We love the Olympics, especially the Summer Olympics, and are excited for the LA28 Games. The San Pedro and Long Beach areas will host many events, in part due to their proximity to water venues such as Cabrillo Beach and Marine Stadium.
One would expect impacts on traffic and housing leading up to and during the events in July 2028. But certain developments are already negatively impacting local activities, specifically adjacent to the Cabrillo Beach Youth Center, where the San Pedro Outrigger Canoe Club (SPOCC), the Los Angeles Harbor Dragon Boat Club, and other small community groups practice.
The Port of Los Angeles (POLA) has already terminated Greater Los Angeles Scouting’s 80-year lease of the Youth Center to accommodate a training facility for the 2028 sailing events. A non-profit (and presumably well-funded) called Pathway to Podium will operate the facility.
The SPOCC leases a small building and access to the beach from POLA and is not attached to the Youth Center. Our membership consists of adults ages 20 to 76, and we run a Juniors program comprising students from San Pedro High School and other local schools in the area. The Juniors’ team is fully scholarship-based through small fundraisers and donations from our community members.
The Port of LA has said it is committed to ensuring that community groups will continue to have access to the waterfront and facilities at Cabrillo Beach. We were told of these moves quite informally (on the sand, back in December 2025), then discovered that the locks to our storage building and the access gate to the beach were changed. And we were told by POLA that we could not paddle out of Cabrillo until we produced the required permits, which we started working to acquire in January. Then, POLA requested a list of insurances that do not apply to our club, including $1M in Ocean Marine Liability coverage — a policy applicable to larger, motorized or commercial vessels (such as ships, yachts, or transport vessels). Our canoes are 44-foot, non-motorized, six-person paddling vessels used strictly for recreation and racing. POLA also requested proof of workers’ comp and car liability, neither of which applies to our club.
After months of back-and-forth communications — and despite our continued efforts and a great working relationship with POLA since our inception in 2017 — as of this writing on April 7, we still have not been granted access to our storage and training facilities or to our canoes, which are stored on the beach.
Our season was supposed to start on February 1, 2026. Had we had access to our beach, we would have already had 27 practices, getting returning members and newcomers ready for racing. Because of this significant delay, we have lost some members to other canoe clubs. All the other 30+ outrigger canoe clubs in Southern California – governed by the Southern California Outrigger Racing Association (SCORA) — have started their recruiting and training season. The first SCORA race is May 2.
We are missing recruiting and retention opportunities. Our current members are confused, and the club is losing revenue because membership dues aren’t being collected. We still have bills to pay, including insurance and canoe payments, with no incoming funds. We are confused by the lack of attention and slow response to our efforts. We have been working with Jeff Gilbo of POLA, as well as Guadalupe Serrato and Michael Galvan. And have been repeatedly assured that all will be ready “in a couple weeks.”
This has been going on since January 26. May 2 is less than three weeks away. We need our community to step up and encourage POLA and its representatives to act quickly and issue our permits, or our existence is in jeopardy. The San Pedro Outrigger Canoe Club is integral to what makes San Pedro unique in the diverse landscape of Los Angeles. We, along with the Dragon Boat club, have been neglected in favor of big business. However, we are the community, and we will be here long after the Olympics have come and gone.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Valdez, president
Julia (Juju) Jones, coach and founder
Peg Moline, member of the San Pedro Outrigger Canoe Club