San Francisco

Renegade Yachtman Removed From San Francisco's Aquatic Park

A renegade boater who dropped anchor in San Francisco's Aquatic Park last year is now gone. But not without a fight that frustrated many locals.

Bryan Pennington's trimaran on Monday sat at the end of the Hyde Street commercial dock after it was towed there over the weekend.

"I tied up to a mooring ball to be able to go and retrieve my anchor and the mooring ball drifted to shore," Pennington said.

He said someone cut his anchor line, and someone did scrawl and move the boat on the side of his trimaran.

Locals said Pennington has been anchored in Aquatic Park since last September, blocking swimming lanes and refusing to leave. In addition, the president of a local swimming club claims Pennington has been polluting the Bay.

"It basically became a cesspool," Dolphin Club President Reuben Hechanova said.

Pennington denies dumping his waste into the Bay, but admist he has been here long past the 30-day limit.

For seven months, the Dolphin Club and the West End Rowing Club have been trying to get Pennington evicted. The struggle reached a peak this weekend after police boarded the boat to stop it from drifting. Pennington reportedly became belligerent.

Pennington told NBC Bay area local laws do not apply and police had no right to order him to move.

"I'm from the planet," Pennington said. "Not San Francisco, not California -- from the planet."

The folks at the Dolphin Club do not understand why it would take seven months to remove Pennington's yacht. The water is controlled by the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.

"I think it's kind of unprecedented, so we're charting unfamiliar waters," said Lynn Cullivan with the SF Maritime Historical Park. "But we'll get the chart done and in the future we'll know what to do."

Pennington has been cited and arrested multiple times. He is due in court later this month.

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