Officials expected to be on hand for the unveiling include HSU President Rollin Richmond, Eureka Mayor Virginia Bass and Boating and Waterways Director Raynor Tsuneyoshi.
The Aquatic Center has five components. The central facility comprises three main classrooms, a multipurpose conference room, two additional conference rooms and a kitchen. The classrooms serve a variety of purposes, including aquatic instruction and boating safety courses, Extended Education classes, after-school programs, special events, Center Activities leisure functions and an aquatic-based environmental education program. Conference and meeting spaces are available for rent by campus and community groups.
The fully enclosed storage area houses a variety of boats for program use and rentals. A number of Aquatic Center classes will take place on the bay, including sea kayaking and sailing, fulfilling the new facility’s purpose to provide both educational and recreational opportunities to the HSU campus and the North Coast community.
The Athletic Training Space, equipped with locker rooms, will be used by HSU crew teams for land-based training.
A new floating dock is planned, with construction slated for the first half of 2008. It will feature an accessible ramp, with ample floating dock to launch a variety of boats.
The Aquatic Center is managed by Humboldt State’s recreation programming arm, Center Activities, whose Director is David Nakamura. Mr. Nakamura said, “HSU is responsible for the management, operation and maintenance of the facility.”
The Department of Boating and Waterways (DBW) fully financed the Center’s planning and construction under its mandate to carry out facility development as well as boating safety and education.
The City of Eureka supported the project with the lease to the state of a city-owned parcel of land for $1.00 a year and the installation of support infrastructure, including road access and sidewalks. The Center is integrated not only with the Adorni Center, but also with recently developed areas of the boardwalk such as the new small boat basin, the Wharfinger Building and other projects currently in development.
Humboldt State’s independently-run University Center and its Center Activities unit have an ongoing relationship with the DBW, which has awarded annual grants to the recreational programming operation for more than 20 years. The DBW contracts with Center Activities for services such as curriculum writing and special projects.