New Policy/Alameda

[VanSimms]

Could this be the new setup, I think the flags would be a good Ideas of our presents and to alert them to get out of the way if one of us are coming in.

Crown Beach

Legend

[windhorny]

Who wrote that?

[Don Bogardus]

We need to get out of the general public's way,
not the reverse!.Even right in the center of the
launch area, we can only SUGGEST that people not
set up a picnic with beach blankets.
Flags Idea is to
alert kiters that restricted landing rules are in
effect, so as not to interfere with other beach users
downwind.I suspect the parks dept. will lay out some
rules, and maybe signs, only responding to complaints
which I think if everybody is aware, should be rare (hopefully)
as there are some people who live down by the Mac Donalds.
that have yelled at me BECAUSE I was CARRYING a students
kite up the beach past where they were standing!!.

[elli]

I think signs are good if done properly. Alert the beach goers about the kites, and also make it clear for kiters that there are some rules on the beach, even if they are voluntary. I think last year many kiters swinged by and had no idea that there is some kind of system. The locals had meetings, forum and so on, but many kiters were not aware of that.

[charlie]

well if we push hard that a lower, land/luanch site is needed...
and i feel it is needed now.
we could use it for the one way tickit..luanch at the upper ... land downwind at the lower for the newbis
as we put this into use, the lower spot we become more populated
also think about....
the box and setup, we dont have all the beach, so we got to start useing what space we have more productively.
thanks, you guys, for chew n on this!

[Greg]

Ansure sheet:
-Spreding out wont make "our problem" go away, in fact it makes it bigger...
-Either were ALL going to adhear to the "RULES" or ALL of us are going to be taking underwater basket weaving or using those skim boards for what they were originally designed for...
-Kites flying over head or "NEAR THE ROAD" make many people nervis, Why cant we stay far enough away that "EVERY ONE" gets to enjoy there day at the beach or feel they might be attacked in there car....
-It is baffling to me why we have to fight about this issue becouse we all want "GENERALLY" the same thing, to kite Alameda for a long long time. It seems really strange to me that people whos very lively hood is made off kiting, or people that moved to Alameda to be closer to there kite spot, reject policys aimed at protecting access.... I wonder what there exit stradegy is???
It seems to me that any "GREY AREA POLICY" is as close to failure as doing nothing at all, which is EXACTLY that the parks is going to think we've been doing! Remember the Parks Dept just field the complaints, they dont kite, they dont see 95percent compliance as a resolution, to them its black and white.

Wish'n you luck and long life,
L.M.G.

[busski]

Hi Guys,

I think we can all agree that we want to make sure that the people using the beach who aren't kiting are happy with kiters.

As a newbie I've been out to Alameda a couple of time to watch you guys, have rigged a couple of times on dead days (just to make sure I've got my bridle figured out on my Xbow), and I'm struck by how limited the space is over at Alameda. So I can understand the hissy fits that people have over kiters.

Maybe I've spent too much time drinking from the marketing cooler, but as a newbie who want to learn without hurting himself or others, I think keeping the dummies/ bad behaviour at bay isn't such a bad idea.


I guess I'd like to suggest that we find good ways present ourselves in the best possible light regarding safety and consideration for babies in strollers that go beyond what's already there.

I think it's not enough to just have a set of regulations regarding Alameda, I think we need to make sure that everyone is aware of what's going on, and perhaps more importantly that people who are concerned (ie. parents with those babies in strollers) know that we're serious about keeping people safe etc.

Maybe this is overkill, but I feel like you can't oversell being safe. So I've got a couple of suggestions:

1) a website that goes into kite safety for Alameda: call it:

www.alamedakitesafety.org or some such thing.

Have general rules/regualtions/safety information that are on BAKB, but generally have it easier to find and dedicated to safety only, along with specific details of the Launch area for Alameda, where to kite, where not to kite etc. Pictures/ Diagrams/ etc. (yes I'm german, I like charts and diagrams).

2) Make cheapo laminated quick-view card for kiters that give a quick 10 safety suggestions on 1 side, and details of things specific to Alameda (a map of the alameda launch etc.) on the other. Make sure they are accessible for everyone.

Include a "who to call"/"what to do" if someone's being a putz on the water, or on the beach.

3) Do a little positive PR at the beginning of the sunny season where you hand out the safety cards to kiters and to regular beach-goers so that they know that we're not going to stand for yutzes landing on babies.

I've got extra bandwidth on my website, Could put a site together right quick, and could redirect a site for the safety issue (so it would cost $2.95 a year to keep the domain registered, which I'll happily front).

It wouldn't be that expensive for the cards either. You could print up 2,500 cards for a couple hundred bucks (I'd throw in for that), and in the end you'd have much happier beach-goers and park officials because they knew we were serious about it. You could even have a pow wow with overworked, underpaid park officials to make sure everyone was on the same wavelength.

I know it's not my beach (yet), but I love flying my kite and I truly dread there being a sign that says "No Kiting Allowed" over the beach sometime soon. You guys have been too cool (especially to Snacks, I wonder why that is? ) to have ye olde parke service put the hammer down on kiting.

Am I nuts? What do you think?

-C-

:)

[Greg]

-C-,
I think your spot on, getting information out is key. Getting 100percent complance will always be difficult but peer pressure is very motivational...
What we really need now is consistancy...
BTW: I love your stoke and ideas but want to caution you about setting up another web site. We need to work togather and having one common site is key to that end. Remember talks cheap (that makes me about the richest slob on the beach), we've all been doing it for years. Its really going to be a matter of comprimze for the higher good of the population...
Grab the bull by the horns and RUN!
L.M.G.

[busski]

I agree that there needs to be a consistent forum for the area, and love BAKB because of it.

I was actually thinking solely about a "customer" facing site, that presented exactly the same information that's here at bakb in a slightly more user friendly way. It's just the difference between a forum site and a slick site designed by turtlenecked smokers who love to discuss CSS and XML.

Was just digging around online. perhaps something like the following would be good, just a little mo' pretty.

http://www.maui.net/~hotwind/mka.html

The best part is the followinig doc. that has the multi-lingual safety info and charts. Love those charts..got to make me some charts...

http://www.maui.net/~hotwind/kitesafety.doc

[panzerfaust]

I agree with Greg. I don't see how launching in front of your house makes your kiting experience any better, we are talking about a few minutes walk here. If it's time that you are concerned about then leave 5 minutes earlier. There should be no exceptions to the antena rule, ever. Why is it so hard to understand that nobody really cares about if we kite there or not except for us. Look at it this way; I would bet that those who file complaints are usually elderly citizens, and these guys are retired, with hours and hours of free time with nothing better to do than to spread their wisdom and prove their point. Who is the park going to listen to? A bunch of kiters or people who lived in alameda their entire life and who go to play bingo with the superintendents's mom, aunt or wife? It's really quite simeple. No kites down the beach from antena.