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The flying scotsman
Grommet 
Member #: 204 Posts 14
Registered: 1-5-2003 Member Is Offline Mood:
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 posted on 1-5-2003 at 11:31 |
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South and West Wales Kite Surfing Club
I was speaking to Mark at Rush Extreme Sports, Porthcawl. He is currently involved in setting up a S and W Wales Kite Surfing club.
The key issues for the club are (i) maintaining and securing access to beaches for kiting and (ii) insurance. I know that here in mid
Wales we don't (currently) have an issue with access (fortunately, there are still only a few of us who have discovered the joys of
flying), however, access is becoming a major issue in other parts of Wales and it would seem wise for us as kitesurfers to be proactive
in addressing this issue, before someone else comes along and bans us!!!
The S&W Wales Kite surfing club are planning to have a meeting on the 14th May in Porthcawl to discuss these issues, and it may be
useful if someone from mid Wales could also be represented at the meeting. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it, but if anyone
else would like to attend, contact Mark on 01656 773311. There will be floor space available if anybody wishes to stay in Porthcawl
overnight.
In addition, it might be useful to get your views on access to beaches in mid Wales. In particular, I can see that there may become
issues with access in the estury (particularly for land-based kiting). Is this something we as local kiters should address and perhaps
come up with a voluntary agreement with CCW? Or is there currently an agreement.? Your thoughts on these issues would be welcome.
Happy flying.
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justal
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| posted on 2-5-2003 at 14:24 |
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It sounds like a good idea to start things moving in that direction. There have already been kite bans on beaches in North Wales due to
accidents and land-yatching was banned in the NW when someone was killed, so it would be good to get things sorted out before any
accidents happen. If an accident or death does occur then with no existing restrictions being in place, the local authorities will have
no option but to make a knee-jerk reaction and ban kiting (or the sport involved) until an inquiry has taken place. Whether they ban it
on an individual beach or across all the beaches under their control will be up to them.
I doubt that I'll be able to make the meeting either, but I was talking to 'The flying scotsman' (Nice name by the way Mike) on the
beach last night and he was talking about setting up areas on the beach (probably to the north of the groynes) where there were signs
warning people that kiters are about and basically to keep away from the kites. lines etc for their own safety. Sounds fine, but it
might sound to some as though you are then comandeering a section of the beach just for kite-surfers. That wouldn't go down well seeing
as kiters are such a small minority of all beach users. A better approach would be to say that kiting was NOT permitted in the other
areas. The results are the same, but at least that way around it sounds as though the kiters are the ones being penalised and
restricted, not the rest of the beach-going public.
Just a thought and I'm sure these things will be discussed in general terms at the meeting before any specific arrangements are made at
particular beaches.
There are few problems at Borth at the moment as the number of beach-users is fairly small, both kiters and non-kiters, but with
reports of 40 kite-surfers out at Aberavon in S. Wlaes, you can see how its only a matter of time before there is an accident and
someone gets hurt. Its best if the kiters themselves can start 'restricting' their own activities before a complete blanket ban is
imposed.
Al.
URL: Pixelwave Design - Website Design Wales
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