When the Rider family first came to the Central Coast in 2011, CC Rider, his wife, and two younger daughters walked into Ross in downtown San Luis Obispo.
“The girls were wobbling all over the place, and we had to hold onto things in the store; it was pretty funny,” Rider said.
The family had been on their 30-foot boat Tiki, traveling for several days from a harbor in San Diego to Port San Luis. They set sail in the hopes of making a home out of the Port San Luis Harbor, which they did for five years. But a new live-aboard fee, a fee allowing occupants to live on their boat in harbors, is causing the only family in the port to set their sights on another harbor.
The family of four plus their feline companion decided on an alternative way of living before they left San Diego. They lived in a country club home in Southern California for a few years, but that wasn’t the lifestyle they wanted.
“All those rules and stuff, it just wasn’t for us. My wife and I love the water, and we both surf,” Rider said.
Every morning, Rider and his two girls wake up at 5 a.m. to start their day.
Rider takes his daughters to shore and drives them 2 miles to the bus stop; the oldest spends her day at San Luis Obispo High School and the other goes to Bellevue-Santa Fe Charter School. Rider does handy-work, and his wife works at a local shop.
In 2011, when Rider purchased a mooring to stay in the harbor, they received a letter from the former interim harbor patrol officer, John Lowry. He notified the family about the weather conditions that affect the boating community.
According to the letter, Port San Luis is protected by a breakwater, a barrier that’s built out into a body of water to protect a coast or harbor from the force of waves. But the breakwater doesn’t offer protection from the strong winds and swells that occur during winter storms.
“The combination of both strong southerly winds and large swells in the harbor result in an average of two boats a year going aground, resulting in complete property loss,” the letter stated.
In the letter, Lowry also said that based on his experience and knowledge of the port, “I strongly advise you to reconsider purchasing a mooring in Port San Luis with the intention of living aboard your vessel full time.”
“Living aboard your vessel in Port San Luis could put your family at risk of injury,” the letter further stated.
But the warning didn’t stop the Rider family from dropping anchor.
“When a storm is going to come in, we usually know ahead of time, and we just stay in a motel or go camping, depending on what’s going on,” Rider said.
But the cost of mooring in the port is about to change. According to the mooring and water use regulations, boaters only had to pay $31 to $45 a month depending on the size of the boat. However, on June 27, the Port San Luis Harbor Commission adopted an update to those regulations. Starting in January, boat occupants will now have to pay $250 per month. The fee includes the use of the water taxi, staff assisted pump-out, one parking spot, the use of the showers, laundry, trash, water, and work dock utilities.
Port San Luis Harbor manager Andrea Luker said the district had talked about updating the policy since 2016.
“One of the things we did with the mooring ordinance is we had over 10 public meetings to get input before it was publicly noticed as public hearing,” Luker said.
She said the district put a lot of thought into the policy because of the time it spent working with the community.
But to Rider, it’s more than just about a fees increase. He said he doesn’t feel welcome in the Port San Luis Harbor community.
“The $250 is not the thing, I mean who wants to pay $250. I just know they don’t want us here,” he said.
Luker told New Times that the policy change wasn’t aimed at anyone specifically; the district has four other potential occupants who are looking to live on their boats.
“Once the district came to a decision and passed the policy in June, the district made a conscious decision to not implement it until January,” she said.
With the new fee, the family is considering relocating their home to Morro Bay. Morro Bay’s Harbor Patrol Officer Becka Kelly said the harbor currently holds 500 boats and 50 have full-time occupants.
“We definitely value the live-aboards in the bay. They help us out a lot by reporting emergency situations,” Kelly said. “They have their eyes on everything that goes on out there, and it’s great.”
Occupants need to obtain a two-year permit to live in the Morro Bay Harbor. The permit costs $170. Similar to Port San Luis, the boat would need to undergo an inspection, has to be operational, and must be registered to the occupant looking to live aboard the vessel.
“The boat can’t be rented out; you have to be the registered owner. It demonstrates that you have a vested interest in the boat and want a permanent place to keep the boat,” Kelly said.
On top of purchasing the mooring for the boat, which costs roughly $25,000, an occupant must pay the city of Morro Bay $80 a month.
Occupants must also pay a monthly fee that’s similar to a utility bill. It covers trash, showers, maintaining the parking area nearby, and filling holding tanks with water. That costs $16.91.
“A lot of people do it [live on a boat] because they love boating and the ocean,” Kelly said. “It’s an escape from the land life, and it can be cheaper than living on land.”
Rider and his family are weighing their options, but they’re leaning toward navigating into the Morro Bay Harbor.
“Really, I would like to stick around because of the girls, one is going on to her senior year in high school,” Rider said. “But why stay where you aren’t wanted?” Δ
Staff Writer Karen Garcia can be reached at kgarcia@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Dec 21-31, 2017.
You got like Rider … but when do look in mirror and say I got two kids … time growup raise kids than go sit on the boat .
I really dont care Rider lives and polutes they bay ( okay I do) but as a dad , dude theyre kids be the dad that provides for his kids .
You want rest of us ,,,to pay your share taxes , ( we pay for port) we pay county services , we pay for schools and you complaining about $200 month while abusing your kids ( its small boat dude and waves do get ugly tied to mooring .
Merry holidays
I just wanted to raise some points to this comment. First, we do not pollute the bay. We have a compost toilet that puts out zero discharge, that is disposed of onshore , and by the time it is disposed is ready to be used in a garden. Our boat runs totally on solar for our living aboard needs(no gas or diesel generator). Also, we have been paying property taxes here (as well as in San Diego) because of living on our boat. So please get your facts straight. The county services are a joke. The showers are filthy and broken most of the time, the laundry rooms too. These are also open to the public, not an amenity just for liveaboards. I take offense at you saying we’re abusing our kids. They are probably the most well adjusted, smart(They have 3.8 and 4.0 GPAs) , friendly kids you’ll ever meet. We take care of all their needs and more. How dare you say that without knowing us, Anne Rider
I’ve known CCrider for several years and he and his family are some of the nicest folks you’d ever hope to meet. It is a shame that they are being put in this spot, especially during the holidays. With the ridiculously high rents in California, you’d think that cities would not do things that create hardships for good citizens who’s only crime is not living the cookie cutter lifestyle.
The first person to post to these comments is clearly an uninformed fool who does not know this family. You have some nerve to insinuate that his family pollutes the bay and that he is somehow abusing his kids. What an absolute ignorant comment to make. I have known C.C. Rider (yes, that’s his real name) since high school. This guy lived and breath surfing and the beach lifestyle. His wife Anne is a smart, beautiful and amazing mother. They have both raised these kids with clarity, focus and manners. Yes, manners!!! I kid you not . . . you will not find kids who are more polite. They are ridiculously smart too. You’d be hard pressed to find other kids who are more knowledgeable about the beach, environment and marina lifestyle. Their GPA’s speak for themselves. I have visited their Tiki home “on the water” many times and have pumped thousands of dollars into the Avila Beach Community during my numerous week-long visits. In the time they have lived there, I have seen the marina and surrounding community deteriorate – and that’s coming from a tourist. I’ve seen customer service take a nose dive too. It’s simply not as desirable as it use to be. I can absolutely understand CC not feeling welcomed like in years past. CC and Anne have chosen the lifestyle they want for their kids. Anyone who passes judgment on them for doing so should be ashamed of themselves. They are the type of people who would give you the shirt off their back. They are involved in their community and are amazing stewards of the environment and harbor. All four of them are beautiful people, both inside and out, and if they pull up anchor and sail further up the coast – it would be Port San Luis’ loss and Morro Bay’s gain.
First I wanna say thanks for the nice comments ! (well most of them 😉
Just the facts
A: we own the mooring not rent
B: we pay property taxes the port fees quarterly & once a year mooring inspection.
C: the $250 monthly (live-aboard)fee extra plus $100 permit fee is way more then we paid in San Diego http://www.sandiegomooring.com/rates.htm for a protected bay that we never had to leave.
D: I had folks that went to the port meeting tell us they said “we want them out” meaning us .
Have A Merry Christmas Everybody! CC-ya -=CC=-
Michael Kidd……arent you the loser that closed your coffee shop during the Amgen race? And posted that sign.?
As a once longtime liveaboard and avid cyclist………you are the one not welcome here. Merry Christmas.