Pass a Grille and riding there

Yeah, it was disappointing. The instructor agreed to move, and I think that was the right thing to do. The riders however did not... it only got worse.

[bayflite]

If whay you say iz true...someone shouldda taken video and sent it (along with an explanation of how illegal it iz) to eckerd officials. They are the ones that own the kites and would prolly put a stop 2that kind of behavior. Explain that Ecked would get sued in a worst case senario by an injured party.
Matt iz a cool guy and I bet he would be upset if he found out hiz students were doing stuff like that.

Sounds very good on paper and very easy to put in practice Bayflite. I am sure Matt and Mike will spread the word.

Thanks Rick for the post reminding us that no kiters have inordinate rights that supercede common sense.
If common sense and courtesy is not applied at PaG, it is very possible the authorities will enact some type of measure to ensure that we can't run into or land on a kid. It won't be the first time, as Rick points out, that lack of self regulation has led to loss of access.

Hopefully this won't become a big issue and will be easily resolved by just walking 150 yards.
Let's just not be lazy and put in the 5 minutes of walking North.
The area up there all the way to the DonCesar is basically desolate.

[TritonKiteboarding]

First off there were no instructors for Watersports West out there, Steve-O is the only instructor around who works directly with the shop. They weren't involved and their name did not need to be dropped so harshly, they are one of the best resources around for kiting and thats that.

Now let me apologize for any of the riders in my club that may have been riding in potentially dangerous ways, such as a close to people or in the "illegal swim zone". The only reason i started the club was because i saw their were college kids getting into the sport and i knew they would hit the beaches in numbers with kites. I have been riding here for two full seasons now and wanted to bridge all the gaps between college riders and local riders, i do not want any college rider ever being responsible for a beach ban or an injury to riders/spectators.
Since our beginning i've actually posted this and our goals as well as all my contact info, asking locals to not hesitate to call if they saw anything wrong with college riders on the scene. We've hosted two beach clean-ups this year and are planning a third, we're also working on getting air-compressors installed at the skyway and a sign made for the bird nesting regulations against watersports on all gulf facing beaches at fort desoto through august. This forum is great but a problem can be solved much better directly rather than posting names and obnoxious comments like

"Will the kite club survive when the complaints start rolling in to Eckerd College?

Would either WSW or Eckerd College kite club survive the lawsuit if there were an injury?"

Scott thanks for posting this in the first place and doing it respectfully, tom appreciate your input, 203 918 6637, thats my number, dont hate. Rather than complaining to cyberspace call me personally and i will set the kid straight who you deemed as potentially dangerous or reckless. Toby thank you for defending us a bit, i'm aware of all risks associated and to bring up the club in this issue is not cool. We're going to survive and were going to be safe and beneficial to the community.

I'm trying to do the same thing as everyone, ride as much as possible, get better every time, promote kiting as one of the best sports in the world, and preserve our riding locations through safety, regulation awareness, and environmental sensitivity. We just moved into a house off of 20th ave in PAG, we're pretty stoked that we would have another way to provide local riders with perks, like a grass to kill your kite, outdoor shower, elevated balcony, air compressor, and just a general locations to start/stop downwinders. We also have handle pass/trampoline/and slack line, unicycle, indo board, surf ball, and standup paddle boards for cross training.
The guys got excited about the house and i guess rode out in front rather than walking up two blocks, dont worry this wont happen again. I was guiding a downwinder from north st. pete beach and was not on the beach untill about 6:30
I am a PASA Certified instructor, my paperwork is being reviewed right now, i've taught windsurfing, sailing, and wakeboarding for six years now and know all about safety protocol and eliminating negligence on the beaches and with beginners. I will be an IKO instructor as well by the end of this month. We're just trying to help and get our names out there to hopefully get sponsored.
We've taken leaps and bounds forward this year and won an award last night from eckerd college as the most improved/outstanding club of the year. If you have problems with us tell me and i'll solve it. I'm workin my ass off to make the scene around here a bit more organized, have some kiter parties this summer, organize owc trips, obx trips, and even one to brazil. I'll be living here all summer in order to plan for next year and plan with the bars/ promoters try and get us a better kite hangout, like ft. lauderdale and key west have. We're also trying to set up some other local boarder-x and course racing but were a bit hesitant because of the complaints from last years that came up. We're trying to keep things moving forward. If you dont like the sound of any of this PM me and i'll be sure to not send you the memo.
In the end sorry for my riders riding close to shore and around people, i've talked with them and they were doing it because the kids in the water and the spectators were asking them to and cheering them on. no one other than other kiters had anything bad to say about them, most were pretty stoked to see guys landing new tricks and what not. I told them regardless they need to be out of there and just walk farther north between the don cesar and PAG where there are no people. Hope this issue is squashed and sorry if any feathers were ruffled
-matt sexton
President of Eckerd College Kite Club
TritonKiteboarding.com
sextonmg@eckerd.edu

I removed the WSW comment as soon as I realized it was incorrect. As for the statements about potential complaints or accidents, I don't think they are based far from reality.

Not all of the spectators were comfortable with what was going on (they told us so before we confronted the kiters).

BUT, regardless of all that, you are obviously concerned and are willing to make every effort to prevent it from happening again in the future, and that is good enough for me and probably everyone else for now.

Thanks for taking the time to respond and talk with your members, and the fact that you are going through great efforts to get certified and do things right means a lot. Should anything else like this happen in the future I will just notify you directly.

Thanks,
-tom

btw, I must have ridden past you guys setting up when I was doing my down winder from T.I. (green waroo)

[RespectfulKiter]

Hey everyone, I just joined this forum because of what has been happening in the past two days. My name is Alex Moore and am of the triton brethren. The initial comments regarding PaG are obserd. They were absolutely threats of getting an organization shut down. An organization may I add that has dedicated its existence to spreading the sport of kiteboarding in a safe way to all who want to try. All so that you "core" can claim to "care about the common good of all riders" by threatening to try to get a progressive, educational club shut down. I do agree we should not ride near people who are not comfortable with the sport. However I would like to point out that the five houses in front of that beach are college rented houses and most of those in the water were the friends of the riders. While riding that day I also had never recieved so many friendly and supportive comments from those bathing on the beach that actually wern't college and high school kids. It felt great riding into the beach and having three different mothers approach me, smiles glaring, asking me how long I had been riding for and when their kids would be old enough to try. Kiting near bathers is dangerous and a risk not worth taking. But when it happens once it does not need to be addressed like the yacht club trying to ban jet skis. Thank you.

A couple of things here. First, to think I made this post to shut a club down is disheartening. When Mike told me he was associated with the club, I was literally over joyed. Mike is a great guy and I know he simply loves watching people learn and progress at kiting. That's more off base than you will ever know, Respectful.

Second, it really doesn't matter if 90% of the people are cheering you on to jump 5 feet from shore, use judgment and don't risk injuring a beach goer. Most beach goers don't realize that the lines can tangle around a little kid and injure him, etc.
We always gets praise and hear "wows" no matter where we are out there. Its the complaints that are spoken at high volume to the authorities that matter.

Lastly, and again, several riders were approached out there that didn't respond. This post wasn't made prior to that. Many of the riders continued to ride for hours in the swim zone.

I am very grateful for Matt's response and am hopeful that he will do all he can to spread the word about the area.
I don't think I saw him out there that day or I would have approached him. I know we can all cooperate on this one.

It's a tad off subject, but in terms of future events, right in front of the Hurricane would be the place.
I talked to the owner about it 2 years ago and he and the concession stand person were in to it.
The problem arose when I looked into the cost of event insurance.

[BigR]

where is the hurricane?

Besides in my backyard.........