[ricki]

The trouble is kiteboarding is not a right, far from it, it is a privilege. There is a tremendous amount of history and negotiation involved with trying to maintain kiting at Hobie. It goes back TEN years. The means of keeping the place open were presented then and many times since then. Kiters roundly ignored them. Also, everyone is not on the same side to preserve access. There were a few very experienced kiters who deliberately rode in a way that would take access away. They knew it, were warned, but ultimately they succeeded and we all lost. They didn't take the threat seriously or perhaps didn't really care either way?! Kent, Todd, myself and others have been negotiating with authorities for many years. Some reasonable accords were reached regarding Hobie, basically to stay outside the swim zone buoys and to curtail unlicensed, illegal instruction, we ignored this and so we were shut down. If peer pressure had been stronger and applied by far more kiters in the local community this might not have come to pass. It is in some areas, just not here.