ACCESS Meeting - "Keeping US Flying!" - May 6, 2009

[ricki]

Great turn out last night, about 40 riders showed up to discuss problems and brainstorm solutions for the threats to kiting access in LBTS, Pompano, Ft. Lauderdale and beyond.

We have some serious work to get done, most important part of which is on the beaches. Building a sense of community and applying effective peer pressure to remove riding behaviors that are threatening to shut us down.

Main points are to stay beyond a 100 yards from shore (beyond the buoys), not fly kites close to bystanders and keep new kiters from trashing our prospects through ignorance of good practices (constructive guidance is needed). Some well experienced kiters are key offenders in this unfortunately, but peer pressure can do wonders when it is applied.

We also need to convince the authorities, starting first with the LBTS Commission, that kiting can be conducted in a safe, sustainable fashion without causing untoward complaints or threats (perceived or otherwise) to bystanders. Lots more on this soon.

We started with a handout of some things to discuss, reproduced below. After discussing these and other considerations at length, there was a call for a show of hands in support of these prospective solutions. All of "A" and "C" under the solutions, seemed to receive majority support. There was less immediate support for the other prospective solutions which have already been presented to the Commission in the past by other kiteboarders. Registration was the subject of extended discussion and will be examined further in subsequent meetings.


Kiteboarding Meeting – “Working To Preserve Local Access” – May 6, 2009

I. Problems in Lauderdale By-The-Sea

A. Congestion, kiters launching, riding, landing and walking among bystanders/bathers, kites & lines over walkways, emergency vehicle routes

B. Unlicensed instruction, poorly performed

C. Newbies trying to figure out how to kite in crowded area with insufficient buffer

D. Mainly around Damons, lesser extent around Pier, access roads to south and north of Galt Ocean Mile

E. Fewer problems to north of Sea Ranch Lakes with little easy parker or public access

F. Too many complaints and perception of hazards, need to get off the radar scope

G. Town is close to passing sweeping restrictions


II. Potential Solutions

A. Prepare written, posted and acknowledged kiteboarding rules through peer pressure and perhaps by BSO

1. If it is too crowded to launch, go someplace else
2. Go out beyond buoys and stay there until time to come in
3. No extended flying on land
4. Listen to authorities, don’t flip them off

B. Kiteboarder registration, fee and database management by BSO

C. Licensed, insured and permitted instruction only and not even that in crowded beach areas, offshore teaching via waverunner where permitted

D. Local resident kiters have suggested ban on riding weekends and holidays between 11 am and 4 pm. If we manage things better as a community, this should be unnecessary!

E. Local resident kites have proposed limiting total number of registered kiters to 25 per year. Again, if we manage things better as a community, this should be unnecessary!

F. Other ideas and concerns???


III. Pompano Issues and Solutions


IV. Ft. Lauderdale Issues and Solutions


http://www.fksa.org/albums/album407/Meeting.jpg
Who's that behind Stewie?

[ricki]

- On the GOOD NEWS front, Frank Pelly related how he has successfully lobbied the City of Pompano to reopen NE 13 St. to kiting. We are hopeful that this will be approved in a forthcoming Commission meeting. This is a good precedent for discussions with LBTS. NOTE: we need to keep offshore beyond the buoys to avoid trashing our access here again.

- There is a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it before the LBTS Commission Meeting on May 26, 2009. We have another general kiter meeting planned for 7 pm on May 18, 2009, also at the Tiki Bar, to fine tune solutions to be presented to the Commission.

- It was suggested to make a well rounded presentation to the authorities including not only solutions to some problems BUT also some of the positives of the sport and benefits for the Township.

- I COULD USE SOME HELP in pulling this together. Also, I need to speak with regular LBTS kiters who have already developed some ideas and solutions to make sure they are fully engaged in this process. It would be great if folks could help out developing the list of positives with supporting statistics, aid in preparing the Powerpoint Presentation, come up with some ideas to promote more involvement/participation by younger kiters and still more. Rushing to put this up, more to follow soon.

- If you can help with leadership, gathering supporting info and helping to assemble the Powerpoint, bring the younger kiters onboard in, have other ideas, please reply here or via email, a copy of this will go out shortly to the folks that signed up at last night's meeting.

- Constructive ideas, solutions and suggestions are welcome.


Thanks for your Participation!!!

[ricki]

A dozen regular kiters north of Damon's Beach met over the weekend to discuss problems and solutions at the launch. Mike O'Keeffe of that group sent along an informative narrative describing issues and some possible means of resolution. They propose the following:


"1. Designate an area 100+ yards north of the Pine Street (Damon's) public easement as a kite launch/recovery area that is a minimum 200 yards in width referred to as the "kite operating area".

2. The area will be properly identified with either signage or safety cones to warn & advise the sunbathers of the "kite operating area"

3. Similar to Tiki Beach all water entry and egress will take place only in the "operating area"

4. Any kite surfing outside the designated "operating area" will be outside the existing buoys.

5. Kite surfing in the LBTS "operating area" will require an IKO or equivalent certification similar to Crandon. A nominal fee will be charged and remitted to the city for this certification.

6. Also similar to Crandon a concessionaire needs to be established to oversee the beach kiting activities. This concessionaire will be responsible to ensure that all kiters are properly trained and accredited prior to using the "operating area". To ensure safety and continued enjoyment of the sport the concessionaire will be responsible for providing lessons to beginners using an accredited teaching method and issuing IKO certification cards. The concessionaire will be the direct link with the city and the entity in charge of enforcement. If someone gets out-of-line he will be the entity responsible to notify the local authorities.

7. The concessionaire will contribute 10% of his teaching/certification revenues to the city to offset the "operating area" sign maintenance and concession stand.

8. The concessionaire will assist the VFD with Lifeguard duties as will be a requirement of ALL "operating area" users."