Topless charter-boat fishing gets the hook

FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- The brochure says: "Bikini Girls & Topless Girls Fishing Charters." But this city's marina manager says you can't use that kind of lure here.

Dean Kubitschek recently threw Smokin' 'Em Charters out of the city marina after discovering the Port St. Lucie-based fishing charter was marketing nudity on city property. "They were running fishing charters, but they were offering nude mates," Kubitschek said. "This is a family-oriented environment, and we have a good reputation. We'd like to keep it that way."

The company's husband-and-wife owners, Harold and Kathi Coombes, claim the city is discriminating against women. They've gathered nearly 100 signatures on a petition they plan to give Mayor Bob Benton demanding the city fire Kubitschek and allow their boat to return to the city marina.

They plan to get another boat to run charters out of Stuart, Kathi Coombes said, and to add a second boat in Fort Pierce.

The Coombeses signed a March 1 agreement to dock their boat, a 44-foot Trojan, at the Fort Pierce marina but were told to leave after 19 days.

A manager at the Tiki Bar & Restaurant, leased on city land and adjacent to the marina, found several brochures -- which include a nude photo of a woman -- stuffed between table condiments, Kubitschek said.

According to the contract, the marina reserves the right to ask boat owners to leave if they "harm the reputation of the marina," Kubitschek said.

Kathi Coombes said she and her husband began operating topless charters in January after running strictly fishing charters in Stuart for three years. The women, who either wear bikinis or go topless, serve food and drinks and throw out fishing lines. "Guys like seeing girls in bikinis rigging baits and setting the hook," Coombes said.

While waiting for a boat slip at Fort Pierce, the Coombeses docked their boat at a smaller city-owned marina at Fisherman's Wharf for two months. Nobody had a problem with them, including city officials, Kathi Coombes said.

Kubitschek said he found out about the bikini charters a day before the company was to move its boat to the city marina. Someone suggested he check out the company Web site.

"My problem was not with the women in bikinis," Kubitschek said. "The issue was with the company marketing nudity on city property after being informed ... that they could not...."

Kathi and Harold Coombes said they would discontinue the topless and bikini charters if Kubitschek would allow them to return. This week, Kubitschek said that wouldn't happen.

"They had their one shot," he said. "I gave them an opportunity, and they came in here under false pretenses; and then 17 days later the brochures showed up."

Benton said his office received a complaint about the business, but he's staying out of it: "It's a legal thing. Mr. Kubitschek does a fine job, and I trust his judgment."

Kathi Coombes said she booked nine charters out of the city marina, mostly for April, but didn't operate a single one before being thrown out. She blamed Kubitschek for the loss of income.