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Old 06-09-2011, 10:57 AM
kent kent is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 430
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Otto,

I'm not sure that you understand the situation exactly.

2 points:

#1: We met with cswy management several times to try to resolve the situation. They encouraged us to "self" police and gave us every opportunity to do so. I must say that we didn't get much support from anyone else to help in this effort. Aside from ASM, Rick, and a very small local riding group, everyone just thought that it would handle itself. The kite gypsy's kept teaching and idiots kept riding and jumping inside the marks. Management had no other choice but to enforce the rules. Had they left it as it was, something bad was bound to happen. This likely would have lead to other venues being closed as well.

#2: There really wasn't any new law or rule made banning us from the cswy. The cswy is simply a right of way and nothing else. The ONLY responsibility that management has to the community with respect to this piece of land is keeping access to transportation open. Furthermore, unless an activity is "expressly permitted", it is prohibited. Kitesurfing has never been expressly permitted, but was generally allowed as long as it didn't negatively affect the right of way, permitted cswy vendors, or endanger beach goers. Unfortunately, we were unable to control our actions and despite numerous opportunities for our community to come together, we failed.

The unfortunate part is that no one took this seriously until the closure. Just look back on this forum for about the last 5 years to see how many times we took the topic to task. Neither Adventure Sports nor Rick got much support in maintaining access on the cswy. Sadly, it is not even attractive for a vendor to apply for a permit similar to Matheson or Crandon as SW - W winds are very rare and the site is not suitable for instruction. Additionally, permits have already been given to vendors for kayak and sup rentals. I don't see that we have any real viable options to regain access at this venue anytime soon.

For now, I can assure you that Miami Beach is on the block as are potentially Crandon and Matheson. What can we do? I don't ride at Miami Beach much, but if I did, I certainly wouldn't tolerate anyone teaching at this beach as it is too crowded to teach safely. Riders also need to ride farther offshore and take care to stay away from swimmers.

At Crandon and Matheson, local riders need to abide by the rules and help to enforce them. Matheson is pretty much under control as the venue is quite small. Crandon on the other hand is often far out of control and I don't see many locals helping MKB to enforce the guidelines. It's everyone's beach regardless of who has a permit to do business there. We would all benefit to help both ASM and MKB to avoid accidents and maintain access. Next time you see someone riding too close to the beach and you find yourself quite, recognize that you are the problem.

My 2 cents...
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