March 19, 2008 — V.I. National Park wants input on how to improve the registration system for slots at Hurricane Hole from boaters who participated in the program last year.
In 2007, the registration was chaotic.
"People started coming 36 hours beforehand," said Rafe Boulon, chief of resource management at V.I. National Park.
The boaters are anxious to be at the head of the line so they get their pick of spots on the hurricane mooring chain or to anchor in the bay.
The hurricane mooring chain has space for 70 boats. Last year, 118 boaters applied, but Boulon said some of them preferred to anchor their boats rather than use the chain. That's allowed during storms.
The boaters were so anxious to register for a spot in Hurricane Hole they tried to camp out near the park's maintenance office, where the registration occurs. It's located adjacent to the Mongoose Junction shopping center. Camping is not allowed on park property in that area, across the North Shore Road on Caneel Bay Resort property, or at the shopping center, Boulon said.
He eventually abandoned the first-come, first-served method and created a signup sheet.
"A lot of people were upset they didn't hear about the signup sheet," Boulon said.
With registration scheduled for June 7, he's asking boaters to decide in advance whether they really do prefer the first-come, first-served method or another way of registering for the slots.
A proposed alternative is a lottery in which the numbers for spots in the registration line would be chosen. The boaters would put their names on a card and drop it in a box. At 9 a.m. Boulon would start pulling names out of the box, with the first one getting the pick of spots on the Hurricane Hole mooring chain or in the bay. The second person picked would get second choice, and so on until all the spots were taken.
Boaters who arrived after 9 a.m. would have their names go into a second box. He'd pick out names from that box when he finished with the first one.
"It's not going to change anything except getting people to the table," he said, allaying fears that the lottery might be for the actual spots on the mooring chain or in the bay.
Or someone else might have a better idea, Boulon said, and he'd like to hear it.
Boulon sent out notices about the request for ways to register the boats to all those who participated last year, but some came back as undeliverable. Additionally, some boaters listed insufficient addresses. He sent out a news release in hopes of reaching those boaters.
After a registration method has been selected by a majority of respondents, the information will be sent out to all yacht clubs, community organizations and the media.
Boulon asked that boaters contact Resource Management with their ideas by April 25. Call him at 693-8950, ext. 224, or Thomas Kelley at 693-8950, ext. 225.
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