Impound !

[sww914]

Today in Newport harbor we made the grave mistake of forgetting to pay our $15.00 mooring fee for 26 hours. As my wife skiffed back to the boat she was greeted with 4 ******* sheriff's deputies, very agressive and militant, as they were chaining our boat to the mooring ball. She offered to pay, right on the spot, but they wouldn't accept any money and they wouldn't accept a credit card number over the phone and in fact they couldn't accept any money from her under any conditions, it had to be me and me only because my name was on the original receipt. She called the harbor office and the rude lady who answered the phone lied to her and said that if I got to the office right away there would be no impound fee. As soon as I could return to the boat I made the very long trip in to their office, it's over 3 miles of 5 mph zone and learned that we had to pay a $150.00 impound fee as well as the whopping $15.00 that was overdue.
We pulled into Newport to complete a long list of repairs and to spend money but we're leaving now and we'll spend our boat bucks in Oceanside, Dana Point, and San Diego instead.
Screw these people.

[maytrix]

That sucks and seems completely unnecessary. Is that really the best thing they can be spending their time on?

I suppose though it's no worse then coming out to your car after the meter has expired with a cop writing the ticket. 50/50 chance they'll give you a break. Some people are kind hearted and others just are a-holes.

[rubyjean]

Get out of So. Calif. before they lock you guy's up. All they want is every penny they can suck out of you. We ran into that from Point Conception south. I will never return to so Calif. by boat ever again. Be careful and may the wind be at your back. Your better off in Mexico, at least the bandito's will show you there guns.........Michael..

[Pelagic]

That just sucks

[AquatiCat]

Hey, please keep us informed! They probably don't realize the multiplying effect that screwing a cruiser has in the era of Cruisers Forum and other such comm systems -- many will avoid Newport if they prove themselves unfriendly and unreasonable. Maybe the weekenders are enough to keep them happy, but maybe cruisers who have repairs to do spend a lot more per boat. Will they notice? Let time decide!

[Rakuflames]

What a bunch of goons.

[pressuredrop]

gotta generate that revenue somehow... down here in south florida all the local authorties are milking the last few days of manatee season (ends march 31) to write speeding tickets in no wake zones

[sww914]

My wife is on the phone with the harbormaster's office and she's getting pissed. We'll probably get gicked out of the harbor soon. My wife has never been arrested before but by the sound of the conversation I'll probably be in handcuffs soon. Oh well.

[Vyndance]

So you had to go pay in cash every day? You couldn't pay in advance?

[rubyjean]

Originally Posted by Vyndance II

So you had to go pay in cash every day? You couldn't pay in advance?

If your from Calif. I dought that you would see any problems. Just try it as a transient. Not the same treatment...Michael..

[Vyndance]

Originally Posted by rubyjean

If your from Calif. I dought that you would see any problems. Just try it as a transient. Not the same treatment...Michael..

Why would the Harbor Patrol in Newport Beach care where you were from??

[rubyjean]

Originally Posted by Vyndance II

Why would the Harbor Patrol in Newport Beach care where you were from??

Maybe it wouln't matter, but just was not our experience. Sorry, I don't mean to offend the locals. Sailors no matter where you are will help each other and are very friendly. Just wasn't the case for harbor officals down there..Michael..

[Knapweed]

The Sheriff was probably Julissa's dad!

[sww914]

I had paid in advance the previous week but I had forgotten which day the money was due again. We are from California, it doesn't seem to matter where you're from, all cruisers are equally unwelcome in Newport Beach. There are many many wealthy people around this harbor and they probably don't want our money anyway.
I saw a small 3 bedroom waterfront house down the street advertised at 3.8 million dollars, I am sure that they really don't care about the few thousand that I had planned to spend here.

[bobconnie]

Newport has been a PITA forever !For gods sake don't you dare drop anything overboard!! It could be a goof up and they still will write ya up even if you dive to retrive the thing ya dropped !(don't ask) I left there in !1990 after paying 250 bucks for dropping a winch handle overboard!! I will never enter that harbor again no matter the conditions or for anyreason except maybe foundering !! just my 2 cents ! Ive never had such treatment in any harbor in my life!!