Hard Lessons Learned

[Steve-O]

I sincerely hope everyone has been following the closing of Hobie and the causeway down in Miami. It seems everyone knew it was going to happen, but no one would really step in and take action on site. Self policing if you will.

With spring upon us, it is one of those times of the year where we really share space with the public. Spots that come to mind are all of the beaches on the Gulf of Mexico, Honeymoon Island, Dunedin Causeway, Sunset/Howard Park, Cypress Park, Picnic Island, Lassing Park, Northshore Park, and any others that should be noted.

These areas should be policed heavily by those that get on here and care. To piss and moan on the forum is futile. Get out there and do something about it. Take a stand. You all know it is the local experienced rider sometimes that is the biggest problem. Those are the harder situations to deal with. The tourist in tights that simply don't have a clue, are easy to chase away.

We enjoy total access here in the Tampa Bay area. I think that speaks volumes about us as a riding community and should be a model for everyone else. If you are approached by law enforcement, be respectful and diffuse the situation as quickly as possible.

Good luck out there as we enter the best part of our season, but also the riskiest part as well.

[Tony]

Good points Steve.

[Water Monkey]

Agreed. Let's be proactive and self police each other. I think we do a pretty good job of it already, but there is always room for more.

Spring has sprung and the warm winds of March should be on their way!:p

[bayflite]

your right steve.
it is the experienced riders that are hardest to confront.
the experienced event coordinators are equally hard to confront.
for years many of us have pushed for securing proper permits/insurance for these events.
it's obviously fallen on deaf ears.
perhaps that is why i snapped last week.
so if you plan on doing these events in the future without the permits/insurance...
well then i guess captain caveman is gonna have somtin 2 say.

[Steve-O]

First off, I don't run the event. The events have been run in the past by Chris Moore and Jayson Orkins. This years event is under the leadership of Chris Moore.

I work for a company that sponsors the event much like Dakine, Slingshot, Cabrinha.

I also volunteer my time to aid in the operation of the event as I appreciate all that event organizers do and know they need help to pull it off.

It might be noted that we approached the park and recreation dept of Clearwater to inquire about a permit. We explained what we were doing and the director of the parks said a permit or insurance was not required.

Same goes for my first race that started at Honeymoon. The Park officials had no problem with us starting the race there and did not require a permit.

Just curious, do you have rider's insurance?

I know caveman have limited skills, but I have always wondered if they have feelings or if they just know how to hunt?

[bayflite]

chris or whoever.
how bout the other municipalities?
belaire, IRB, north redington, redington beach, mad beach, and TI all said go?
please dont piss on my leg and tell me it's raining

[hrpufnstuf]

Maybe you should consider that poll. You are the MAN!

[Steve-O]

Brian....it's a healthy debate and worth talking about.

We are not on those beaches you speak of.

Let's take IRB for instance. The kiters are in the water. Is the city of IRB govern the water? Or is the water under the jurisdiction of some other governing body? Coast Guard, Marine Patrol, Pinellas County Sherrif, Florida Wildlife and Game, all the above?

What is your objective? Do you even know what your talking about?

Do all the sailing Regattas that take place around Clearwater out of the Clearwater sailing center have to pull permits to sail in the Gulf?

For that matter, do Triathletes have to pull permits to swim in the water and compete?

How bout all the skimboard competitions around town? Do they pull permits.

How bout SUP races. Do they have to pull permits?

Do we really want to get the government involved in our sport? Is that where you want to take this?

Bottom line is I don't think we have to pull permits to land kites on the beach at the end of a race.

And as stated, we cleared it with the Parks and Recreation Dept. before hand to start the race at Sand Key and the years ago at Honeymoon.

For what it's worth, I knew you were going to go here. I was already prepared for it.

Somebody else chime in please. We made the effort in the first place to respect the swim zones. That wasn't enough. We then moved the race outside of all buoys, that's not enough. Now permits are requested after park officials said we don't need them.

My guess is we could pull permits for every city and you know what, that won't be enough either. Just state the obvious Brian....you don't want a race in the Gulf. You don't support this great cause. You want more government involded in kiteboarding.

I'm not pissed, just tired of arguing to someone that really doesn't want to look at both sides.

[bayflite]

see now you really do get it.
it is all about law suites isn't it?
law suits from spring breakers that got whacked by a run away kite cuz how the hell can you watch 16 miles of coastline and be ready to grab a ruaway kite steve? (crickets)

[robertr]

Please take all personal attacks some where else. I don't read these forms for drama. My 12 year daughter is enough drama for me.
Thanks,
Robertr

[Steve-O]

Terrortorialism at it's finest.

[bayflite]

edit

[linhster]

Is it about getting the last word in or actually about kiteboarding?

bayflite, do you like to pick at old wounds and make it bleed again?

I think we know where you stand on the SZ. You WIN.... (you must like to hear that)! I hope your board never pass those buoy (in front of a camera).

I will try to drive at 55 mph (with no one else on the highway), but the empty road can tempting..

[Mike T]

Bayflite
What's your agenda? Swim Zones, Races or Promoting the Sport of Kiteboarding in a Professional manner or an online fight with Steve-O and using Chris and his mom as a pawn for your agenda?
Personaly I think you owe them both a Public Apoligy for slinging BS on this forum.
If you have a problem with someone then go approach them and put it all on the table and work it out. That's what professionals do!
This should be about promoting the sport and keeping things safe so anyone that wants to organize a race or even just ride in a big group in the future can do so without serious restrictions or jumping thru twenty thousand hoops to do it! Look whats going on down south (hobie Beach)! Bayflite, this is'nt a professional way to do it!
Working together is the only way to keep access to our beaches open to all boarding water sports. As Hobie Beach and other restricted beaches in other states has proven it doesn't take much to ruined it for everyone! Just my two cents! Mike

[walleye]

You did a great job of introducing me to kitesurfing with an emphasis on safety. I lived on this bay for 30 years and I love kitesurfing on it. Thank you for being a terrific ambassador to our T.B. area!

[uchuche]

Wow.

Steve starts a thread about confronting people to protect the sport.

Bayflite asks about safety and if permits are required (in many cases they are not, and in some they are).

He is promptly shut down and labeled as a trouble maker, or a hater.

Interestingly enough, it starts with a post to the forum, which itself mentions how useless it is to confront issues on the forum.

So if this is the case, why a thread started to begin with?

Great example of how confronting people can fail, in a thread about how important it is to confront people, no less.

Having said all that, if you are going to talk you also need to be willing to listen.

[Steve-O]

Perception is reality.

[Danimal8199]

You can never mitigate all risks, other than never kiteboarding at all it is impossible. Even at east beach there will always be someone jogging down and around the loop that could at any minute be in harms way. I feel like there is way more risk in driving to the beach to kiteboard than the actual sport and way more likely that you could get sued. At the end of the day the question to ask is, was a reasonable effort made to operate your kite/contest/event in a safe manner. I'm pretty sure people around the state/country/world will still be holding events despite some of these threads. Thankfully the event organizers listened and updated the rules to reflect the concern about riding inside of all bouys.

[damion_dark]

For what reason do you want Steve-O to pull permits and insurance? Why would the organizers need that? Isn't it the kiters responisibility to have their own insurance in case anything happens?

[uchuche]

I don't know which event or location they are discussing, but in many cases permits ARE required for an event. Ft. Desoto is one place where a permit is absolutely required for an -organized- public event. 20 guys showing up for a friendly race, no PA, no entry fees, no advertisers, etc are obviously not going to need a permit.

However, a permit may be needed at the starting, ending, or just the "party" location (if there is one), if there are advertisers, entree fees being collected, tents being set up, entertainment, equipment sales, or money changing hands, or a large group gathering, etc.

It really depends on the situation.

If there were an accident during such an event, the organizers would likely be held responsible. Waivers mean absolutely nothing, they should expect to get sued if someone's kid drowns when hit by a board during the race.

Entree fees or memberships are usually collected to help cover the cost of insurance, which offers some liability protection from these situations.