Pompano Kite Ban?
 

Just received an email to this effect. This is the first that I have heard about it and could have sworn I've seen kites off 16th St. within the last week. Can anyone verify this?

Talked to a couple guys launching north of deerfield pier today. Said that 16th Street was only place left in Pompano. What are deerfield's rules anyways? I was told the trouble started from one lone condo commando in the Century Plaza condo just south of 14th street. My 90 year old grandmother lives in that building and she used to sit on her balcony for hours watching the kiters :( I think the retirees don't want a repeat of the parasailing accident that happened awhile back. 2 teenage sisters crashed into a building just south of there. I forget the details, but one died and the other was critical.

Thanks for the report, hope to learn more soon.

The last time I heard them which has been a couple of years in the past, the rules for Deerfield consisted of:

1. No launching or landing from any guarded beach. If you have to make an emergency landing, it would be ideal if you came ashore holding your kite's leading edge, lines wrapped up or better still deflated and rolled up, with lines wrapped up in either case.

2. Stay well beyond 100 yards from shore while riding, double that would be better. Do not ride close in among bathers or with your kite over the beach.

3. Launch and land well to the north or south of the guarded beach and avoid the small, groin cluttered unguarded area in the middle of the beach.

4. Work hard to not annoy the condo residents to the north and south of the guarded beach. If there are problems, this is one of the more likely places they will start.

Rick...
My dad lives on the beach side of the intercoastal and 14th st in pompano... He kites there all the time w/ Graham Goodwin and those guys, he has not mentioned anything to me as of yet... But ill ask him about it....Jason

Thanks, I sent an email to Graham about this as well. Will try to get a hold of some of the old timers at 16th Street too. Please let us know what you learn.

Just learned more, it is true. A sign has gone up citing a City Ordnance 98.02 about a week ago. Meetings are being planned hope to learn more about that soon. Apparently, 16th St., already crowded, is the sole launch area in Pompano at this time. Surfing may also be restricted City wide.

Also, another group of Slingshot kiters (possibly the same ones) reportedly out of Ft. Lauderdale, apparently were causing problems in Pompano recently. We need to get the word out to these guys to stop causing problems FAST.

Yep you got it rick...
Here is a quote from an email from my old man...

"Yes it is true; we've been shutdown, they put up big red signs, banning kiteboarding directing us to 16th street, which sucks. Maybe a 100ft of beach for all the kiteboarding, and people are still sunbathing in that area. BULLSHIT if you ask me. The only time i will kiteboard from 16th street is early in the morning, if there's wind.
One other option, i may be able to get away with, is launching down by the jetty's the beach is narrow, but usually no people or i can drive 20 miles to Dania (don't think so)"

Man that sucks....
Jason....

Surfing too? There are rarely any ridable waves in pompano! Grew up there, and always drove to deerfield or ft. lauderdale. Maybe a longboard when a hurricane was coming through... what's next?

The thing that kills me, is that those beaches are desolate for the most part. The elderly that live in most of those condos, have lived there for years, and rarely use the beaches anymore. There is so much room too... probably 500ft of sand right behind my grandma's condo. 16th street: not so much.

Plans are being made, we're going to try real hard to regain access on some limited basis. Again. This has been done so many times in some many places, repeatedly. Why? Because some people don't care whose privileges they trash through stupid behavior.

Is it fun to drive off road, spin around and throw dirt all over the place? Sure it is. Why isn't this done commonly in residential neighborhoods?

Don't trash where you live (or kite). Things can be patched up only so many times before it becomes a lost cause.

We're not out of the woods on this by a long shot. Discussions have yet to start in earnest with City Officials but should soon. Supposedly guys are still riding inside the swim zone buoys and doing all the same stuff that closed out almost all of Pompano to us. Is it worth trying to get access reopened if guys will only get things shut down again through indifference and poor riding behavior? Input from area riders on this would be very welcome.

Who is in charge of that territory? Graham? Perhaps a phone call needs to be made to Chris Nygard of PASA? Let me know what I can do to help.

Brian

Hello Brian,

Sadly, Graham's business is situated within the newly banned area. Discussions are planned with the City to try to work out a more favorable situation in the near future. As a rule Christopher would call me on something like this occurring in Florida.

As a leading kiteboarding magazine it would be great if you could help out on the Industry side of things. In many ways I think we need to turn a corner in certain respects to do a better job of preserving our access. A number of ideas along those lines were brought out in last night's podcast. I would appreciate it if you could check it out, see what things come to mind that you could assist with. Perhaps we could talk by phone then and kick some ideas around.

Thanks for posting and your offer of help!

No problem Rick. I will check it out & get back to you. Keep up the good work!

Brian