the fetch into Richardsoon Bay is long and the wave heights generated sink boats and people have died trying to intercept dragging boats.

I always leave the Bay when a storm is forecast. In 2008 I was sheltering in Clipper Cove when wind gusts were upwards of 80 m.p.h.. Try out Richardson Bay in those conditions then retell your story about how it's "not really dangerous...".

I was in a southerly with 45 knots in richardson bay, and the waves were maybe 8ft. Anyway, with a good anchor you will not drag, but even if you do, you end up on mud not rocks like in wellington.

I think I changed my mind about it now. It is dangerous because of potentially other boats around that don't have good anchors.

[pcmm]

If you can anchor in the water, then isn't it "navigable" and therefore by definition a Federal juristiction? My understanding that Navigable wateraways are under the juristiction of the Fed's and they overrule state and local...

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

I was in a southerly with 45 knots in richardson bay, and the waves were maybe 8ft. Anyway, with a good anchor you will not drag, but even if you do, you end up on mud not rocks like in wellington.

I think I changed my mind about it now. It is dangerous because of potentially other boats around that don't have good anchors.

Which is why I'm on a Port mooring. There's no way to know whether a nearby boat's anchor is a rock or unauthorized private mooring with anchors and chain splayed in every which way direction threatening to foul your anchor.

For at least 24 of the 26 years I've been living the liveaboard cruiser's lifestyle I've been on the hook. Until coming back to Sausalito, that is....

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by pcmm

If you can anchor in the water, then isn't it "navigable" and therefore by definition a Federal juristiction? My understanding that Navigable wateraways are under the juristiction of the Fed's and they overrule state and local...

33 CFR Part 110 - ANCHORAGE REGULATIONS
Subpart A Special anchorage areas.

§ 110.126a San Francisco Bay, Calif.
Richardson Bay Anchorage. That portion of Richardson Bay, north of a line bearing 257° from Peninsula Point to the shore at Sausalito, except for federally-maintained channels, and all channels approved for private use therein.
Note:
Mariners anchoring in the special anchorage area should consult applicable ordinances of the Richardson Bay Regional Agency and the County of Marin. These ordinances establish requirements on matters including the anchoring of vessels, placement of moorings, and use of anchored and moored vessels within the special anchorage area. Information on these local agency requirements may be obtained from the Richardson Bay Harbor Administrator.
[CGFR 69-109, 34 FR 17771, Nov. 4, 1969, as amended by CGD 78-126, 45 FR 10760, Feb. 19, 1980; CGD11-99-009, 65 FR 20086, Apr. 14, 2000]

[model 10]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

My guess is it was never legal to do that. For sure it was never cool to do that.

Why is it cool for you to do it in the bay? There are probably only a half dozen times per year when that boat ramp was good for bottom work. You must do that many cleanings on some boats every year in the same slip.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Guy

Why is it cool for you to do it in the bay? There are probably only a half dozen times per year when that boat ramp was good for bottom work. You must do that many cleanings on some boats every year in the same slip.

I don't "do it in the bay." Hull cleaning and preparing and painting a hull are two different operations entirely and one is far more prone to polluting than the other.

[Dukie67]

Does anyone want to talk about the raw sewage that I suspect is being dumped into the bay by some of the live-aboards?

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by Dukie67

Does anyone want to talk about the raw sewage that I suspect is being dumped into the bay by some of the live-aboards?

Below is a partial list sewage spills in Marin and the SF Bay area. Doubt you'd consider there's any comparison now, would you? Testing by Bill Price, the Richardson Bay Administrator repeatedly comes up with "pristine clean" results in the Bay.

* Heavy storms during winter 2009/2010 caused multiple sewage spills and treatment facility overflows. As of June 2010, nearly 12 million gallons in sewage spills were reported from cities around the Bay Area, and the City of Richmond alone spilled over 11 million gallons. Meanwhile, 173 million gallons of partially treated sewage were released into the Bay from overflow facilities in the East Bay, including 1 million discharged on April 11 during weekend rains.
* July 05, 2012 - About 1,000 gallons of sewage spilled into Greenbrae creek Tuesday afternoon after an equipment failure at a Marin sewage pump station.
* February 19, 2009 - A broken pipe gushed at least 500,000 gallons of partially treated sewage into San Francisco bay by Wednesday afternoon as Sausalito, California sanitary plant officials continued to try to contain the spill more than 24 hours after it was spotted.
*January 31, 2008 - Nearly 3 million gallons of sewage spilled into San Francisco Bay when a pump failed at a waste treatment facility, the Marin County Sheriff's Department told CNN on Friday. The Marin County Department of Environmental Health was conducting tests Friday to determine how far the contamination had spread, Pittman said. Boaters were being warned to avoid the Richardson Bay area, and residents were told to avoid contact with the water.
*May 13, 2008 - About 64,000 gallons of partially treated sewage spilled into the bay off Tiburon early Tuesday when the failure of sewage plant pumps caused an overflow.
* February 2, 2008 - Residents and officials throughout Marin County were upset Friday that they were not notified for almost a day that 2.7 million gallons of treated and raw sewage had spilled into Richardson Bay.

[Kenomac]

Sounds to me like Sausalito is finally going to clean up the mess otherwise known as Richardson Bay. It's long overdue.

[Dukie67]

"Below is a partial list sewage spills in Marin and the SF Bay area. Doubt you'd consider there's any comparison now, would you? "

I understand that there are significant accidental spills, but I don't think that justifies the intentional discharges from irresponsible boaters.

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Sounds to me like Sausalito is finally going to clean up the mess otherwise known as Richardson Bay. It's long overdue.

Maybe. Depends. A combined mooring field and anchorage without San Diego type restrictions on anchoring and living aboard, with a requirement boats in the Bay be "owner occupied" will likely succeed. Otherwise there will be most likely, the same kinds of responses to past efforts to "clean up the Bay". Lawsuits and civil disobediance that heretofore has always ended up with no change.

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by Dukie67

"Below is a partial list sewage spills in Marin and the SF Bay area. Doubt you'd consider there's any comparison now, would you? "

I understand that there are significant accidental spills, but I don't think that justifies the intentional discharges from irresponsible boaters.

You are assuming there are intentional discharges from irresponsible boaters. Proof?

[Dukie67]

Originally Posted by Wrong

You are assuming there are intentional discharges from irresponsible boaters. Proof?

you are correct--I have no proof. And I don't mean to characterize all of those boats (and boaters) as irresponsible, but from the looks of many, it's hard to believe that some are not discharging--some look like live-aboards that have not been moved in months, if not years...

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by Dukie67

you are correct--I have no proof. And I don't mean to characterize all of those boats (and boaters) as irresponsible, but from the looks of many, it's hard to believe that some are not discharging--some look like live-aboards that have not been moved in months, if not years...

When you have over 200 boats in Richardson Bay it's hard to know which boats actually have people living on them. You should know there is a program that empties holding tanks from boats in the Bay, from where they are. So, the fact they never move does not mean they're discharging overboard.

[Wrong]

For anyone with doubts about where things are going in Richardson Bay.

From Ben Berto, RBRA Clerk, in RBRA document Item 6A - Attach 1 05-19-15 Page 3 of 7;

"...all vessels in the anchorage will be either short-term visitors or required to be on a ball. Vessels that are not either will be easily ascertained. Regulatory compliance will be better than the current situation, since the influx of vessels stored (or anchored?) long-term will be curtailed."

Any doubts about the direction of change in Richardson Bay now?