Lewes Yacht Club seeks exception to jet ski rules

The Lewes Yacht Club is building its reputation as a popular place to host national and regional sailing competitions. With that comes more responsibility, and club officials are looking at ways to improve the events, specifically safety and emergency response.

To do this, club officials have sought permission from Lewes Mayor and City Council to operate personal watercraft – jet skis – within a restricted 300-foot zone along Lewes Beach.

“What's been identified at other regattas is that personal watercraft are a safety tool,” said Steve Nieblas, chairman of the LYC sailing committee. “In the Chesapeake and in New Jersey, they don't have the same restrictions as Lewes Beach, so it's a little different venue and scenario here.”

The club's initial request was denied by city council March 14, but city officials encouraged the club to refine its plan and bring it back at a later time.

Deputy Mayor Fred Beaufait said granting a waiver for the yacht club would set a precedent that would result in more requests.

“We have to be careful,” he said. “We have a good reason for not wanting these watercraft coming onto the beach.”

The yacht club's request was rooted in public safety, but it also included other facets. Nieblas said the primary request was to allow jet skis to bring injured sailors directly to shore, where emergency personnel would be waiting to treat or transport the person to the hospital. Secondarily, Nieblas said, the club wanted permission to use personal watercraft to transport supplies, equipment and club personnel.

Currently, personal watercraft and boats access the yacht club through its marina along the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal, entering and exiting through Roosevelt Inlet.

In the case of an emergency, council agreed the club did not need permission to bring somebody directly ashore. The concern was with the other activities the club requested.

“Lewes Beach right now has a huge sandbar. An awful lot of small children play out on those sandbars, and they're within the 300-foot [area],” said Councilman Dennis Reardon. “I have personally seen jet skis coming in there, and it scares the hell out of me.”

Nieblas said the club would start with one jet ski but could purchase up to three in the future.

Jet skis are often better in rescue situations, he said, because they sit lower to the water than the whaler boats now in use for regattas. Jet skis are also made to carry two people and they can tow a raft.

“A sailor can just crawl onto the raft and be brought back to shore,” Nieblas said.

Nieblas said the yacht club has grown from hosting one or two small regattas to hosting larger events. In the last few years, he said, the club hosted an event with 80 Hobie Cats and another with nearly 100 Sunfish boaters.

Mother Nature does not always cooperate, he said. At one recent event, he said, sailors had to deal with 20- to 25-knot winds. Some boats capsize; sometimes crew members fall off the boat. While they've never had a major medical situation, the club needs to be prepared, he said.

Nieblas said all operators of personal watercraft would be licensed boaters. In addition, he said, all yacht club instructors are certified through U.S. Sailing.

In addition to regattas, the yacht club was also seeking to use personal watercraft during its summer sailing school, which operates from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday to Friday for eight weeks in the summer. The school itself would operate beyond the 300-foot zone, but there would be cases when the club would want access to the beach.

Those cited for operating personal watercraft within 300 feet of Lewes Beach may be fined $300 to $500.

If the yacht club were granted permission to use personal watercraft within the restricted area, Nieblas said, the jet skis would be clearly marked with a yacht club or red cross flag so as to not encourage others to follow suit.

“I think our purpose is to instill the greatest amount of safety that we can because the Delaware Bay can be a wonderful, quiet place or it can be other,” he said. “We are just trying to protect our sailors and our crew and our sailing crews out there. With this exception, I think it’s part of an education process for the community as to why we are out there.”