Recommendations for theDesign of the Glorietta Bay

Boat Launching Facility

Some thoughts relating to the grant from the California Department of Boating and Waterways

February 4, 2013

Glorietta Bay has always been a great place for boating. It all started when the Hotel del Coronado Boathouse was built in 1887. Prestigious San Diego Yacht Club operated from the Bay as early as 1914, and built their new clubhouse there in 1923.

~1900

~1908~1923

Today Glorietta Bay—really the birthplace of recreational boating in the San Diego area, and the only natural bay within larger San Diego Bay—remains the perfect place for “beginner-level” small boating, just as it has been for well over a hundred years.

And with Coronado, the Hotel del Coronado, and the Municipal Golf Course nearby, it is also the preferred destination for larger boats that want someplace to go on a day trip, or that want to spend a night or two at anchor.

It’s worth a minute just to get a basic orientation. Glorietta Bay today is in a fully developed metropolitan area. Within that context, the Boat Launch Facility is a key element in the public’s ability to access and enjoy this very special waterspace.

Boat Launch Facility (BLF)

Hotel del Coronado Boathouse (built 1887)

Coronado Yacht Club small boat launch facility (private)

Coronado Municipal Golf Course

Swimming Pool and Community Center

City of CoronadoCoronado City Hall

New City of Coronado Boathouse location

Glorietta Bay Park Port of San Diego 72-hour “A5”

Anchorage (very popular—dinghies from boats in the “A5” use the BLF pier to go ashore)

Navy “Amphibious Base” – home of the Navy SEALS – to the south

Various kinds of small, non-motorized watercraft are ideally suited to Glorietta Bay’s protected waters. It’s a great place to learn about small boats, and a great place to have fun (and learn more) if you already have some boating skills…

The Boat Launch Facility is also the gateway for boaters who want to access south San Diego Bay—one of the world’s best spots for “intermediate level” small boaters: calm in the morning, a steady breeze in the afternoon, with very little vessel traffic.

Intermediate-level paddlers and rowers can go around the Navy base, past the sand island

and Least Tern Preserve, past the beaches of the Navy housing area, and down into Crown

Cove at the State Beach.

Intermediate-level small boat sailors can sail into the open water and steady breezes of

“South Bay” for both recreational sailing and racing.

Of course going under the bridge into “North Bay” is

also always an option regardless of boat type…

• HERITAGE • EDUCATION • PUBLIC ACCESS • RESTORATION • PRESERVATION • PROTECTION •

Overview

• In considering the design of the Boat Launch Facility, the Glorietta Bay Heritage Group recommends that it be improved and modernized to serve all of the vessels that are suited to, and popular in, the adjacent waters.

• HERITAGE • EDUCATION • PUBLIC ACCESS • RESTORATION • PRESERVATION • PROTECTION •

Overview

• More specifically, we believe that the facility should be reoriented to additionally accommodate small, non-motorized, often car-top carried vessels to the greatest extent possible, while still serving mostly trailer-carried jet-skis and motorboats as it always has.

• HERITAGE • EDUCATION • PUBLIC ACCESS • RESTORATION • PRESERVATION • PROTECTION •

1. BOARDING FLOAT Optimize the design of the boarding float

2. GANGWAY WIDTH Increase the width of the gangway

3. SAND BEACH Install a new sand beach near the ramp

4. WASHDOWN Make freshwater rinse convenient for small, car-top boats

(before being placed back on the car-top rack)

Four Basic RecommendationsTo accommodate small, non-motorized vessels, the following improvements are recommended:

This is a Google Earth image of the present facility. Glorietta Bay Park is to the left and the city’s swimming pool is to the right. Our recommendations involve improvements to just four things: float, gangway, beach, washdown.

1. We recommend that the float be redesigned to

accommodate launching and rigging of small boats, while retaining its function

as a boarding float for trailer-launched boats.

2. We recommend that the gangway width be increased

so that a small sailboat may be carried or rolled (on a dolly)

down it.

3. We recommend that a small sand beach and

“loading zone” be placed here.

4. Finally we recommend that “freshwater rinse” washdown capability be retained in the parking lot for trailer boats, and

added at the “loading zone” and on the float for hand-carried boats.

Please open Part I - B to see the next section…