Lots of good ideas. I'd wear a wrist band or a colored kite leash or whatever and something definitely needs to happen. I'm in for a beer and a chat but not on Sat the 1st. Signs would be great and are worth discussing but I think Skyway Scottie is right; who do you ask for permission and what if they react by just shutting us down. It almost seems to me like we need to have some sort of organization or local club ( I don't know how to get around liability with this, but...) and when I walk up to someone with my cool club sticker or patch and tell you to get off the water and go to EB I speak with the support of every other member. To be a member you would have to pass an instructors' skills or certification test and earn your way in. Triton Matt, I think your energy is awesome and I think with the support you have with Eckerd and the support Eckerd has in the community that you could maybe pull strings to make some of your suggestions happen. We could even use some similar type of format from your club to starting an independent organization. I don't know but it's worth looking into. (PS. the air compressor idea rocks)
Skyway is without question an intermediate to advanced riding spot and if we want to keep it we need to grow some chest hair and keep newbies outta there. When I was learning I probably went to skyway 5 times to watch the sessions but I knew I had no business riding there.
It is also important for us to stress to newbies that not every windy day is a good day for them to learn. Riding one windy day in the middle of summer is not the way anyone is gonna learn. It took me 2-3 months to ride upwind consistently.
I saw that guy at skyway and almost said something the moment I arrived. I thought though that I saw him ride upwind a couple of tacks so I sloughed it off. Now I wish I would have because his monkey kite was a 12 m and he had it up b4 the wind came, which raised my flags since i saw 16 m's on the beach waiting for the blow to happen. But I only knew 3 people of about 25 out there and I ride that spot maybe 10 times or so a year, so I don't know if Joe Blow is a regular or not. But if we had an organization or some way to identify ourselves as non newbies then I think as a community we would recognize unqualified individuals b4 they even launch and avoid more accidents. If we avoid 1 accident then it's worth it.
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