Meetings

Meetings

Facts on the Huntington State Beach and Bolsa Chica Kiteboarding “ban" This ban is not kite specific. All surfing and body boarding is Black Balled on weekends ONLY north of Main Tower Bolsa and all of HB State Beach every day. Windsurfing and kitesurfing has been banned completely. •The ban is not indefinite. •The ban is only in effect for Huntington State Beach and Bolsa Chica State Beach •We have begun dialect with the State including Lt. Mike Brousard and he has agreed to meet with us in September when things "calm down" at the beach. •We are communicating with the Windsurfing community to keep a united front when we do get face time with the State. This is critical to solving the problem. Just like Seal Beach, we must coincide seamlessly with the windsurfers. •Immediate steps are being taken at Surfside, Sunset and HB City Beaches to continue maintaining access. These beaches are Advanced rider only beaches not beginner. If you are a beginner do not kite here. •We have been speaking with both Sunset and HB City officials testing the waters on the access issue and they currently are still in the watching phase. As long as we continue to self police and are not a burden on them doing their job, they currently don't have any plans to restrict our access to their beaches. •We are working on guidelines for all "Surf" beaches, which we will post as soon as they are finished. •Please email SCKA scka@scka.org your thoughts on any items you think are important to keeping our sport safe and from being restricted. (I don’t have the time to monitor forum groups right now, so email me any questions or concerns you have) You will notice the pressure has been turned up at the "Surf Beaches" and if beginners or non-proficient riders are in the surf beaches they will be asked to leave by other kiters. If you are a beginner, please stay at Belmont until you are ready for the waves. We have all "paid our dues" at Belmont before advancing to the waves. Don't be the one who is responsible for the next banning. -Victor Murphy, SCKA President
June 21 2003, hosted by Kites Etc.

MEETING MINUTES New Belmont Guidelines The meeting started with Guest Speaker, Dan Rosenfeld from the City of Long Beach Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine. He explained that his job is to put together contracts with concessionaires to run their businesses on City owned land. The current municipal code states that no commercial business can be conducted on the beach without a permit issued by Dan's office. The Lifeguards had noticed a substantial increase in the number of kiters and lessons taking place at the beach over the past year, so they had contacted Dan who then sent out a "request for proposal" to everyone he thought would be in interested in applying for concession. Kite's Etc and Kitenow both applied and were granted concession. They worked together with Dan to create the new guidelines which are currently just a first draft, and are subject to change. Since the guidelines are new, Dan advised everyone to have patience until everyone is aware of the. In addition to the guidelines being drafted for safety reasons, they will alos "clean up" the area by allowing lessons in the designated areas only. The new guidelines can be viewed on the website's Belmont page at http://www.scka.org/Local%20pages/belmont.htm SCKA President, Victor Murphy, went over the following topics: Discounts at local shops for paid members including: iKitesurf.com $20 off new annual membership 10% discount from the following shops (you must show your SCKA membership card) Bruno Surf Captain Kirks Kites Etc Kite Now Solo Sports Xstreamline Need revised/new SCKA logo for shirts and bumper stickers – prize goes to best design, need entries by 7/30/03 Next SCKA party scheduled for September- details to follow Beach Safety –at the ‘Surf’ Beaches We must self Police! Do not jump in the surf zone where people are swimming, go outside. Prepare for the worst case scenario in crowded beaches (downing your kite, breaking a line etc) and give yourself enough room to recover Look before you Jibe – more incidents between kiters happen when two people are following each other, and upwind person is unaware and decides to jibe on a wave and crashes in to down wind rider. Both parties guilty. Why? 1) look before you jibe 2) Don’t follow too close Don’t hang out in the surf zone with kite at 12 o’ Clock When walking back up wind, keep your kite at an angle – NOT AT 12 O’clock, which allows others to point upwind and pass you by (even though you are on the beach and they are on the water) Understand right of way Starboard has right of way When in doubt turn around and go back out SPREAD OUT Bolsa Chica Black Ball Kites, Windsurfers, Surfers, and body boarders. For Summer weekends 12:00pm to 5:00pm from the main Lifeguard Headquarters North to Jack in the Box Events THE WADDELL KITEBOARDING CLASH Results- congratulations to local members Dan Kaiahua, Boaz Milgalter, Adam Denny, Rob Schrader, Nick Geranio, Kalani Cook, & Rondi Ballard Heal the Bay –Santa Monica today – Volunteers needed see Johnnie for info. Beach Cleanups- we need to show community support. Wear your SCKA T-shirt and participate. Every third Saturday of the month is Justin Rudd's 30 minute Beach Clean up at Belmont at 10am, and Seal Beach does a Cleanup on the 4th Saturday of every month at noon in the first street parking lot. Insurance- you can get kite liability insurance by becoming an AKA member for $30 a year: http://aka.kite.org/ Need revised/new SCKA logo for shirts and bumper stickers – prize goes to best design, need entries by 7/30/03 Next SCKA party scheduled for September- details to follow Shorefest in Long Beach The next guest speaker was Michael Segerblom from the US Sailing Center on Alamitos Bay. Shorefest is a huge festival taking place in Long Beach on the weekend of Oct 4th & 5th. There will be 6 mini-festivals: Air Fest, Water Fest, Harbor Fest, Taste Fest, and Kids Fest. The leading event will be the airshow including the US Navy Blue Angels and the Canadian Snow Birds. There will Beer and Snack zones every 20 blocks from downtown Long Beach to Alamitos Bay, NASA's "Centennial of Flight" display, military amphibious craft, and fireworks. The City expects 1/2 million people to attend. Parking will be off site, with shuttles in. From the preceding Thursday through Sunday, Oct 5 from 11:30-5:30 the water area will be shut down except for participating events. There will also be an "airbox" from the Alamitos Bay jetty, out to the oil island, and up to Shoreline Village until 3:30 each of these days due to the airshow. The good news is that Michael Segerblom is in charge of Water Fest and he is putting together an elaborate agenda of events centering around regular Long Beach activities- Sailing Regattas, Tall Ship Battles, and... Kites!! From 3;30-5:30 on Sunday he would like to have a kiteboarding "expression session". If you have any concepts or ideas, please contact Steve Kent at Kites Etc as he will be working with Michael to put this together iKitesurf Sensor at Belmont When 12 new members, referred by the SCKA have signed up, they'll put a wind sensor in at Belmont Shore. You can also get $20 off a new iKitesurf membership. Go to go.iKitesurf.com/SCKA for details
April 9, 2003, hosted by Kite Now


PAST MEETING MINUTES