The forecast got changed to due West, so the trolley/DW thing may not matter for tomorrow. Upham and/or TI should be good. :D

The really messed up part of the story is this:
When the bus stopped the driver looked at me like I was a Martian or something. I paid the meter and sat down with my gear. The driver goes about 5 stops and then says to me, something like "I'm not sure you can ride the bus with that stuff" and then he asks me to get off. I explained I had just taken the bus with my gear earlier THAT SAME DAY, and that I have probably done it 50 times before. But I did not want to cause a huge scene and got off. I asked him for my money back, but he gave me a "transfer ticket" which is pretty useless because it expires in 6 hrs...wtf?????

The happy ending to this: I went to the next bus stop and while sitting there waiting, some guy just pulls over out of the blue and asks if I need a lift. Turns out he is a long board paddler and gave me a ride all the way back from Reddington to PAG. That was nice!

I am thinking of making a board sock out of some very thin material that can be rolled up and stuffed into my rash guard. If they don't see a "surfboard" maybe they will be too confused to start asking questions and imposing there illogical reasoning to the situation. I'll tell him it's an art project or something.

95% of the drivers are cool and friendly, but a few of them are just grumps I guess. I wonder if there are any written regs of what you can take on the bus. It would be cool if they had a rack, like they do for bikes. Maybe something can be developed along those lines? I'll have to look at their bike rack to see what might work.

Otherwise if the trolley system becomes untenable for us down wind junkies that would be a real shame.

Scott L. called and spoke with the manager of PSTA today. Maybe he has some info.

I strongly encourage anyone planning on the trolley to get you back from a DW to not put any more than 75% faith in that plan.
You have a 25% chance of getting shafted, imo.

Trolley
 

Mrs. Shirley Howard, Manager of the trolley department PSTA 727-540-1857, left me a message. Mrs. Howard said as long as you can put the put gear under the seat and or put it between you legs to secure it should be fine. Mrs. Howard in no way said kiteboarders could not use the trolley. It seems they may need to get all the drivers on the same page. I will talk with her more on Monday. I have never had a problem but have not used it as much as others, as there is obviously a problem.

That's encouraging news. It would be great to hear a detailed follow up after you speak with Shirley directly. If there are seats available I hold the board between my legs. Sometimes I have to stand, holding the board.

It would be nice to get this settled and take the ambiguity out of it for the drivers and us.

Thanks for looking into it.

Yeah, thanks Scott.

We did two DWs today (they were awesome, btw). The trolley wasn't even considered either time.
Hate to be such a wanker on the subject, but the only way I would consider the trolley (again) is if I had that manager's word in writing, on me, so I could hand it to the couple wanker drivers that have screwed me (and others) in the recent past. Leaving someone 12 miles from their vehicle is screwing 'em pretty good.
Still, I definitely appreciate you contacting her.

OK, so lets get a note from her and make laminated copies, stick it in your pocket...the ultimate hall pass.

Yeah. As silly as that idea is (b/c we shouldn't have to do this lame stuff), it's the best one. To be honest though, since I gave up on the trolley, I don't mind meeting up with people and driving and dropping vehicles.

Having a backup in case of a break down is good though.

Only problem is I probably do 10+ downwinders solo...so it's pretty essential for me. Hate to start having to pay a cab fare from RB to PAG.

Did a downwind run from IRB to the undertow with Eric and Roy Saturday, nice swells, a little choppy, but the wind was solid and i was lit on a 10m the entire time.

No problem getting back onto the trolley for the ride, the driver just asked us not to put the gear on the seats so we slid it under and everything was all good.

D.