San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
OFFICIALS URGE EXTRA DREDGING OF HARBOR
Sand buildup caused swell, trouble for boats
City and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials say the entrance to the Oceanside harbor will have to be dredged again this fall, the second time this year, to keep it open and safe for navigation through the winter.
Sand bars are growing and areas near the harbor jetty are as shallow as 8 feet, according to an update issued recently to the Oceanside City Council. The shallow areas create breaking waves and make the passage hazardous for small boats.
Two boats capsized and three others needed assistance over the July Fourth weekend, when surf and a large ocean swell compounded the difficulties. A husband and wife in their 60s were injured and had to be rescued from the water after their 21-foot sailboat overturned, said Lt. Dan Sullivan of the harbor police.
The man received stitches for facial lacerations, Sullivan said. His wife’s injuries were unknown, but apparently less severe. Their boat was towed into the harbor.
Smaller boats are more suscep
tible to problems, especially if they approach the harbor at the wrong angle, Sullivan said. Warnings are posted near the entrance, and conditions are announced on marine radio channels.
“Even in small surf there is a swell where the sandbar is built up,” said Mark Mallaby, commodore of the 257member Oceanside Yacht Club.
“Any kind of swell that comes through during the summer is going to create a navigation hazard,” Mallaby said. “It would be in everyone's best interest to have that re-dredged as soon as possible.”
Sailboats have more trouble than other vessels because they have a long keel that usually extends 5 to 7 feet below the hull, he said.
“Boaters that are unfamiliar with our harbor entrance tend to follow the coastline from the south as they are headed north to the channel entrance,” said Ted Schiafone, the city's harbor division manager, in an email. “That is not the correct path, as swells moving west to east are breaking inside the channel near the harbor beach north jetty.
“Instead, boaters should stay at least one half-mile offshore and then turn due east toward the center of the inlet,” Schiafone said.
Normally, the harbor is dredged every spring just before the Memorial Day weekend, which usually launches the summer tourism season.
Most years, the dredging restores the main channel to 25 feet deep. This year's spring cleaning was planned to go deeper to 30 feet and remove up to 400,000 cubic yards of sand, all of which would be used to restore the city's eroding beaches to the south.
However, some of the workers left the job early because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That and other problems such as storms and rough seas forced the contractor, Manson Construction, to stop short of the goal after removing about 250,000 cubic yards of material.
“Dredging in the entrance channel ended earlier than expected, in March,” said Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Brooks Hubbard.
“Due to southern swells in April and May, the shoal in the entrance channel quickly reformed,” he said. “The city notified the (Corps of Engineers) of hazardous conditions due to breaking waves in the entrance channel.”
A survey by the Corps on June 3 showed the main channel remained about 18 feet deep, but portions closer to the south jetty were less than 10 feet deep, Hubbard said.
Manson has two more dredge cycles remaining in its five-year contract with the Army Corps of Engineers, so the next dredge, probably in September or October, and the regular spring job would be covered, officials said.
While city officials referred to the need to dredge as an “emergency,” Army Corps officials didn't see it that way.
“Although it is critical to dredge this fall due to the current situation, (the Corps of Engineers) has not identified this as an emergency dredging operation,” Hubbard said. “The dredging cycle hasn't been awarded yet, but will likely begin in mid-september after Labor Day and last until mid-october.”
All safety protocols including coronavirus measures will be followed during the work, he said.
The federal government pays between $3 million and $5 million a year to dredge the harbor. Some years, Oceanside contributes additional money to extend the contract and put more sand on its beaches. This spring, the city was prepared to kick in $600,000, but the work stopped before removing more than what was called for under the basic contract.
In 2018, the Corps was unable to get all the state and regional permits in time for the spring dredging, and the work was postponed to the fall, causing navigational problems through the summer. Environmental concerns along with increased activity at the harbor prevent doing the work over the summer.
Built in the 1960s, the municipal harbor shares its entrance with the military “boat basin” at the southwest corner of Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base.
Without the annual dredging, coastal currents and ocean swells would eventually fill the entrance with sand.