OK, I am sure you've been working on the computations...

so, what are the odds that you will get stung based on the numbers you gathered? I'll bet they are higher than I would have thought.

Factor in that as a diehard rider kiting in the Tampa Bay area you could spend 4-5 days/week in the water (especially if teaching) and several hours a day. I'll bet the people who typically get stung at Ft. Desoto have gone into the water once for every 50 times we get into the water (if not less).

c'mon "Unimog Bob" I can hear the gears turning from here...;)

maybe we need to develop some kevlar armored booties and spats -that would be stylish!

My take on it is this. I think that there is an inordinately high density of stingrays around Bunces Pass. I have theories as to why, but who cares. I think that for the SPB area in general, being stung is not nearly as likely as being stung at North Beach in the summer.

I wish I had the numbers on how many people have been stung along the entire beach, from CLW to SPB, in the last month. I would be willing to bet that per square mile, NB has a very high density of hits compared to surrounding areas. You would have to do it as man hours in water/square mile or sumtin' to factor in numbers of people in the water.

I think it's unlikely that many people have spent as much time walking in waist deep or ankle deep salt water environments as I have. I am talking literally thousands of hours. Even so, I wasn't stung prior to last weekend. So, in general in your "average area", I think the odds aren't high of being hit by a ray.
But, ... I think I will take a pass on walking the shallows off of NB anytime soon. :)