Crazy Language Won't Survive N.C. Anchoring Bill Rewrite, Sponsor Says
Lazzara Promises That 10-Day Limit Will Be Axed
A proposed state law to address North Carolina’s abandoned-boat issue would forbid “any vessel” from anchoring more than 10 days in state waters during a 30-day period. The cruising community, reacting on social media, sees this language as nuts because it objectively is.
Don’t worry, the bill’s sponsor said yesterday, the crazy parts will not survive.
Senate Bill 505 doesn’t even specify 10 consecutive days, nor does it spell out how enforcement authorities would keep tabs of a boat moving around North Carolina’s extensive and interconnected inland waterways, possibly dividing nights between marina slips and anchoring. Would we be tracked via AIS and notified when the time came to self-deport?
Kidding aside, the bill would force the hundreds of snowbirds heading up and down the Intracoastal Waterway each year to make short work of the state, at least theoretically. It would also prevent North Carolina’s native cruising community from making a leisurely turn around their own state’s waters.
Here is the critical language:
It is unlawful to anchor, moor, dock, leave adrift, or ground any vessel in waters of the State for more than 10 days in any 30-day period, except at a private dock or marina or attached to a mooring point installed under a permit issued by a State agency or local government.
The four-page bill (see below) also lists a variety of ways to punish owners, not just for violation of the 10-day rule but for a host of derelict-vessel-adjacent misdeeds, including fines, reimbursement for government spending, vessel forfeiture and criminal charges.
The Long View
Besides being a naval architect, Roger Long has served as harbormaster at Cape Elizabeth, Maine, which means harbor management experience. He is also a veteran East Coast cruiser and a regular Loose Cannon contributor.
Long’s first reaction was to question whether there had been an inadvertent omission in the language. Had the authors intended to say “unoccupied or unattended vessel” instead of “any vessel?” The former would be in keeping with the title of the bill, “An Act To Address Abandoned or Derelict Vessels in the Waters of the State.”
The bill’s primary sponsor is Senator Michael Lazzara, representing the coastal county of Onslow. Lazarra owns a couple powerboats that he uses on the New River and its estuaries and Onslow Bay itself. Besides being in politics, he is a veteran purveyor of pizza and of the Marines.
Lazzara admitted the bill’s language is problematic, which is why it is stalled in committee at the moment, awaiting a rewrite.
Without specifically addressing Long’s theory of an omitted phrase, Lazzara insisted that the intent of the bill was not to inconvenience cruisers navigating through North Carolina waters. He admits the bill is defective because it contains language inconsistent with federal statutes regarding the nation’s navigable waters.
“I think that once we get through the language, you’ll see an entirely different bill,” Lazzara said. He said the State Assembly will take up the law again in January.
Before the Loose Cannon interview with Lazzara, Long had sent the senator’s office an essay he had written on the subject of anchoring and public policy, including the desirability of establishing a harbormaster system for southern ports, as now exists in the Northeast. Long’s essay included this point:
The bar for prohibiting or restricting anchoring is…a high one and rests on the foundation of freedom of navigation. However, the many controversies, lawsuits and legislative actions I have followed over the years mostly seem to overlook a vital point: navigation is performed by people aboard vessels…A vessel anchored with people aboard is navigating; an unoccupied vessel at anchor is not. The unoccupied anchored vessel is therefor due a lower level of freedom from restriction and regulation.
Local Cruiser Objects
Jeff Kenyon is another cruiser who wrote to Lazzara and the other Senate Bill 505 sponsors. Kenyon is a resident of Oriental, also known as "The Sailing Capital of North Carolina.” He schooled the senators on why the bill is inconsistent with the practicalities of slow-boat cruising:
If you look at the cruisers who are moving through the state, the "usual" anchoring spots are Wrightsville Beach, Morehead/Beaufort, Oriental, Belhaven, Alligator River and the North River south of Coinjock, or Elizabeth City preparing to transit the Dismal Swamp. Even if the cruiser plans to anchor in four of those five places, they can only spend approximately two days each, leaving no time for a more leisurely pace to enjoy the towns, etc. We also shouldn't forget bad weather days or the need for repairs that would quickly push a vessel over the 10 days.
Even for local boaters, there are multiple boating clubs in Oriental that plan two-week cruises from Oriental both north and south. A typical north cruise would visit Ocracoke, Manteo, Albemarle Plantation/Edenton, Alligator River, Belhaven and then home. Often we utilize marinas, but some members exclusively anchor. Surely residents of the state expect to be able to enjoy a cruise of this nature without violating the law by anchoring over ten days in that 14-day period!
Another state trying to restrict anchoring. When will this stop? I have always wondered why you are not required to have at least liability insurance on a boat in order to register the boat, just like the requirements for cars. I suspect that would severely decrease the issues with derelict and abandoned boats.