Wow, this is probably one of the first areas banned in Florida, over seven years ago. A summary about what kicked things into gear appears below from the kitesrf list on yahoogroups from March 2001.
Getting a petition together in support of kiting at George Howard is a good idea if you want to work towards opening things up again. I would suggest doing some groundwork first before submitting to Whom It May Concern. Try to talk with the Park Manager and explore what he thinks about the way things are going currently. Find out who he reports to and how rules are created and by whom. Ask about things like number of folks using the Park, particularly when strong winds are on and few regular beach goers are present. Is there a full house of windsurfers or have numbers been dropping in recent years? Is there still a local windsurfing club? You might try to see what the Park Manager thinks about the idea, concerns, etc.. Filling him in on how kiteboarding has grown, ideally "matured" and how it can coexist with other beach uses with reasonable management.
What would you think about proposing a designated launch/landing corridor on one end of the island? Looking at what has been made to work in other areas perhaps having kiters on one side (ideally downwind, which shifts with the weather here) and windsurfers on the other.
Are there swim area buoys there? Even if there aren't buoys, is there a watercraft exclusion zone near the beach? Figuring out some criteria in advance on how to help kiting coexist with other uses in advance would be a good direction to proceed in.
Requiring PASA or IKO Level III certification as in the case of Crandon is one approach, still without identifying someone to effectively manage things at the launch, it may not be that helpful. That requirement was instituted at Crandon years ago, no effective means of management was ever established however in times past.
In a message dated 3/28/01 6:52:30 AM Pacific Standard Time, an492@...
writes:
>
> While down in Florida (Tarpon Springs) for a week of excellent
> windsurfing conditions, I took out my kite to give it a try and was
> told rather quickly by the locals that kitesurfing had been banned
> from the area.
>
> When I asked what had happened, it turns out that one kitesurfer who
> had been in the area was very abrupt with the local beach goers
> yelling at them and taking up lots of space with his lines. As a
> result, the beachgoers complained to the park authority who banned all
> watersports from the area (including windsurfing). There is an active
> windsurfing club who quickly looked into the complaints and and talked
> with the park authorities to only ban kitesurfing from the area.
>
> Moral of the story: don't piss off other users of the area you use or
> kitesurfing may be banned as well.
>
>
http://www.magma.ca/~richrdsn/p19.htm
>
> Steve.
>