Kiteforum.com

7,

Well, you should take a clue from how the folks at SPI have done this. Its a low annual fee that locals likely do not mind paying, and its also low enough that a visiting rider doesn't mind paying for that yearly pass.

I think it was something like $20 for a group pass to the Flats. Nothing prohibitive, but the fact that any pass is required keeps it "private."

Todd...the yearly will no doubt be more than that...do you guys launch from private property or public?

the other thing is that we are responsible for making sure everyone gets off the water...jet ski rescue...it's also good if you just want to work on nasty tricks where you're sure to break something and dont want to swim in...we also share the parking lot with 4 restaurants...so parking will start to become an issue too...the fee covers that too...

B-rad, you'll have to ask one of the SPI guys. I was just one of the tourists.

Didn't realize you were talking full service at the site. My advice would be to start out by keeping it as simple as possible. I'm guessing for liability you need to say you are policing everybody (thus the jet ski rescues). That's employees, that's cash. Oy. Be great if you could start out with just pay for access and have a certain # of kite parking spots. You could then police it as needed with volunteers, other kiters, or people from your shop.

FWIW, I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Yep, In SPI there is a piece of land run by the SPI Windsurfing Association (I believe). There is also another pass, which can be purchased annually, semi-annualy, for 2 months, or even by the week I believe.

I think the service of having jetski rescue by someone familiar with the waters there (at 7's/Wale Harbor) is excellent. If you don't know what you are doing out there you can mess up the ski, and worse mess up the environment. There can be huge fines for churning up the eel grass and entering sensitive areas, and for a lot of people not familiar with the area, they are someties hard to know about.

In some places the bottom is very forgiving, in others potentially deadly. I helped rescue a guy off of Annes Beach last week when he crashed his kite on the outside of the channel and could not relaunch with the tangled lines. He had no booties and was in 12" of water with all sorts of sharpies to walk on and ruin your feet, burst your kite, and possibly your noggin as well. The chap I helped out probably would have loved a rescue on the jetski.

It would be a shame to lose Annes and Bahia Honda permanently. Brad, is there any hope of restoring those access points with some good lobbying efforts??

and the 20th time you have been to have a friendly chat to constructively help the ' kook' don't think - I cannot be bothered on the 21st time... My experience is that it is all about the manner and diplomacy skills you have - if you have attitude they are gonna be your enemy within the first 5 seconds. That 'kook' kid might be kicking your arse at kiteboarding some time soon or even showing you how to do a a few moves...

Stink eye goes a long way for real fwits if they turn out to have very few brain cells after talking to them..

The idea of privatizing kiteboarding spots(high tide mark and below)/ previously freely used launch areas just sickens me.

The UK has/had? a spot called Witterings where you have to pay membership to ride part of the year(to access foreshore?)- it is no surprise that the carpark is often full of the very expensive cars of the riders during the summer - I wanted to ride a slick pool I remembered from there a few years ago and they were like fluro rash vest/ 200 quid membership and sorry there are 20 kites on the water already anyway so don't bother- and as for those aussie guys with the private pacific reef out to sea... i will let others judge them...

Brad is doing the right thing for Islamorada kiting. If it weren't for the private property location that Brad has secured with it's owners, there would not be any kiting in Islamorada without a boat assist to lauch and land from. Access in the Keys is a bitch to say the least. There aren't any big sandy beaches that most non SoFlorida kiters picture in their minds when they think about Florida. The keys are pretty much made up of a dried up coral reef. Everything is made up of sharp coral rock that cuts everything it touches.
I was visiting last Fall and had a great time there. Brad has good plans for sight improvements. He was talking about moving the Coconut Palms for more rigging space and trucking in new sand. (the old sand was washed away from the storms) If it weren't for Brad there wouldn't be any kiting there at all. Don't come down on Brad, come down on whoever left there trash, was rude to the other visitors, trashed the turtle grass and messed it up for the rest of us. Brad is just cleaning up someone elses mess!
Brad make sure to create a new post with all the improvements when it is all done. See you next November...This time I am bringing my family

Whats the latest on Kiteoarding in (and around) Islamorada?

I'm 3+ hours from the Keys.

I was planning to head down yesterday (but my kiter friend was M.I.A. all day)
then today (silly me, like I actually thought I could find a hotel room avail. 4th of July wkd)

So, it looks like tomorrow I may head down and just wing-it looking for possible vacancy.
(there's always the car to sleep in, I guess...)


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