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Bubba’s Opinion on Organized Mooring FieldsAs many of you who sail may alreadyknow, the vexing problem of justwhat to do about anchored sailboats,some pristine and in Bristolcondition and some indescribablehulks, has been a subject ofcontroversy in Florida fordecades. The answers are few,the questions legion.Currently, in order toestablish order wherein chaosreigns, there are operatingpilot programs involvingmooring fields in St.Augustine, Stuart, St.Petersburg, Sarasotaand in MonroeCounty. The pilot programs are notuniform; they are locally formed, based on local input.However, by the first of January 2014, the Florida Fish andWildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is due to reportto the governor and the Legislature on the efficacy of thelocal programs and come up with a slate of proposed lawsthat would work efficiently throughout the entire state.That’s the Plan. The pilot programs’ laws would expire onJuly 1, later the same year, unless the state decided to incorporatesome of those laws into the Plan.Whatever the Plan turns out to be, it will have toaddress boats that prefer not to use a mooring field, the disposalof sewage from boats, pricing, what constitutes aderelict boat, dinghy docks, length of stay and rules ofbehavior. There are probably dozens of other items that willbe added to the mix; I just don’t have enough foresight topredict what they might be.Live-aboard, live-alone sailor, Capt. Bubba Whartz andI were each having something cool to drink at The BlueMoon Bar one day not long ago when I thought of askingCapt. Whartz his opinion about the pilot program as itrelated to boats moored in municipal areas. Unhappily, Iwas not specific enough with my initial question.“Bubba, what do you think about the pilot program?” Iasked.“I don’t fly,” Bubba responded. “Are you talking aboutWhat a concept!It is engineeredto be easily serviced.• Beta Marine supurb propulsionengines using Kubota diesels• From 13.5 to 105 HP including ourfamous Atomic 4 replacements• 150 HP using Iveco diesel• Also available: marine generators up to 30KwBeta Marine US, Ltd.PO Box 5, Arapahoe, NC 28510877-227-2473 • 252-249-2473 • fax 252-249-0049info@betamarinenc.com • www.betamarinenc.comthe Navy or the Army or theAir Force or the CoastGuard? Or commercialairplanes? Or is it generalaviation?”“None of that,Bubba,” I countered.“I am talking aboutthe mooring fieldspilot programs that theFWC is behind and thatare in effect in five locationsin Florida rightnow. They are derivedfrom local input.”“No airplanes?”“None.”“If it has to do with mooring fields and more regulationto encumber sailors, I am opposed to it,” Whartz snarled.“Every time government gets involved in things, particularlysomething it knows absolutely nothing about, like sailing,it turns into a fiasco. I assume that if a sailor uses amooring in a mooring field, then someone will come alongand want him to pay money for the so-called privilege.”“Well, yes, that’s part of the equation,” I replied.“And how much might that be?” Bubba asked.“ I read that St. Augustine thinks that $20 per night or$120 per week is reasonable,” I said.“My guess is that St. Augustine’s lawmakers probablythink that raping, looting and pillaging is perfectly okay,too, as long as one has a license and has paid a fee,” Bubbagrumbled.“What do you mean by that?””I mean that charging a vessel’s owner $20 for tying upto a mooring ball is akin to highway robbery. What will heget for his $20? Will someone come around and deliver themorning paper? Will a pump-out boat slide alongside andoffer to empty the cruiser’s holding tank? Are there shoresidefacilities like a ship’s store or showers or a swimmingpool or laundry facilities or a restaurant or a grocery store?And who decided that $20 per night was, as you said earlier,‘reasonable’? You can bet your last buck it was not anyonewho has to do with yachting. It was someone who wassitting in an air-conditioned office some place about 10miles from the water and whose last experience with a boatwas in a bathtub. It was someone getting a good salary paidfor by taxes and who knows as much about yachting as Iknow about nuclear physics.”“Bubba, you’re pretty volatile about this whole issue,aren’t you?” I asked.“You bet I am,” said Capt. Whartz.“Why is that?”“It’s because I was anchored once in the anchorage indowntown Sarasota and some things started to happen tomy boat,” Bubba related.“Such as?”“Such as some nitwits in a powerboat pulled up myanchor. I had partied pretty hard the night before and hadgotten overserved, so I was sleeping in. But then I heard10 June 2012 SOUTHWINDS www.southwindsmagazine.com