Dumb move of the day - Sunday at EB

Originally Posted by TritonKiteboarding

Fully understood there is always a possibility for unseen circumstances like tough to see swimmers, surfers, and bathers. I do my best to mediate between reckless riders and the safe techniques, i was riding about half way in between swim zone and shore yesterday slowly and without doing freestyle. I don't believe riders should ride near shore and i know there are better places for waves. I'll take the weight of it on my shoulders and make it a mission of mine to ensure our access is preserved and our (meaning greater tampa area) reckless/ potentially dangerous riders are called out. Simply put i will do it to their face and continue trying to help our community as i have been since I became a part of it 3 years ago.

Riding in the swim zone is the #1 thing that is going to get us in trouble at the beaches. Maybe not today, but the day that a kite goes down and tangles with a young swimmer.

I must have missed this post earlier but sounds like Matt is agreeing again to keep his crew outside the swim zone from here on out? Is that right? If so, good call Matt. Everyone else should follow by example.

[zenlikeme]

Thought you guys might be interested... there's a podcast tonight at 9 discussing these very issues, including RickI and Neil Hutchinson

A link to the post on KF about the issues and podcast:

http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2345910

and a link directly to the podcast at 9PM tonight 2/21/08:

http://fubar.com/new_lounge.php?lid=50075

I am going to listen to that. I have never listened to a podcast.

It sounds like we are all saying the same thing, maybe. I do think ultimately we will have to agree upon a distance from shore.

I also think that winter time riding and spring/summer riding along the beaches are two different animals. In the winter time I don't see an issue with a bunch of us doing a DW from X to Y, the entire time in the swim zone. Why? Well, who is out in 55 degree water on a winter day in waves? Only us, surfers and windsurfers for the most part. Also, hardly anyone is on the beach. In areas where there are surfers we have kept a safe distance from what I have seen.
If an "official rule" is truly enforced, winter time DW's won't be the same (we actually have waves then)

It's starting to be the time of year that more people are in the water (a lot more) b/c it is warming up and the beach is just flat out jammed. We will be getting tons of seabreezes here soon, as well as spring breakers. It's personally my favorite time to ride. If we can come to an agreement about distance from shore and honor it, we will be better off.

It's been said, but it'd be best if we regulate ourselves to a particular rule, rather than have a stiffer one jammed down our throats or a ban, I think.

After reading everyone's inputs, it's sounds like the swim zone markers might be what we agree to. Why? (up until recently, I usually rode more like 100 feet, btw) Because they apply to powered craft for one. Also, if you are going to stay a certain distance away from shore anyway (like 2 kite lengths), you may as well add 100 more feet. And possibly most importantly and I thought a good point by Whitey, it's a visual reference that shows the public you respect a boundary. For me, that's a biggie.
That's mainly what we are trying to do with most of our self-regulation is show the public we want to be respectful users and be a part of the entire community, right?

I am sure we can come to an agreement. We all want the same thing. The past really is the past. It's gone... pooof. So pointing at yesterday's actions really is pointless. Upholding our word from hear on out will let us point toward tomorrow. It's important we hold ourselves accountable (obvious cliche', I know).

Anyway, one step at a time. At least the conversation is happening, even if not always lovey, dovey.

[Whitey]

i am very sorry if i offended anyone, it was not my intent. i did not know that using caps was rude. although i have seen a lot of stuff posted in lower case that is rude. i will step back and go back to just watching. you all have fun, see you at 3r. whitey out.

[amber]

SCOTT: I think you summed it up and I couldn't agree more with your most recent post. especially about the difference between the beach on a 50 degree day with 25knots wind vs. an 80 degree day during spring break. That was my point about east beach. Even on sunday which was a BEAUTIFUL day, i'm pretty sure i was the only one in the water other than the kiters. There was no risk to beachgoers even if people were riding close to shore. Each launch is different which makes it difficult to have a "general" rule of a certain number of yards, etc. In the fall when we were discussing rules for the signs, I think we agreed that not all the same rules should apply to the skyway vs. east beach vs. St. Pete Beach, etc.

WHITEY: I agree that there has been quite a bit of "rude" postings in lower case letters. However, it has been stressed to me in business that CAPITALIZING represents yelling in written communication. I felt like you jumped down my throat about suggesting that Al shed some light on rules of the road. Not necessarily having to do with boundaries. I know there are a lot of new people out there that don't know who has right of way when approaching, etc. I didn't mean to offend you and i was just letting you know that i was taken aback when i read the first line of your post. Ease down tiger. LOL! Its all good.

EVERYONE: there are a lot of people that are VERY passionate about these issues. Tempers get fired up, people start whipping out the CAPITALIZATION (joke!) and fingers are pointed, people get defensive and we lose productivity. I don't agree that it is a popularity contest. I backed Bryan and Steve-o and Matt in my last post because i truly believe that all three of them have good intentions and truly care about what's going on in the world of kiting. Not every single one of us is going to lead by example every minute of every day. We need to remind people when they overlook things like swim buoys that its a hot issue right now and to steer clear, not accuse them of gross misconduct and absolute carelessness. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing... to be able to go out and enjoy a day of kiting at our local launches, right???

Whitey the caps isn't offensive.. it's to emphasize something in a field of lower case rambling. An entire post in caps might be obnoxious, but I didn't see anything rude about your post ... heck, Amber uses caps all over the place in her post above with the labels SCOTT, WHITEY, EVERYONE, etc... I don't find her post rude either btw.

So no big deal...

[toby wilson]

...And on the next episode of Days of Our Kites...

Skyway Scott videotapes the goings on at the mangrove path at the backside for evidence to make our launches safer with less used condoms and syringes laying around to contaminate the area. Those 60 year old pattycakers don't stand a chance!!!

Stevil Kenevil gives free lessons with his Confederate Flag Freak Dog to his redneck bretheren on Siesta Key. They chew tobacco and argue over whose pickup has more horsepower.

Old School slashes their tires while they aren't looking. Then he outruns them in his Yugo after sneaking up on them and buzzing lines in their mullets with a pair of clippers.

WHITEY IS FOUND AT 3 ROOKER CAPITALIZING ON A WINDY DAY.

Amber then loops the kite and pulls off a handlepass to blind...crashes her 12M Pink Waroo into Adam again, and gets offended that he was in her way.

Toby does flaileys into the sunset on Saturday...

I think we've all had enough for one thread!!!

Looks like another great windy day for EB on Saturday!!! See you all there!!!

I am assuming you are trying to get a rise out of some people, Toby.
I don't know what good that does, but whatever.

I believe these efforts will succeed in one form or another despite hecklers and nay-sayers. It's just the way it is. This sport is truly going mainstream now.
I am willing to bet that most of what is going to happen in the next 6 months to a year is going to be done by a group of people around the State and the country cooperating together and working with authorities to iron out some fair guidelines. I doubt much will be discussed online after too much longer, mainly because I think some of you are right - to a large extent being on here is a total waste of time. I happen to think a lot of people learned a lot just recently, though.
Possibly most importantly, that self-regulation is most likely not possible, not amongst "bros", because getting cooperation from all involved is far too difficult.

[toby wilson]

Well, looks like it pushed yours but that wasn't the intent. It was a fun light-hearted post. Chill the hell out and learn how to take a joke and laugh at it, I poked fun at myself and my friends.

The forum is not a freaking regulatory board, it should be a place where we go to have fun as well as discuss things while the wind isn't blowing. How many different ways can you say the same thing? We know how you and everyone else feels. Enough is enough and continuing with this thread is pointless. Everyone has said what they felt they needed to say. Now its time to move on...

[Steve-O]

Here is something to chew on. Just got off the phone with Brian May. Did you know he works at Howard Park with the park system. Anyways, he spoke with the supervisor of the park and the only reason there is no kiting aloud at Howard was due to people kiting in the swim zones. No accident, noswimmers that got hurt, no notta. Just an out of town tourists riding in the swimzone on a crowded sunny day and ruining it for all.

So, Brian is putting together a petition that we would like everyone to sign at the race to get Howard Park open again to kiting. We got nothing to lose.

So we are all concerned about beach access in the future, so use Howard as an example that access can be easily taken away and very difficult to get back.

We all need your help on this one whether you ride there or not.

There are some rumors about Howard, and there is the story straight from the supervisors mouth.