The Morro Bay Harbor Patrol pulled several boats from the water on Wednesday and demolished them next to Tidelands Park.
Community members looked on as around five boats were demolished Wednesday morning. The old boats were pulled ashore by Harbor Patrol and crushed to pieces by an excavator.
“It’s something that has to be maintained and they can’t let them sit in the water. Once they become unseaworthy, they have to take them,” said Steven Groves, Morro Bay resident.
Nearby sailors who keep their boats in the harbor say it may be sad to see the old boats go but given their conditions, they’re glad to see them out of the water.
“I never like to see a boat demolished because I always think that could have been mine, but it’s an interesting thing to see. You have ferrocement, a wood boat and then you have a fiberglass boat all going down today in a good cause,” said Skip Johnson, sailor.
The boat demolition typically happens every year in Morro Bay if the Harbor Patrol is able to secure grant funding from the state’s Division of Boating and Waterways. This year, they secured around $30,000 in grants to make it happen.
“All of these boats were a part of a vessel turn-in program and they are boats where the owners were no longer able to care for them, they’re a threat to pollute in the bay and so before the winter storms really set in, that’s why we’re doing it now,” said Becka Kelly, Harbor Patrol Supervisor.
The boat demolition is expected to continue through Thursday with three additional boats set to be broken down into pieces.
