Paradise lost?

Are you dreaming about the perfect retirement--cruising tropical waters, warm winds filling the spinnaker, whales and porpoises off the bow, lush Polynesian islands on the horizon with dark haired beauties?

WAKE UP! Hawaii may not be the paradise for recreational boaters that you dream about.

Most of our perceptions of the Aloha State have been shaped by television: the beach at Waikiki, golfers putting on manicured greens or surfers entering the curl of a big wave. But just ask any boater who must use the state-run marinas and they will tell you about the dark side of paradise.

"They called it third world boating," said BoatU.S. member and Maui resident, Pam Baughman, who recently met with a sailor from the mainland who has decided to go back because the boating facilities in the islands are so bad.

With the exception of some modern private marinas on Oahu, Hawaii's boating facilities are reportedly overcrowded and poorly maintained. So, how did Hawaii's marinas become so run down? Some say the neglect is the result of the laid-back philosophy of the islanders, but most lay the blame for deterioration of the facilities on state bureaucrats, or on slipholders who are reluctant to pay more than they are now paying. About 90% of the recreational boating marinas are run by the state, which has fewer facilities than the desert state of Arizona.

With 15,000 boats, Hawaii ranks dead last among the states in terms of registered boats--most are on trailers, parked behind someone's house. There are 54 launching ramps to support them, while there are only 22 small boat harbors. Oahu is home to 75% of the slightly over 2,300 slips in Hawaii. The rest are thinly spread out on Maui, Kauai, Lanai and the Big Island of Hawaii, and many of the over 3,000 in-water boats are relegated to mooring out.

Mooring out is less than ideal for a permanent resident boater who also must find a place to store a dinghy ashore. The state's laws prohibit liveaboards, with the exception of 129 at Oahu's 750-slip Ala Wai facility, and less than 10% at neighboring Keehi Small Boat Harbor. The government's rationale is based on events that happened 30 years ago: The drug culture was rampant in the islands and old derelict boats were used like crack houses.

One of the state's funding priorities is to improve comfort stations ashore. There are only eight sewage pumpout stations throughout the islands--six of them in Oahu. Outer island recreational boaters as well as big tour boats have no choice but to motor out and discharge their holding tank's sewage in the ocean.

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One look at boat haul-out facilities paints a bleaker picture--only Oahu and the Big Island have such facilities. Pity the person on Maui who needs hull maintenance. To get such work done, this skipper must travel 100 miles over open ocean, where the island's venturi effect funnels winds at a constant 25 to 30 knots and unexpected Kona winds create 15- to 25-foot surfs.

Water Everywhere--No Facilities

It's a good thing that Hawaii doesn't have more boats because they have no place to put them. "The waiting list for large boat slips in Honolulu's Ala Wai Harbor is five to 10 years and there currently are over 550 boaters on that list," Baughman says. She saw an ad that said, "Why wait 13 years like everyone else when you can purchase this boat and slip for $150,000?" The state's practice of transferring titles on boats without having the new owner leave a municipal slip has angered those who have been waiting in line for years.

Ken Morrison, executive director of the Royal Hawaiian Ocean Racing Club, has to alert sailors that when they come to Hawaii they might not have a place to stay. When he tells colleagues that Hawaii has 1,052 miles of breathtaking shoreline but has fewer boating facilities than Arizona, they look at him in disbelief. In fact, statistics show that Wyoming, ranked 49th in boat registrations, has over 13,000 more boats than Hawaii.

Decaying Small Boat Harbors

Existing state marinas were built from the 1950s to 1970s, boat ramps and piers even earlier. A recent audit found that these aging facilities are increasingly unequipped to accommodate the growing volume and variety of public recreational needs. A Boating Special Fund is supposed to take care of upkeep, but auditors estimate that over $3 million has been diverted to other programs in past years. Federal Wallop-Breaux funds for boating safety have been diverted to park rangers to provide information on safety requirements, regulations for boating and recreational fishing, claims the Ala Wai Marina Association.

Ray Pendleton of The Honolulu Star-Bulletin says that Hawaii's state-run small boat harbors are dysfunctional. On the island of Oahu, 104 of the 750 slips in Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor are vacant because of unsafe docks and almost 20% of the slips in nearby Keehi Harbor are closed for safety and liability reasons. This has necessitated moving boats into the transient slips, leaving no room for visitors. Another report found that boat owners had used long extension cords to plug into park outlets--inserting coins into a meter to get electricity.

Light at the End of the Tunnel?

"Many facilities need major repairs and face permanent closure if not addressed," said state auditor Marion Higa in 2001. His comments echo previous audits going back as far as 1993. Unfortunately the recommendations have fallen into a bureaucratic black hole, and nothing has changed.

The state recently focused on the dire problem of visiting boaters, and requested funds to construct piers for transient boaters on three of its islands as part of the federally funded Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) program. The request states the obvious according to Pendleton, "In many parts of the state, the number of places to tie-up, moor, or anchor a cruising boat, especially during a storm, is limited."

Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle has proposed $10 million for renovations in this year's operations budget. Her projects include construction work on wastewater, utilities, pump-out stations and dock repair, and the state Senate has a number of general obligation bonds that tackle the issue of deteriorating docks.

This is not the first time the state has proposed legislation to help the boaters. Last year there were a number of bills that did not pass. Unfortunately, it seems that more marina improvement bills have died in the state legislature than wipeouts on Oahu's northern shore.

The state isn't entirely at fault for the deterioration of the small boat harbors. Every time they have tried to deal with the issue, their recommendation has been to raise slip fees as the only practical solution. Currently the state's highest monthly slip fee is only $4.10 per foot. Higher rates have met with loud protests by the slip occupants on every occasion.

Privatize?

Contrasting the state-run facilities with those of the three privately run marinas on Oahu is like sailing from night to day. Part of the reason is that state-run slip fees do not cover the cost of running the marina, let alone maintenance and upkeep. Private slip fees are almost three times those of the state, but at least the fees mean that boaters won't have to worry about the dock collapsing under their weight. Ko Olina Marina is a modern 270-slip facility accommodating boats up to 150 feet with all the comforts of home--no decaying docks here.

Baughman says she is thankful that BoatU.S. is shining some light on these problems. "We are doing our best to get the people aware of the situations of these harbors. These harbors make $2.2 million a year and I am wondering where all this money is going? It sure is not going to the harbors." she said.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Boat Owners Assn.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group