The Future of Bay Area Kiteboarding.com
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2012 7:15 pm
Hello Everyone,
I wanted to post some information about the future of Bay Area Kiteboarding.
It's been almost ten years ago that I created this site to help the local kiteboarding community by fulfilling a need for something that did not yet exist and providing a means of sharing information, promoting safety, building community and discussing local access issues. It's been successful at doing that, has become one of the top forums and has likely been the single biggest resource here in the SF Bay Area to benefit and help the entire local kiteboarding community.
To create and maintain this site and see it through its various changes has been quite a bit of work through the years but it's also provided me with much reward and connected me to a huge community of people of whom many have become good friends. I still enjoy kiting and make time to do so, albeit less often, but an increasing work schedule and a personal desire to find more balance in my life has led me to think about the website here and my ownership and involvement in it over the course of the last year or so. When I first started the site I suppose I never considered the time when I may want to simplify my life or find more balance in the things I do, thus never thought about any kind of exit strategy.
So, it seems and feels that after thinking about it for some time, perhaps that time has come or will in the not-too-distant future. There are a few options, but the one that makes the most sense to me and will continue to benefit the community most is to keep the site available for all and remain the resource that it is. It's too valuable a resource and forum; the sport is still growing, maybe more in the last two years than the previous three, four or five. My feeling is that it should stay, but perhaps under the ownership, stewardship, or function, of new individual(s), a group or entity.
There are many options, but among them are that it can continue by becoming a 501(c)(3) non-profit, or an official SF Bay Area kiteboarding organization, or group, or be run by private individuals, group, or entity. If anything, I'd like to see it continue on the steady path it has had or become something even better. I'm not sure we've seen much of it to date, but this could be an opportunity for kiteboarding philanthropy or patronage to make that happen. There may be folks in the SF Bay or Silicon Valley kiting community who would be interested, are tech-savvy and have the means to do so. If a return on their investment can justify it, it could be a great way to give back to the community.
We're not going anywhere soon, but I wanted to post this information to give you all a heads-up. The site has been successful, I've accomplished all and more than I originally set out to do by creating it, we've had years and great info-sharing and interaction on it, some drama (haha), have had greats events - swap meets, beach clean-ups, many memorable parties, and on and on, but things run their course too, so we will see what develops.
Many thanks,
Oliver Govers
Bay Area Kiteboarding.com
I wanted to post some information about the future of Bay Area Kiteboarding.
It's been almost ten years ago that I created this site to help the local kiteboarding community by fulfilling a need for something that did not yet exist and providing a means of sharing information, promoting safety, building community and discussing local access issues. It's been successful at doing that, has become one of the top forums and has likely been the single biggest resource here in the SF Bay Area to benefit and help the entire local kiteboarding community.
To create and maintain this site and see it through its various changes has been quite a bit of work through the years but it's also provided me with much reward and connected me to a huge community of people of whom many have become good friends. I still enjoy kiting and make time to do so, albeit less often, but an increasing work schedule and a personal desire to find more balance in my life has led me to think about the website here and my ownership and involvement in it over the course of the last year or so. When I first started the site I suppose I never considered the time when I may want to simplify my life or find more balance in the things I do, thus never thought about any kind of exit strategy.
So, it seems and feels that after thinking about it for some time, perhaps that time has come or will in the not-too-distant future. There are a few options, but the one that makes the most sense to me and will continue to benefit the community most is to keep the site available for all and remain the resource that it is. It's too valuable a resource and forum; the sport is still growing, maybe more in the last two years than the previous three, four or five. My feeling is that it should stay, but perhaps under the ownership, stewardship, or function, of new individual(s), a group or entity.
There are many options, but among them are that it can continue by becoming a 501(c)(3) non-profit, or an official SF Bay Area kiteboarding organization, or group, or be run by private individuals, group, or entity. If anything, I'd like to see it continue on the steady path it has had or become something even better. I'm not sure we've seen much of it to date, but this could be an opportunity for kiteboarding philanthropy or patronage to make that happen. There may be folks in the SF Bay or Silicon Valley kiting community who would be interested, are tech-savvy and have the means to do so. If a return on their investment can justify it, it could be a great way to give back to the community.
We're not going anywhere soon, but I wanted to post this information to give you all a heads-up. The site has been successful, I've accomplished all and more than I originally set out to do by creating it, we've had years and great info-sharing and interaction on it, some drama (haha), have had greats events - swap meets, beach clean-ups, many memorable parties, and on and on, but things run their course too, so we will see what develops.
Many thanks,
Oliver Govers
Bay Area Kiteboarding.com