Mariners rip long waitlist at Ala Wai boat harbor

Despite a multiyear waiting list for slips at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, state operators have a vacancy rate above 10 percent, potentially costing the state tens of thousands of dollars annually.

The vacancies at the state’s premier recreational harbor are frustrating boaters and depressing sales for local boat sellers and marine service businesses. More important, critics say, mismanagement of the Wai­kiki harbor has hampered the state’s attempt to become a world-class mari­time destination, which could bring jobs and spending.

Ilikai resident and boat owner Bruce Lenkeit said he has been waiting 21⁄2 years to store his 38-footer in the marina adjacent to his neighborhood.

"I’ve got it down at Keehi. It’s inconvenient, so I don’t boat as much as I would like," said Lenkeit, who is baffled by the lengthy wait given the many empty slips he has seen.

Deborah Ward, spokes­woman for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, said the waiting list at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor ranges from six months to four years. Typically the wait is longest for larger slips.

"On average it is less than 10 percent; however, due to the upcoming 48th biennial Transpacific Yacht Race, the percentage is slightly higher due to the fact that we reserve 45-plus berths to accommodate the visiting Transpac vessels," Ward said.

But Lenkeit, who was recently denied a copy of the waiting list, said he suspects the count typically runs higher. The Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser also asked for the list but was told that it needed to be updated and could not be provided due to a "busy July 4th holiday."

Lenkeit said that in May he counted 145 empty slips, representing a 19 percent vacancy rate at the 747-slip harbor.

"A few may be out for repair or belong to users who have their boat out, but not all," he said. "I’m familiar with which spaces go unfilled month after month."

After complaining to new department Director Suzanne Case about the vacancy rates, Lenkeit said he was contacted by Meghan Statts, Oahu district manager for the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation.

"We currently have an 11 percent vacancy rate, which is pretty good considering that the harbor office has been down two staff members for the last six months," Statts told Lenkeit in a June 3 email.

Ward said the staff shortage has contributed to delays in filling slips, and that DLNR also must wait for the state Department of Human Resources to provide it with a list of qualified applicants.

Lenkeit said when a slip becomes vacant, an immediate offer should be made.

"I know staffing is an issue, but the lack of effort is costing the state thousands," he said. "If they brought in more revenue, they could hire more people."

Ward said slips are offered "as soon as practical." About 45 slips were offered at the end of May, and are pending being filled, she said. People on the waiting list have 14 days to accept the offer and 120 days to bring the vessel into the slip, she said.

Reg White, a merchant mariner who has been a member of Hawaii’s boating community since the 1970s, said further streamlining is necessary for effective operations.

"Why do they give people so much leeway? I was on the waiting list for 11 years before I got my slip at Ala Wai in the 1990s, and you can bet that I went down and signed up that day," White said. "Nowadays nearly everyone can be reached immediately by cell. Anyone who has ever worked as a landlord could move in and fix this in a heartbeat."

The Waikiki Yacht Club’s port captain said it typically fills slips within 30 days of receiving a notice of vacancy. White said slow maintenence also contributes to bureaucratic bumbling at the Ala Wai harbor.

"About a decade ago we moved to a temporary slip when the state decided to rehabilitate the piers on the 700 row, and we were there five years. That’s damn near a lifetime," White said.

While maintenance issues still contribute to slip shortages, Lenkeit said the high vacancies mostly are due to offering delays.

"Sometimes they wait months to offer slips," he said. "I know of a person who has been waiting seven years. He’s been No. 1 for nine months and hasn’t received an offer."

Lenkeit said stories like this shouldn’t exist given that hesitancy in filling slips dampens state revenue.

Assuming an average slip rent of $300 month, he said, the state would miss out on $43,500 a month, or $522,000 annually, if all 145 vacant slips that he counted in May remain unfilled. Statts’ count of roughly 82 vacant slips is low in Lenkeit’s estimation.

But even at that level, Lenkeit said, the state potentially would lose $24,750 a month, or $297,000 a year.

Lenkeit said his calculations also do not reflect the total spending that additional boaters would pump into Hawaii’s economy.

"All the years that I had my boat in the Ala Wai, she ran me between $24,000 and $26,000 a year in rent, maintenence and improvements," White said. "That doesn’t even include all of the money that my wife and I spent on day-to-day living like grocery shopping, dining out and movies."

White said state bureaucracy has stunted a portion of Hawaii’s maritime industry, resulting in unrealized jobs, lost wages and community spending by workers.

"I’m doing a job in Puget Sound, Wash. The weather only lets them boat for 51⁄2 months, but they’ve got a billion-dollar maritime industry with tens of thousands of good permanent jobs," he said.

While boating is year-round in Hawaii, White said, it has a lesser role in the community than it does in other states.

"What gets me is that Hawaii is a beautiful place to go fishing and sailing, and we have less boats than Arizona, which is in the middle of the desert," White said.

Brad Vessels, a broker with Kokua Yacht Sales, agreed.

"More boats means more work and more money," Vessels said. "When they don’t turn slips, people don’t buy boats." 

Issues like these are part of the reason that Hawaii has among the fewest registered boaters of any state, said Zachary Hughes, head broker for Ala Wai Yacht Brokerage.

"The hardest part in terms of sales is trying to find a spot for the boats. It’s everybody’s biggest concern," Hughes said. "There would be more sales if they addressed maintenance, too. Ala Wai is the state’s biggest harbor, and it doesn’t even have a fuel dock." 

In contrast, Vessels said, the private Ko Olina Resort Marina in West Oahu stays mostly full.

Privatizing harbor operations has been touted as one solution for the harbor, which Ward said now only operates at break even.

"DLNR is continually looking at a variety of ways to best run and fund aspects of our small boat harbors in a holistic way," she said.

The concept has been proposed a variety of times, with only varying degrees of support, said state Rep. Tom Brower (D, Wai­kiki-Ala Moana-Kaka­ako), who is planning to host a public meeting to address ongoing concerns at the harbors.

"Many boaters prefer a special boating fund wherein all fees generated by the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor stay for repairs and maintenance of that harbor," Brower said.

He said funds collected at the Ala Wai harbor should go for its repair and maintenance before being diverted.

"Ala Wai and Lahaina harbor boaters may be unfairly paying a surplus to make up the shortfall for other, lower-paying harbors over the years," he said.

Broader commercialization of the harbor also has been discussed, but Brower said such a move could price out average users and harbor residents.

"Right now government is not running harbors as well as they could be run," Brower said. "If you look at the Wai­kiki Yacht Club and the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, you start to draw comparisons. It’s like the difference between public and private school."