Historic Power Boating Venue Expected to Rise Again DOUGLAS JORDAN ● Waterfront Times
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Serving South Florida’s Coastal Neighborhoods AUGUST 2013 ● YEAR 4 ● ISSUE 2 The fishing bucket list..................................... 3 A whale of a pirate tale ................................ 5 Admiralty Law 5 • Classifieds 17 • Event Calendar 12 • Galley 10 • Tide Table 13 Historic power boating venue expected to rise again DOUGLAS JORDAN ● Waterfront Times Once a strikingly stylized, modernist icon on the Miami waterfront, the Miami Marine Stadium has spent the last 20 years as a largely forgotten relic. The angular structure, which once stood virtually alone in its innova- tive design and use, now slumbers silently, cordoned off The City of Miami shuttered the by a chain-link fence and overgrowth, its concrete sur- stadium in 1992 after Hurricane faces covered in graffiti. Andrew. Now a nonprofit group is The City of Miami shuttered the stadium in 1992 working to restore the waterfront after Hurricane Andrew, citing structural integrity issues resulting from the storm. And that’s the way it’s facility to its former nautical glory. remained for two decades. Photo courtesy | Steven Brooke Studios But a decision in July by Miami commissioners may breathe new life into the stadium built in 1963 as the first in the U.S. specifically designed for powerboat racing. Commissioners voted 4-1 to give control of the site to Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium, the nonprofit group that has been working to save the stadium. The group, co-founded in 2008 by the original archi- tect of the facility, Hilario Candela, preservationist Don ed by the studies we did,” said Hernandez, who, like earlier, it was celebrated for its sweeping views of down- Worth, and National Trust board member and architect Candela, was born in Cuba. “It was nowhere near so far town and Miami Beach. Jorge Hernandez, has a plan to renovate, expand and re- gone as some people thought.” The signature component of the facility is the open the facility within the next two years. Thanks to Hernandez’s efforts, they also got help unique cantilevered grandstand, which rises steeply from “We’ve been working diligently on this project for from the National Trust, which named the stadium to its right at water level and angles up high before falling back five years,” Hernandez said. “It’s shameful that this 2009 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic down to the water, all supported by eight huge columns. wonderful, historical property fell into disuse and has Places and designated it as a National Treasure in 2012. Over the years, the venue hosted several huge motor been neglected for two decades, but we’re going to And the World Monuments Fund added the stadium to boating events, and also featured shows by the some of bring it back.” its Watch list in 2010, Hernandez said. the biggest names in the entertainment industry, includ- Hernandez said his group got seriously motivated in They’ve even received support from local leaders, ing Sammy Davis Jr., Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, the summer of 2007, when the City of Miami sought to including Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado, who made Jimmy Buffett, Ray Charles, The Who, even President develop a plan to demolish the stadium. restoring the stadium a priority of his administration. Richard Nixon, who had a home nearby on Key Biscayne. He said the group first commissioned engineering The 6,500 seat stadium, constructed entirely of Old-time Miamians are excited at the prospect of studies that disproved the city’s contention that poured concrete on land, was donated to the City of bringing it back. Hurricane Andrew had damaged the structure. Then they Miami for “watersports” by the Matheson family. “I think it’s fantastic to see Miami Marine Stadium won a historic landmark designation from the city. Designed by Candela, then a 28-year-old Cuban getting some much-needed attention after all those years “Those concerns were largely proved to be unfound- immigrant who had come to this country just a few years SEE STADIUM | PAGE 9 Who’s the fairest lobster — or spiny crawfish — of them all? ARNOLD MARKOWITZ ● Waterfront Times www.nps.gov/bisc/planyourvisit/biscayne-bay-card- sound-lobster-sanctuary.htm. When lobster snobsters argue that the Maine lob- Then go to www.nps.gov/bisc/index.htm and click sters taste better than the Florida-Caribbean type, shrewd on the Fishing and Lobstering link. shellfishers Down Here just nod silently. After all, what State regulations are available on the internet at would they gain by converting non-believers? www.MyFWC.com/Fishing plus three clicks — on salt- They would gain more competition, that’s what. water, recreational regulations and lobster. With the Florida lobster season opening this month — As for the debate over the delectability of Florida vs. commercial trappers on Aug. 1, recreational catchers Maine lobsters, it may be as pointless as arguing over Aug. 6 — who needs more bug hunters than usual dis- whose avocados are better, Florida’s or California’s. The covering the same prime hunting grounds, getting in one you’re eating is the best you can get today. each other’s way? They’ll have enough trouble clawing through state Leaping sturgeon regulations. Florida’s freakiest type of fishing/boating accident – Trappers will worry about sneaky thieves raiding collision with a leaping fish — happened again in June their traps, invitingly marked by white floats. Photo | Stan Kirkland, FWC. when a sturgeon jumped out of a northwest Florida river Snorkelers will worry about speeding boaters who and injured three kids, one of them seriously. don’t know they’re required to drop to idle speed within Elsa Haubold of FWC with an 85-pound sturgeon caught by Nathaniel Smith, 7 years old at the time, suffered a 300 feet of a diver-down flag (100 feet in a navigation scientists on the Blackwater River. double skull fracture. He’s recovering at home in Bay channel). Wildlife officers, so busy policing size and bag may be capable of puncturing or crushing the shell. County after 10 days in two hospitals. limits, will worry that poachers are eluding them. It’s against the law to twist the tails off your lobsters The incident on the Choctawhatchee could have Here are some of the regulations, familiar to regulars until you are ashore. been much worse. According to the detailed account but maybe daunting to newcomers: Lobster harvest is forbidden entirely in the waters of given to FWC officers by Wilson Smith, he saw the air- You have to begin with a state fishing license and Everglades National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, borne fish — a 3- or 4-footer, he guessed — graze the lobster permit unless you’re legally exempt, like Florida the Biscayne Bay/Card Sound Spiny Lobster Sanctuary back of his nephew Austin’s head and then strike his residents 65 and older. (including most of Biscayne National Park), certain areas daughter Amber, 16, knocking her overboard. The daily bag limit is six lobsters per person. in Pennekamp State Park, and no-take areas in the Smith turned the boat around and rescued her, not Every kept lobster’s carapace — the back and shoul- Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. yet aware that Nathaniel had been hit too. ders — must be at least three inches long. You must have Lobster hunters are responsible for knowing where “We were bream fishing and it started to rain, so we an accurate measuring device, no guessing. You can’t all those boundaries are. The sanctuary overlapping take egg-bearing females of any size. 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WATERFRONTTIMES.COM Waterfront Times August 2013 3 Filling the bucket list with more than summer rain ARNOLD MARKOWITZ Nonetheless, as a compulsive literalist he has a Waterfront Times Columnist charming tendency to act unthoughtfully.