Hobie Beach/Rickenbacher Closed for Kiting

[cabdriver]

I understand (from 1st hand source) that Hobie has been officially closed for kiting now. Actually the ban will include the entire causeway which is much worse. Signs will go up all over as soon as they are made. Apparently "a" was disrespectful to a law enforcement officer that showed up over the weekend after he and "b" and their too-close-to-shore riding. That was the nail in the coffin. This is a major loss for kiting in Miami and again it happened because of idiots from another county. Congrats to "a" for exercising such great leadership in the community!! I guess I'll have to find another place to ride AGAIN!!

Rick - I know you received some information on this, so hopefully you can corroborate this as fact or rumor. Please tell me it's rumor!!!

[ricki]

Todd,

I am sad to say it is confirmed. This is a portion of an email from the governing authority for the Right of Way along Rickenbacker Causeway including Hobie Beach.

Enforcement of the motorboat exclusion zone along the Rickenbacker
Causeway rights-of-way, is a multi-jurisdictional task and we rely
mostly on marine units to assist. We have discussed the kite boarding
issue with local kite boarders, staff, other governmental agencies, and
our local police. It seems the overwhelming consensus is that the kite
boarding along the causeway does not mix well with our general public
shoreline access visitors.

We have deemed it to be in all of our visitors best interest to fabricate
signage prohibiting kite boarding along the causeway rights-of -way,
(Hobie Island /Windsurfer Beach & Hobie Cat Beach/Dog Beach).
The PWD is currently working in an expeditious manner in the
process of fabricating and installing signage, once completed we will
begin the enforcement process.

.

[miamikiteboarder]

Hey "b",
Its great to hear how much thought you put into your actions and how well you represent the kiting community. I know that everyone in Miami would like to personally thank you for the way you've represented us with the city of Miami.

also, learn how to ride and get some lines that aren't 12m long. There's nothing impressive about being able to do kiteloops with 12m lines when its only blowing 20. But I guess that’s why you decided to ride 2 feet off the shore, cuz that’s the only way people are gonna notice. Wow that takes a lot of skill and I'm sooo happy that you decided to show us all what you could do last weekend and let the law enforcement know how amazing you are. Hopefully one day you'll learn how to do something productive for the kiteboarding community instead of continuing your habitual useless habits.

[The Kite House]

i know this all sucks, but this could be a blessing in disguise. I would get some local riders to go meet with them, show them some easy ground rules for signs, make it a law to make someone responsible[the police who patrol there daily] that way when someone is doing that, its one call and they are stopped. I have been in alot of different places this has happened, and if professional...a group of residents who ride shine way better than a few local idiots. I have been told this from many officials time and time again. Get riders who actually live in the districts...who is the politicians there? they will not want to Deni you the right to ride as good citizens and voters. Why didnt the 2 schools i hear of that teach there all the time try to help control this? No giving a shit catches up with you in a hurry. Tell me i am crazy, but with the right group of riders, i bet you turn this thing around fast. Dont hesitate. Anything i can do i would gladly help.

anyway thats my 2 cents....i hate hearing the loss of a spot on a nw wind up there

[BizGuru]

Did Bobby's post get removed? I wish it would have stayed so people understand what we are dealing with.

[ricki]

He deleted it himself, fortunately. The authorities read posts on this site.

If we have a hope of restoring access, we're going to have to be responsible about things.

[miamikiteboarding]

Well it feels like a cold shower , but let's face it: we all knew we were on thin edge at Hobie and it would happen soon or later .
However we are kinda lucky the ban didn't occurred bc of a tragic accident and no one get hurt, therefore there may be room for negotiation with authorities.

At least we don’t have the Media pressure against us all !

We are all pissed now, pointing at the "bad guys" but it's somewhat a "laisser-faire" from all of us =
Truly each time I pass by Hobie :
- I see the same faces teaching the same lessons, on the same shallow spot within 70ft from the shoreline.
- I see the same local riders launching between trees, cars and bystanders,.. and yes I do see many “locals throwing it within 100ft.

2 years ago, we had a Miami kite industry ( shops, instructors, schools) meeting about Hobie, where guidelines were set, but nothing changed or so little !
Why ? bc the ones that don’t follow these rules, do not follow meeting neither , nor they read the posts on the forums btw !

YES we understand nobody wants to be the “Sheriff” and appears like an Ass, but when the real sheriff ( the cops ) step in to do the job, this is the results we can expect : consequences are much more stiffer for the rest of us and it’s too late .

Sad as it is to loose an access from Hobie, I’m sure it’s going to have a reverse beneficial effect on the general Kiteboarding behavior in other spots:
Since now we all know HOW , WHY and WHEN a ban can occurred (and it really does )… I’m convinced the majority of mindful riders will be much more PRO-ACTIVE in protecting their spot vs foolish behavior from a few.

Yes it does take guts or commitment to stand for the good cause for a few minutes but it is not much compare to a definitive ban.
As a matter of fact , for a group of riders together, it will take only a few minutes to get rid of one trouble-maker for the sake of us.

Beside that, other factors may have increased this ban process at Hobie:

- Much more west winds this year so we all eager to ride in ANY conditions !

- Causeway vendors were re-located right on the spot, therefore, we can all understand they may worry a bit for their clients when 50 kiters are riding around

- Unconscious Instructors who take the freedom to teach there and obviously the student will likely come back on his own for "more practice" , which they do !

- increased volume of new kiters with poor safety awareness and poor-to-none safety procedures drills ( sadly the least of the concerns of many instructors)

- the "kiteboarding threat " is certainly the least desired of the PWD ( Public Work Dept of Miami Dade) in regards of the big $$ put in the renovation of the causeway.

- and the Sony Erickson coming up by next week with huge increased of traffic expected on the Csway, another risk the PWD won't take.

For being a Vendor on Rickenbaker during 7 years at the time of my Hobiecat concession, I can confirm Kiteboarding was never welcome there, and was only “tolerated by default” …until the signs come up.
It was just a matter of time I think.

But If Kiting has to get re-instated at Hobie, it will take much more than the good faith in riders “responsible behavior ” ! we all know this is unfortunately an unrealistic concept considering the volume of Kiters we talk about , and their diversity.

Better get ready to find a boat for next season .

Speaking of, I want to correct some rumors regarding Miamikiteboarding, as I realized some "said so” instructors were heavily using a name very similar to ours (certainly for the quality value behind it :) ) which have led to confusion:
Everybody in Miami knows we take our students and occasionally riders to offshore sandbars with our Taxiboats and always denied the teaching at Hobie. Period.

And considering the many days of west wind this season, we have bought a brand new boat recently and will be offering more taxiboat to stiltsville and West Point. So you know ! prices will vary from $20 to $50 according to distance.


Luckily west winds should subside as spring is on us.

DON'T FORGET : MIAMIKITEBOARDING MASTERS April 10th & 11th in Crandon North Beach.

...which is banned for our riders "a" and "b" of the Hobie Video by the way :) , i keep the names for me but they know !

[ricki]

Glad to read your input Christophe, lots of good points. What I think it is going to "take" is a lot simpler though. Just making some basic rules, a handful really, and effectively compelling people to follow them. The further south you go in this state from the GA line, the greater the tendency to be lost in a population of transients. No real sense of belonging or need to protect access. Just do what you feel, and most days no one will really bother you. That needs to end.

So, there are "exceptions." These rules, they're for the other guys or when I feel like it, if ever. That won't work as you point out. We just need to ditch the exceptions, build awareness and enforce this as a good sized kiting community. This "exception" phenomena has plagued other launches in the area at times for quite a while.

We have the numbers, we have something to lose and I have no doubt we can do it. That is if we try.

Regarding Biscayne Bay being the solution, it could be a great help. But, I think we could even threaten that if poor behaviors occurred to excess even there.

Time to smell the coffee, toughen up, pull together as a community and get it done.

[Lonny]

I am sorry to hear about the hard line that the County has imposed on Hobie and the entire causeway, but ultimately it was bound to happen.

As Rick has mentioned, this is nothing new that happened at Hobie during our last series of west winds, and while Kent's "no feet in the straps" (cool though as it would exclude me :rolleyes:) idea is a good one, it is just a re-branding of the policy that was supposed to be in effect from many years ago. I clearly remember Rick pleading with the people that regularly ride at Hobie to not jump or actively ride inside the swimming buoys.

The simple fact of the matter is, that I guarantee there were many people riding that day that knew what those guys were doing was a bad idea. However, I would be surprised if one other rider went up to that person and said something after it happened the second time around. In fact, I would also guarantee that there were several riders boosting inside the buoys, although probably not as blatantly or caught on video. Ultimately, we all share the blame for losing the causeway spots. Although it is much easier and feels better that we blame one or two people rather than feeling the burden of that responsibility.

The comment about, "why would you ride inside, when there is a paradise sandbar on the outside?" Really?, I mean really? Take a look at almost any kiteboarding launch in S FLA, and its the same story. Crandon is massive, yet the majority of riders ride right in or around the launch area. Matheson, its retarded. Instructors teaching directly upwind of people throwing mobes. Kite loops right in front of the "beach" of concrete. Hmmm... Virgina Key - well that one really makes me sick, since it was lost by two or three idiots that had to antagonize the windsurfers by again riding inside the swim buoys and then arguing with the life guards. Oh by the way, in case any of you did not know, VK has been closed to kiteboarding for 3 years now! Thanks again! Pretty sure the guys responsible for that one do not even kite anymore or moved.

Quite simply, nobody wants to be the bad guy, or the asshole that has to tell someone to stop doing something - especially when most of us just want to go out and ride because this is our escape from the daily grind. Our sanctuary so to speak. However, I can tell you from 10 plus years experience of policing at Matheson Hammock - it is a losing battle because more often than not people just do not care enough to make a difference. And the people that do make a difference, well eventually, you just do not want to ride there any more because you do not want the hassle of dealing with it.

Unfortunately, since we could not handle the matter proactively ourselves the County has handled it for us, and sadly we all lose.

[blinksster]

Not just your video misinformed the audience, your opinion ions are baseless and to find a scapegoat like you have. It is not fair and balance.

You are a poor informer if you want to allocate the responsibility of this misfortune; you failed to do so with your dumb video and all the writing you did over it just to make sure your pointless point gets across.

No body seen anything wrong with the rider on the video but the cowardly way you put it out.

This closure requires all kiters to be united so we can address it accordantly; we need positive contributions to solve this matter together no just point fingers and orchestrated a witch hunt.

We need solutions so we can stop the closure, how? We got to be united and stop behaving like we are a bunch of disenfranchised citizens. Accountability is a good start



We should develop a credo for kiters, Post it, Followed it and Enforced it


OC


-

Kiteboarding Banned at Hobie Beach - Stay out of Swimming Areas! (the now infamous video) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVLFBGmNDf0)

_

[ricki]

In the case of Hobie/Rickenbacker, the main credo couldn't be any easier.

Don't ride inside the buoys in the swim zone and effectively motivate other kiters to do the same.

This was posted over nine years ago and many times since then, passed around in hand outs to kite shops years back, discussed on this and other forums for a long time. It made sense nine years ago and it still makes sense.

How do you propose to motivate people to do it? Peer pressure can be a very powerful thing, but the peers have to apply it.

The riding in the video was unacceptable for many reasons. This is clear and beyond consideration for anyone that wants to continue to be able to kite in public venues. This is a fact. Considering this forum is public and monitored by some in government, I really don't want to launch into a bunch of flaming back and forth on this point. We have larger issues to try to solve, the flaming might well sink our prospects.

[Ovidio]

Must be hard to keep lobbying for the sport when you read such negativity. Like you said "hopefully something good for the sport will come out of this incident."

[ricki]

Most kiters I meet aren't that negative at all. Common sense says we should be able work through this stuff.

[damion_dark]

I can't believe that video. If that kiter lost control during the kite loop it would have been soooo bad. i can't believe people do this. one bad apple ruins the bunch.

[OttoNP]

I've said this before and I'll say it again, you guys in FL need to get the real cops and authorities to treat kiting like surfing or boating, get them on the page that kiting is an undeniable right and THEIR job is to stop the kiters that are not responsible. You do this by:

1. Perhaps trying to pass some law that guarentees the right to kite ocean waterways, call it some kind of "ocean access preservation law" that's intent is to ensure people have access to ocean waters, then put kiting in there as a footnote to sneak it in, like wind powered recreational sports. At the higher level the better (Florida state law), in fact, perhaps we should be working to establish some law at the federal level that guarentees public access to wind and water...
2. Showing them the revenue they can generate by fining irresponsible kiters, this money will more than fund the policing effort required since they already police the area for other things
3. The number of responsible kiters compared to the number of irresponsible kiters
4. Show them that it is easy to control the bad behavior with fines and/or equipment confiscation
5. I would try to convince them that kiters are same thing as sailing boats or other boat, fine is the same as if a boat violates swim area or endangers someone.
6. Last resort is find some kiters that are lawyers to file against the city for banning kiting, then the city has to either decide between fighting the lawsuit or just patrolling. With the cost of litigation to the city and no cost to the kiters, the city is motivated to just regulate kiting instead of banning it

I can tell that in the future that some form of government control will exist for you guys at many spots as you fight to get access back, maybe in many many years. Hopefully it will not require licensing, registration, etc... Hopefully it will only affect people with bad kiting behavior, but if you don't start working towards what you want it to be, you will be stuck with what they decide. You should try to just get the people that do stupid things fined or inprisioned...

You should all forget your peer pressure self policing and start working on this. Peer pressure self policing will not and has not worked in your case because you are not a tight small group and you lack the legally authoritive to enfore any of the rules you make up. This case and the other thread about fort lauderdale show the ineffectiveness of it. You have too many tourists, too many visitors. I would guess your local crew is not the problem...

ok, that sounds a little too harsh, peer pressure and self policing should continue, but it is only effective with tight groups that have a lot of mutual respect for each other. It seems you guys are always on the verge of a ban somewhere and try to rally peer pressure to stop it, then it doesn't always work...

Good Luck and I hope you keep your access!

[ricki]

Thing is peer pressure has worked and for some real hard cases in the area. Guys with no reason to change, loners by nature, found some. In fact one serious problem kiter went over so far as to now lookout for kiting access I understand. Stranger things. Don't sell it short, join in and work to keep us flying. The more that are onboard, the better it works.

[OttoNP]

I edited my post, it was a little too harsh about abandoning peer pressure...you should still use it, it will work to some degree.

It just doesn't seem like enough to stop the bans in FL, I mean how many spots have you lost now? It makes me very sad and very angry whenever I read about a spot lost...

[ricki]

We don't have the group identity of some other places as you indicate. This can weaken peer pressure significantly. At the same time we have done it before and I would hope in this case, more would come on board. If people care they will, if they don't they won't but probably won't like what it may earn them. Think about it, problem kiters often ride too close to show off. They care what others think about them, right? Why else do it. Otherwise boost huge and extreme well outside and/or off thinly populated beaches and avoid problems in general. We have beaches and spots like that too. It seems like they might be even more subject to peer pressure at some levels than others. We're going to try every avenue we can including enforcement assistance but we can't count on it alone to solve this sad to say.