DOZENS of people ride stand-up paddleboards in Newport Beach in 2013. The victim in a drowning last summer in Huntington Harbour reportedly was on a rented board without a life vest and didn’t know how to swim. (Kevin Chang Daily Pilot)
By Hillary Davis – [email protected] | latimes.com
The Newport Beach Harbor Commission wants companies that rent stand-up paddleboards to outfit their boards with leashes as a safety measure.
The commission has been looking at paddleboard safety since early last year, focusing on rental companies, the panel’s chairman, Bill Kenney, said. A paddleboarder’s drowning in Huntington Beach last summer heightened the Newport Beach commission’s concern.
The harbor master should make sure rental businesses have marine activities permits, and as a condition of that permit, customers must state in writing that they can swim, Kenney said. If they can’t, he said, they must wear a life vest.