[dsafety]

Well, I tried, but so far have failed. I just got an email from my friend John Greenhalgh, from the San Diego Lifeguard Service. John is in charge of the rock beaches in La Jolla. He has confirmed my worst expectations about the Children's Pool, (aka The Casa) in La Jolla.

This location is on the books as a "swimming beach" even though people seldom use this beach these days because the seals have adopted it. I do not want to go into the seal issue here. The bottom line is unless we can convince the powers that be that this facility should be be open to kayakers as well as people, (oops, seals), our access dreams are dead.

The Lifeguards are just the messengers. They do not make policy on this issue so please do not get upset with any of them. They are just doing their jobs and as a former Lifeguard, I can tell you that sometimes that can be a tough job.

I have asked John if this current "swimmers only" designation can be changed and am waiting for a response. I have also asked him if, as part of the proposed rebuilding of the Casa Lifeguard tower they could build an access ramp on the south side of the Casa seawall which would allow better access to the small beach that is there. This would not be as sheltered of a launch site as the Children's pool but it would certainly be better than nothing.

What can you do? I would suggest that, in the most polite and respectful way, you inform your elected officials and the folks at the San Diego Lifeguard Service of your need to have a safe, legal, protected kayak launch access at one of the La Jolla rock beaches.

As with anything, the squeaky wheel gets attention. These are not unreasonable people. I suspect that most of the folks who make the rules relating to beach access are totally unaware of the huge number of kayakers in this region. Please make your opinions known.

I will keep this forum informed about any new developments.

Until next time

Bob