Kiting South Beach - The Unofficial Rules

[Etch44]

I can't really speak for the beach spots to the north, but the southernmost point on South Beach were kitesurfing is unofficially (everything in this post is unofficial) allowed is Collins Park Beach around 21st street. It's not usually very crowded. In fact, if you show up in the middle of a weekday, you may be the only one there, but we're getting new people all the time who don't know the rules, especially right now with Crandon closed.. so I thought we should get the word out.

There's a large gap between life guard stands here, and they basically let us do what we want, as long as nobody gets hurt and we stay away from their areas. If you park in the northernmost part of the lot at 21st street and walk straight out to the beach, you'll be standing at our southern border. Just walk a little north of that to set up and you should be fine. There's a large building under construction that makes it easy to see when you're on the water. If you go south of that building, you should already be outside the buoys. If for any reason you have to come ashore in the lifeguard protected area, keep the kite high, go straight back to the open area past the trash cans, and walk back to the launch area. Someone will probably come over to chastise you. Be very polite and apologize profusely. If the kite goes down on the water and you're being pulled towards the swimmers, self rescue BEFORE your kite reaches them. The average person is completely unaware of the dangers and will either ignore the giant kite coming toward them or try to help you.. both scenarios can end badly. If the beach is crowded they may tell us to stay outside the buoys at all times no matter where we're riding, but even then they allow us to launch and land from this point.

By the way, this is NOT a good place for beginners. If you're comfortable on flat water and want to try riding waves, please pick a day when the wind is NOT directly on shore.

If anyone has anything to add, feel free.