Newport clicks on cybersurfing

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- City Council members unanimously approved the

installation of an Internet surf site camera at the city’s lifeguard

headquarters during Tuesday’s meeting.

Surfline, Inc., a Huntington Beach-based company that provides weather

and surf conditions for surfers around the world, will install the

camera. In exchange, lifeguards will be able to control two other cameras

along the beach that are already in place.

Surfline, which receives about 500,000 hits on its Web site each

month, also will add a link to the city’s Web site on its page. Surfline

will set up an extra page on its Web site so the city’s lifeguards can

post safety conditions and general beach information.

The company, founded in 1985, already has similar deals with the

cities of Seal Beach, Oceanside and Santa Cruz.

“All we’re doing is giving the city something for free,” said Surfline

president Sean Collins, adding that 8,000 people visit the site’s

Huntington Beach page each day.

City officials said the cameras might keep some surfers from driving

to Newport Beach if they first check the site and see that weather

conditions are bad. The cameras also will give lifeguards a chance to

better monitor surfers during the winter months, when fewer lifeguards

patrol the beaches.

“I’m satisfied that the Surfline proposal is providing safety,”

Councilman Tod Ridgeway said before the meeting. “I’m less concerned

about financial gains for the city.”

In August, council members had asked city staff to look for other

companies that might be interested in installing a camera. The only other

company that expressed an interest, Hardcloud.com, offered to pay the

city up to $7,000 annually but has since lost financing and laid off 60

employees.

Surfline’s two other cameras in Newport Beach are located at private

residences near The Wedge and at 56th Street. Collins said they were

installed three to four months ago.

Currently, only images from the camera at 56th Street can be seen on

Surfline’s Web site. But the other camera will soon go online and the

company is planning to install even more cameras on city beaches.

The company will pay for the $10,000 installation and also take care

of maintenance, which amounts to several hundred dollars per month,

Collins said. He added that the camera at the lifeguard headquarters

could be installed within a month.

FYI

To view Surfline’s Web casts, log on to o7

https://www.surfline.swell.comf7