BeamerBob - 16-3-2009 at 08:40 AM
Recently in mid February, several buggy and board riders joined me and my family at Fort Clinch State Park on Fernandina Beach. This park is the
northern most coastal point on Florida's Atlantic coast. Several of us had arrived on Friday night and more arrived on Saturday. When one of us
arrived with buggy on top of his quiver trailer, he was greeted with "you aren't going to take that out on the beach are you"? Well several of us
went back to the ranger station to discuss this issue with the ranger and while polite and professional, he wouldn't budge on his interpretation of
the rules. He did advise us that we shouldn't have any problems accessing the beach outside the state park at a municipal parking area which we tried
out. It was much more crowded with a less advantageous wind angle. The wind there was encumbered by the hotels upwind of us. Then it started
raining after an hour or two. The state park beach we intended to ride on was basically desolate with no one in sight at any time. After returning
home, I sent a request on the ruling to the Florida State Parks. About a month has gone by and this was the response I received.
Letter from Pete Scalco, mgr of Fort Clinch State Park.
Dear Bob, it is always gratifying to hear good things about one’s staff and I’m glad that our park ranger exhibited the
professional and courteous demeanor the Florida Park Service takes pride in. The information the ranger reiterated is in fact correct. At the present
time the recreational activity you describe as Kite bugging is not authorized at Fort Clinch or any other Florida State Park. Our enabling legislation
Florida Statute 258 http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/ and derivative administrative code 62-d guides us in fulfilling our mission of “providing resource based
recreation while protecting interpreting and restoring natural and cultural resources.” While Kite bugging sounds like a fun and exhilarating
activity a review of the available information http://www.extremekites.com.au/ concerning said activity classifies it as an extreme sport and goes so far as to recommend third party liability
insurance due to the risk of coming into contact with bystanders. I believe you will see the rationale for not mingling surf fisherman with extended
fishing lines, children wading and running on the beach and listed species such as Wilson’s Plovers and least Terns with brakeless vehicles capable of
speeds up to 70 miles per hour. As with other legitimate recreational activities such as horseback riding, inline skating and Technical Mountain
biking appropriate areas must be designated to allow for a safe and enjoyable quality outdoor experience for all our visitors. At the present time
such areas do not exist in the Florida Park system. We certainly hope that the absence of kite bugging activity will not keep you and your group from
enjoying the many other enjoyable and compatible activities at Fort Clinch and other Florida State parks. end of letter.
So I'm not willing to give up so easily, and want some advice from others on how to proceed. This fellow is apparently the mgr of this particular
park, so there are places to go over his head. There might also be risks involved in doing so since we might actually be under the radar at many
places we are currently able to ride at. My personality wants to attack his reasoning of classifying this as an extreme sport where we run at 70 mph
through crowds of kids and plover nests on brakeless vehicles. While gratifying to do so that might not be the most productive path to head down.
HELP!
jellis - 16-3-2009 at 10:56 AM
sent you an email on this issue with help for your rpoblem.
Jon
DAKITEZ - 16-3-2009 at 11:11 AM
that sounds like California!
indigo_wolf - 16-3-2009 at 11:12 AM
Code 62-d is here:
https://www.flrules.org/Gateway/View_notice.asp?id=4056848
Statute 258 is over 25 pages, and a bit of specificity would of help, but I suspect that was not the primary intent.
There are a couple of folks both on and off PKF that were part of the effort to get the Buggy Ban at Nahant (MA) repealed last fall. You might want
to get in touch with them.
B-Roc, Jim P. of FunWithWind.Com, as well as some of the regulars on NEKITE were part of that crew that resolved the situation with DCR (the governing
Parks & Rec dept in the MA area).
You might need to escalate, but as you said go softly. If you have not had this problems in the past, try to determine what has caused the shift in
policy. It might have been an isolated incident of a single person flying above their level.
It might not hurt to get the AKA Regional Director in your area involved. For FL, that would be Steve Cseplo (region@AT@aka.kite.org).
Flying under the radar is a double-edged sword, as it too often allows the actions of a minority to speak for a much larger (and in many cases, more
safety oriented) demographic.
ATB,
Sam
BeamerBob - 16-3-2009 at 01:54 PM
I think the rule has been there for interpretation for a while. It just hasn't been tested or buggiers have not been noticed is what it looks like.
This park mgr. might be flying over his head like you say. Saying kite buggying is banned because of their mission of“providing resource based
recreation while protecting interpreting and restoring natural and cultural resources.” seems week to me.
johnnylaing - 16-3-2009 at 02:22 PM
I always feel like first and foremost I need to be an ambassador of the sport. Here at SSI (Saint Simons Island), people seem to enjoy watching us. I
know that will be true in other places if we go about it in the right way. I'd stay away from pushing buttons until a little more investigation is
done. In the meantime, come fly with us, it is buggy paradise here!
BeamerBob - 16-3-2009 at 02:54 PM
Yes, ambassador is good if you can get out there to start with. This is tough in that it isn't our behavior that messed things up, but just his
vision of 70 mph brakeless vehicles darting between children. We'll take this slow and easy and I'll get smart people involved before I launch an
unplanned attack
I'll get my fix soon at Edisto. I want to try SSI soon though. SC and GA seems to be making this hobby a lot easier to participate in. In Florida,
you are fine outside state park boundaries for the time being.
The strange thing about this is how I've heard buggying is welcome and embraced at Anastasia state park in St. Augustine. It is a fantastic 3 mile
stretch of hard desolate sand too. This just doesn't match up at all.
kite killer - 20-3-2009 at 12:28 PM
Calling all Buggiers...I too recently was kicked off my beaches in Morro Bay, Cayucos, and Pismo Ca. State beach. I am now on less than 1/4 mile of
beach while there is 15-20 miles of empty beaches near here. The other day the Ranger said there was a complaint I was on state property, and that
was not true. So the ranger asked me to cut my City beach in half to act as a "buffer zone". Now I need to prove the Plovers are not endangered and
get a bill on Arnolds Desk to make buggying legal on state beaches while following some simple safety guidelines. Any help and phone #'s are very
helpful.