Floatopia: Skirting One City's Drinking Laws
Partiers in San Diego have found loophole in a ban on liquor at the beach.
March 19, 2010— -- Thousands of beer-loving partiers are expected to descend on a quiet San Diego bay this weekend for a massive gathering that takes advantage of -- even celebrates -- a loophole the city's liquor laws.
Concerned about public drunkenness a few years back, San Diego banned drinking by anybody whose feet were touching the sand at a public beach. So a group of revelers found a way around that: they keep their feet off the sand.
Welcome to Floatopia.
The event is pretty simple. Bring a float, inner tube, raft -- you know, something that will keep you up on the water. Next, invite everybody you know and then bring a lot of booze. Finally, have fun.
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The Floatpia organizers know the law and detail how to get around it on their Facebook event page.
Among the tips:
Capt. Chris Ball of the San Diego Police Department is overseeing the police response to the event. He said that, for the most part, the people who come down to the party want to know what the law is and they want to comply with it.
"They recognize that there's this unique loophole," he said. "The loophole is this: if you get out on a float … you can sit out on that float in the 80-degree water with sunscreen on and have a beer. And there is not a darn thing we can do about it."
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