nude beach - Loss of Smathers Beach?!

[greg meintjes]

Just wondering if you saw the pm I sent you. As far as Rick being spokesperson, that is a great idea, I said I would support you at the meeting , but I want to know what the points that are going to be discussed are. You have been talking to the mayor for 2 months , I started talking to the city regarding signs to designate that part of the beach as a kiting area and to try and get the pole removed 6 months ago (after a few of the locals said we needed to be proactive) The first thing I did was invite you and ask for your support- you declined , this was before the nude beach proposals had even been heard of, I wish you had offered your support then ,as then we might have got our signs up designating this as the kite beach and we would not have to worry about this problem. I would just like to know why you do not invite or get us involved, I am not the only one that would like to be involved. Ps you are right I do not need an invite when you are discussing your business with the city, and would not expect one, however the nude beach is not about your business ,and you said you hope we don't ruin it, how can we stick together if we don,t know what is happening. Ps I never threatened the city I would sue them, I told you and some of the other kiters a long time that if we got banned from kiting as a last resort we could always do what other people do and sue. I also never demanded anything from the city , in fact I had a very formal and pleasant meeting with them which finally led to us getting permission to remove the pole.

As far as teaching on the beach, yes you are very correct I do give a free beach lesson on how to set up and launch kites there , I never let a student fly a kite, this is purely a free safety and etiquet lesson. The reason I started doing this is a ;lot of new riders had no clue what to do on the beach, some of these were the kitehouse students( Spin, Jay , Marius and Letty to name a few, ) Some were from out of town and had nothing to do with you .In fact I refered some of them to you guys. I am also aware of the problems one has trying to do this out on the flats and that is why I do not mind doing this as a service. Ps when I met with the city I informed them what I did on the beach and why, I also met with Richard from Sunset Watersports who has the concessions on the beach and explained to him what I was doing, he also had no problem. The reason myself and other people don't want teaching on the beach is obvious, it is dangerous and a student and an instructor standing in the riding area flying a kite will ruin it for other kiters. I show them how to set up and what to do when they want to launch and I do not ever let them fly a kite, I don't even launch a kite to demonstrate this, as this will even get in the other riders way.

Paul I apoligise if I offended you, this was not a personal attack at you, I have always said we all need to work together, but we cannot do that if you don't include us, I am still waiting for your answer from the pm I sent you, and like I said in my pm, why not just call me or meet me over a beer , that would be much better than doing all this publicly on the forum.

Greg