Some plan to purposely get kiteboarding banned in FLL

[Safe_Cracker]

I have been at kiting for years but I have limited amounts of time due to work, family etc so my learning curve has suffered. Until last year this sport was available to me only when I visited my condo in Pompano the Atlantis building. For years I have never had a problem with setting up, launching and I would purposely drag out past the buoys which for me is pretty far but I do it to try and follow the rules. Now lately withing a year I have noticed that you can't even come ashore without being hassled by a guard from a tower 1/4 mile away. I have also noticed these guard towers have been coming from 16th and are now at almost all the public access spots, sure hope they don't make it down by me. I was down back around thanks giving I think there were only a couple of days with decent wind and did notice a small group come in tight to the shore close enough to where people had to duck as they changed directions. I myself thought it was cool but have noticed that people are getting scared of this stuff which is extremely bad! Now I can say I just got back from Pompano yesterday I was there from the 18th to the 1st and I had a great time. We had a few good wind days that lasted all day it allowed me to wait till a good amount of people left the beach before I came out. This time around I did not see any kiters bouncing off the shore line. Now I have a friend that knows I drop in from time to time and he may come in to talk to me or tell me hello but he quickly heads back out and never pops any tricks. I hope we don't lose access it would be a shame because one of the only reasons I come down is to kite, other than Piranha Pat's.

Polo..

[ricki]

You can thank kiters riding too close to shore for the following:

Kiting is permitted in only two places within 100 yards of shore in the City of Pompano. Both are launching corridors and not for routine riding inside the buoys. We are very fortunate to still have those two spots. NE 13 and 16th Streets. Rules are posted on signs there.

I understand we had a guy grandstanding close to shore recently at NE 16th St., a sponsored team rider too. He may not have known better (uh right), but thanks to Brian of ASM, he sure does now to stay out of the swim zone. Way to go Brian and to everyone else working to keep things flying at your local launches.