Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve-O
Check this out regarding swim zones.
One day at the Dunedin Causeway, southside of course, some of us were riding just off the sand. We were in the swim zone area. It was cold, no one was in the water. A cop drove up, and politely asked us to ride outside of the swimzones. We asked why no one had approached us before about this, and he wasn't sure, but again he didn't want us in the swimzones. He later came back and pulled up an ordinance on his computer. It was something to the effect of no powered watercraft inside the swimzones....it listed kayaks, windsurfers, jetskis, boats, ect. He explained that a raft was not considered powered, but anything with a powersource was considered a powered watercraft. Fine was $80+dollars. He was cool and asked us to spread the word and use the area just west of where we were.
The irony here was we could use the north side of the causeway no problemo....well that is where the powerlines are. Nuf said.
So I do not know if that ordinance stands for all swimzones, and like most it is up to the law enforcement to do just that enforce. It took years for someone to say something to us. Note here that on days the water is full of swimmers, riding was done outside the swimzones.
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Just to be clear there are three types of markers out there. No wake, No combustion motorized vessels and Swim Zones.
The swim zone ordinance that the officer allowed me to read clearly states that no VESSELS are permitted between the beach and the swim zone markers. Then it goes on to define a vessel, and names anything and everything you can dream of that floats. Including surfboards, rafts, wakeboards, canoes, etc. Then at the end of the list it provides a very well written set of guide lines that allows them to include and deam anything that floats to be a water vessel (even a kids raft if they wanted to).
There is no room for personal interpretation here. It is a law, it has a designated fine attached to it.
STAY OUTSIDE OF MARKED SWIM ZONES where every you find them. And stay away from people outside of our sport even if they are not in a swim zone. For the good of the sport.
Go one step further. Make it obvious to onlookers that you are avoiding the markers. A life guard sitting in a chair watching us do our thing sees you tack away from a swim zone marker shows him you respect their turf, their job, and them as people. This quickly pulls us out of the outlaw rebel classification in thier mind, and they quit waiting for you to break a rule and just enjoy the beauty of the sport.
Most of us are guilty of violating these things in the past, that is history. If we all try to change for the better from this point forward and help remind each other when someone forgets we will all be better off from the change, and our sport will be better off.
Enjoy the power of the wind.