Party's Over for San Diego's Floating Drinkers

Boozing on rafts now banned
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 27, 2010 8:20 AM CDT
Party's Over for San Diego's Floating Drinkers
A "Floatopia" party in San Diego. The biggest events attracted over 3,000 drinkers.   (?Ryan Leighty)

San Diego's city council has closed a loophole that allowed partygoers to dodge a ban on drinking on the beach by boozing just offshore instead. Wording in the original ban defined beach as land only, leading to "Floatopia" parties which saw thousands of people drinking on rafts and inner tubes just a few feet offshore, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The updated law now says "bathers" need to be one marine league—around 3.5 miles—offshore before they can drink alcohol. City leaders say the floating parties were a disaster waiting to happen, and even partygoers say the law probably isn't such a bad idea. "Unfortunately, it makes sense," a college student taking to his air mattress for a final few beers told the Wall Street Journal. "Floating? Drinking? That's just not going to work out." (More San Diego stories.)

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