I have been officially banned from one of my favorite flying sites. This past April, I was told at this certain location not to board with the kites (8.5 Blade, 5m Sami, and 10m Air Evo at the time) but I could still fly them. I did ask for permission prior to flying there a year ago and was told, "sure", and "have fun". Not wanting to give us kiters a black eye, I heeded the warning. This past Friday I took the 13m Psycho 3 out for a static fly. A large field that I could really work the kite. The winds were up and down from 12 to 20 so it was a great opportunity for a quick session, and fly the kite hard.

Unpacked, set up, and quickly into the air, working the kite across the window, trying to get a feel for this beast. After about 5 mins, I took a deep breath and popped a pend jump, and man did I ever jump, woohoo! Of course had to have another, and another.................! Looked at my watch and it was time to go, so I landed and began packing up when the chief of security stopped by in his golf cart, introduced himself (we have the same first names) and told me that what I was doing is not allowed. He wet on to say that only "kites" are allowed to be flown on the grounds. I respectfully told him that is a "kite". He said kites dont make you fly. I explained to him that the flights were controlled by me, and that I initiated them. He wasnt having any of it and and told me he would be writing a policy for only small one line kites that cant lift you. He agreed that I did abide by his security officers earlier warning but kite "flying" (i.e jumping, airtime, etc) is no longer allowed due to liability issues. I did mention I have insurance and that I woud never place any liability other than on myself. Again, no joy! So I have two spots (land) remaining which are near the beach so thank goodness the FSer is a water foil. As the tourist season is coming to an end, the beaches will be more accessible and of course the ocean. Thinking back, I didnt take into account as we progress in this activity, liability does become more of an issue as we begin jumping, boarding, buggying, etc......... Again, this was on private property (university intramural fields) but city ordinances could impose the same by laws. Just a heads up you may want to give "officials" a heads up of what you are doing. No black eye to the "kite" community but lesson learned. He did depart by saying, "it really looked cool and you are one crazy SOB"! Fly hard and safe!

Major bummer. The field I fly at in my home town has a playground at the far end and a walking path has been created around the park system.

I'm always concerned on days when there are lots of people either in the play ground or walking that one of them will grow concerned and call someone and get me banned too.

But we have winter up here and the lakes are still free-for-alls for the most part :D

does it get cold enough for the lakes to freeze? i bet scudding on ice is great fun (if its thick enough obviously), just dont jump too high incase you land heavily and crash through the ice

I've always gone onto local parks, people seem oblivious to the fact they could get hurt if they walk directly infront of me while im flying the kite, sometimes making it impossible for the kite to land so have to keep it high in the air while they walk past which i hate doing incase a gust comes and lifts me off into them or the kite falls onto them.

I always try to respect those around me and ill stop if it gets too crowded or draw too much attention, just hope other peoples foolishness doesnt get me banned from anywhere i go. Theres not many places to fly in a built up city

That's too bad Tridude. I guess you were lucky to have access as long as you did. Ignorance can be the boss on private property. At least he can't say you were disrespectful.:sniff:

I sympathisize. The reason I let that P3 go was my local government doing a preventative ban on my local lake. In actuality, it's a reservoir, and being such, they don't allow motorboats. They do, however, allow windsurfing, so I presumed they'd be okay with kitesurfing. However, there's also a municipal airport on the eastern shore, so I thought I'd check it out with the authorities. The airport had no problems, as all aircraft SHOULD be above 700 AGL if they're over the reservoir, even on approach. However, the park officials said no-go.

I appealed from the municipal to county to the state and eventually to the regional Army Corps of Engineers who manage Indiana's waterways. We decided that they confused kitesurfing with tube-kiting (few in the midwest, at least the landlocked portion, no what the heck it is we actually do with these parafoil kites) and I found the provision that specifically allowed "surf kites". Thinking the situation resolved, I contacted the park manager, who again forwarded me on down the bureaucratic line until I found a city administrator who said no again - if you ask me, purely out of not knowing what kitesports are about and not wanting to bother to find out. I attended a local DNR meeting to no avail. Ultimately, I gave up.

It's a shame, that lake was directly on my commute route. The next closest one is over an hour away, and really, the only good potential for kiting is Lake Michigan - 2.5+ hour hike for me.

So, I'm resolved to be a land-kiter. Even then, I've gotten shoed away from a couple choice spots, mostly due to ignorance. People don't understand what I'm doing, and blanketly say no. I guess it's becoming more and more of a case in this country that in order to enjoy the outdoors, you have to be able to afford to own a massive tract of land or your own private lake. What sucks is that I have ten or more people come up to me curious and supportive for every naysayer - just seems that most of the thumbs up are from people in no position of authority for land use. Oh well...

I think it's becoming more and more of a case in this country that in order to enjoy the outdoors, you are expected to watch it on TV.

It does make me miss england all the regulations they have here in america
still... the sea is our goldmine, i rarely ride on land thesedays anyway so i don't know what i'm complaining about :D

No bans by me!! At least the fields I fly anyways:
My school
a park about 1/8 mile away, (walk there with my buggy)
a natural grass field at a church
and a park about 7 miles away. (long so great for buggying)

Most of the locations I have had a cop car pass me and say nothing. One cop came up to me at my school
and my stomach was in my throat but he just wanted to watch, LOL! freaked me out tho. I let him give my 3 meter a try, good thing it wasn't my 8 or we would have seen pigs fly! LOL!

sorry that was innapropriate....I wouldn't normally say that it just made a good joke.

My 2 brief run-ins with the local authorities were a bit... shall we say interesting?

1st was at a school field after a snowmelt. 2 of us were buggying and got sent packing by a city or county groundskeeper. He said the ground was too soft to be doing what we were doing. The thing was, he came at me across the field in a 4x4 truck towing a trailer of heavy mowing equipment to do so.

The other one was recently. At a local park, a cop came tearing after me, just to "check if there was a motor on that thing". My wife was actually worried he would hit me he was going so fast.....

Seany

LOL! You should have asked him what his speedometer said. Thats funny:tumble:

"Sorry, officer. How fast was I going?"

haha

LOL! Oh man that made my day. The classic question with a twist. And you aren't regreting the answer:tumble:

I've had bike cops ride by, distracted by the kite, nearly hitting cement barriers on the air strip I kite on. I have hoped for cops to come and yell at me, because I would love to hear their argument against me...other then liabilities.

I do know for a fact that a friend of mine was grounded when he told his mom that he was at the park flying kites and playing frisbee. She assumed he was smoking weed and just being smart with her. See what happens when I try to get my friends to kite?! :P

flying kites and playing frisbee...who says he wasnt smoking hahah...

Don,

Which Campus?

I never had any issues......yet most cops just pull up on the grass and drive around me to see what the heck i am doing. and a fire truck and an ambulance once this summer. hehe i told the ambulance to hang around just in case. i was practicing my goofy :frog:

Comes down to Liability. Lawyers and politicians are to blame. Most politicians were lawyers? Same mentality. They make the rules and alot of money from lawsuits. So lets make it so the rich property owner who has property insurance is liable for your stupidity. Even when it was your irresponiblity that was to blame. Even when the person is trespassing they sue and win. Crazy racket these lawyers/judges have going on.
Some examples....
I am a dirtbiker and have seen this story too many times....
Group of dirtbikers partying and reckless riding in tee shirts and no helmets. One father is riding with his young daughter on the tank. Another rider comes around a blind corner. Head on crash, serious injuries. Big lawsuit.
Another time a guy did not realize they recently mined a 50' cliff into the side of the hill, he forgot his parachute also. Died form his injuries. Lawsuit for sure.
This is an area that EVERYONE knows is posted NO TRESSPASSING and you take your chances riding there. They do everything they can to post signs, block off entrances, and have regular police quad patrols who WILL give you a nice $500-$1000 ticket.

Another good story was the repeat drunk driver that tried his worse not to be pulled over drunk for yet another time. He decides to elude and leads the cops on a 2 town persuit. Ends up going down a dead end street at the beach. This is 3:00AM in the dead of winter. So he runs into the ocean. Police wait on shore and call for a boat. Guy ends up drowning. The family sues BOTH towns for not doing enough to save the bastard. Who told the guy to run into the ocean when it's 10 degrees outside? Was an officer suppoosed to risk his life and jump in to save him? How fast could you possibly get a boat there at 3am in January? I'm sure the guy only lasted a few minutes in those temps. Family got millions (along with the lawyer who I know, but does'nt mean I like him)
I don't know how they get away with it.

There still are the rare ocations where it is like the good ole days, (maybe pre 1970?). On weekends and after 9pm weeknights we regularly roadrace Supermoto motorcycles in a big office complex down the road after everyone is gone. 4-6 of us gather and dice it up on a makeshift course around the lighted parking lots. We started riding there and figured it would'nt last long and we may get more then just asked to leave. I can't believe we've been riding there for over a year without a problem.
One night we were taking a break and here comes a cop toward us. We said, "Well I guess this is it".
He pulls up and asks us what we're doing? We said "riding our bikes", and he said have a good night and left. We're all wearing leathers and have enclosed trailers, so it's quite a production. Another night while we were riding, a cop parked and watched us for awhile, then left. Never knew if it was the same guy.

I can't believe that kiting can have the same problem when flying on public land. As long as your not endangering other people, I don't see a problem.....oh wait.....if I hurt myself, I'll sue. There's the problem. No responsibility. It's not my fault.

Be careful out there.

We've got a new reservoir filling up here in north GA. It is a non-motorized lake. I have been contemplating trying to launch there when its full. Do you think its better to live by the old addage that its better to ask forgiveness than permission? At least I might get one session in there rather than just getting shut down preemptively.

Greg

Quote:

Originally posted by kitedog We've got a new reservoir filling up here in north GA. It is a non-motorized lake. I have been contemplating trying to launch there when its full. Do you think its better to live by the old addage that its better to ask forgiveness than permission? At least I might get one session in there rather than just getting shut down preemptively. Greg

Unless you got a motor on your kite you should be fine..............aj

Quote:

Do you think its better to live by the old addage that its better to ask forgiveness than permission?

I would normally agree with that statement but it's the possible fine that scares me. Don't get me wrong, you're probably ok there but I like to think of it this way...what if the fine was $500-$1000, would that session be worth it?

Do you think they'll actually post a sign about kitesurfing? I could see a No Dogs or No Motorized Vehicles but surely not a No Kitesurfing sign. At least not until they become aware...

Greg

No, I don't think they would post a sign about kitesurfing in general but just because they don't post it doesn't mean you can do it.

Reminds me of this story I read about a year or two ago. Couple from New Jersey moved to Calabasas (L.A. suburb) and cut down some Oak trees. They got fined for something like 15-25K. They said that they didn't know it was illegally. City council said that does not exclude them for being charged the fine. Not sure how it ended but I'm pretty sure they had to pay something...

Quote:

Originally posted by mgatc Don, Which Campus?

sorry this was over a year ago.....Charleston Southern. Great intramural fields with Trident Hospital right across the street. Ideal for any bumps, breaks or bruises..............I flew there for almost a year until I put up the 13m Flysurfer Psycho 3. Since then I have found another site near the Ashley River, off of I 26 at exit 216, Cosgrove Ave. Its in the "hood" but clean signature with a good amount of space................

I seemed to attract signs when I 1st started out

We had to deal with an expanding ban on English Bay years ago. When the city posted signs we moved up to the Government Parks land until they got signs of there own. We talked to the City. We tended to agree with them that the Bay is too crowded in summer. The shallows make it an attractive place to learn. Unfortunaley that meant learners constantly drifting downwind toward the people.

The Lifeguards had the job of chasing + saving us and we didn't want a beef with them. We chose to impose our OWN rules. Only those who can launch, get and stay away from the Lifeguards can ride in summer. In turn we get free run all winter. When the winds are good and Lifegaurds are away.

The ban is all year but they forgot to hire anyone to chase us in the off season ! :smug:

When I moved to tarmac a sign went up shortly after I arrived. They didn't have a no kiteblading sign so just banned blading all together. HA, once again they forgot to decide who would stop us. I poached that place at least a dozen more times before they started to develop it.

The way I saw it, a lift ticket was $55 . I was having WAY more fun than that. It was only costing me a set of wheels every now and then so I had no problem taking my chances on a fine. It actually added to the " outlaw experience " and made the stolen sweet, sweeter !!!!! :wee:

I say, poach it while the egg is fresh !

Tridude,

Isn't there a Hospital at that interchange?

yes, Trident hospital.........................

I meant the interchange at Cosgrove and I-26. I thought I remembered there being a hospital located there?

mg

Quote:

Originally posted by mgatc I meant the interchange at Cosgrove and I-26. I thought I remembered there being a hospital located there? mg

that would be the Naval hospital.......................

And now we see the dark side of Bladerunner.