More and more we are hearing about kitesurfing being banned on more and more beaches around the world. As the bans get more widespread more and more people are calling for regulation of kitesurfing so we have a framework within which to operate and can work with local authorities and beach users to create a situation on beaches that is safe and enjoyable for all.
Why is regulation needed? Kitesurfing is an extreme sport for good reason. The kites themselves move at incredible speeds and the lines that control them become like razor wire at such speeds. A kitesurfer also takes up an incredible amount of space at least a 50m wide area, anything inside of this area is in danger of being hit by the kite or lines should the rider lose control. The type of people that kitesurfing attracts are by their very nature adrenaline junkies (to a greater or lesser extent), people who want to push the limits and who have a deep love for the sport and a desire to push themselves and their abilities to the absolute max. This desire can often see riders pushing the envelope a little too far which can result in some spectacular wipe outs. All these things combined can lead to dangerous situations arising especially given the fact that most non-kiters do not realise the inherent dangers of kitesurfers and will happily position themselves within striking distance of the kite to get a better view of what the rider is doing.
There have been many incidents recently of local authorities moving to ban kitesurfing on various different beaches around the world. This has generally happened after an incident has taken place where a kitesurfer has placed either themselves or as happens all too often another beach using member of the public in danger. These incidents then become widely publicized. In a case such as this kitesurfers will inevitably lose a battle in the courts for several reasons. We are the new kids on the block and generally we are the ones causing the problem. If horses were known to go wild on the beach and stomp over innocent sunbathers they would very swiftly be banned from riding on the beach. This is exactly how the authorities view kitesurfing. The beaches and people right to enjoy them have been around for a lot longer than kitesurfing and if we want to be able to use them we have to treat them with the respect that everyone else affords such a public sport, no matter haw radical or cool our sport is compared to what they are doing!
So what is the answer..should kitesurfers come under strict regulation? This has been tried in several countries and is very difficult to legislate for let alone enforce. Why? Firstly kitesurfing is a sport that happens on the water and requires a lot of space. Without some authority on the water enforcing kite zones or banning reckless kitesurfers, actual enforcement becomes almost impossible. Every summer in Tarifa I see local police chasing some kitesurfer who has broken the riding zones up and down the beach on their quad…all the kitesurfer has to do is last it out at sea until the police get bored, or their shift ends, or find somewhere else to land, and they get off without incident. Land based enforcement does not work. A speed boat would be an obvious solution but there is no council in the world that is going to pay the cost of a speed boat and then manning it to control a few kitesurfers…far easier and cheaper for the local authorities to simply ban kitesurfing or ignore it all together.
Local authorities generally also have very little understanding of the sport. This leads to either plainly crazy laws being passed, like the one in Belgium which outlawed kitesurfing in more than 6 Bft (about 25kts). A law that is unfair, unenforceable and down right laughable to any kitesurfer but probably seemed very sensible to the officials who drafted the law. This often leads to local interest groups getting involved and advising the council on any legislation that could be enforced. The problem here is that these advisors often have ulterior motives. As has been witnesses in Greece where local authorities working closely with a local kite school banned kitesurfing on most of the beaches of Greece allowing access only at point deemed appropriate by the kite school. Quite predictably these zones were so arranged as to play right into the kite schools hands in terms of cutting off the competition and giving that kite school the greatest competitive advantage. This sort of behavior not only harms the local economy (many people are now canceling their kitesurfing holidays to Greece) but also kitesurfing as a whole as newbies maybe turn to a different sport as they see their options for riding being slowly eroded.
At the crux of this very complicated issue is that the inherent risks of the sport are very closely linked with rider skill level, experience and attitude. 99% of all kitesurfers are highly responsible and aware of the dangers they pose whilst kitesurfing and so will work to minimize those risks to the benefit of all. There are, as with any activity, always the outliers. those kitesurfers who consistently expose themselves and more importantly others to unacceptable levels of risk, so that when something does go wrong it goes wrong in a big way. These stories then hit the headlines and cause local councils to question the right of kitesurfers to ride at local spots.
The answer that has been proposed on many beaches is that of self regulation, where local kitesurfers, schools and shops provide the framework for kitesurfing at their own local spots and are then responsible for enforcing these rules onto new/visiting riders in order to protect their local spot and ensure that kitesurfers and kitesurfing can be enjoyed by all in a responsible while ejecting those that want to behave like idiots. This sounds great in theory but the problem arises because those responsible for doing the enforcing often have very little power to do anything, sure they can call the police but are often greeted with indifference as the police are aware of the problems of enforcement and will struggle to actually do anything as in most countries the beach is public property and so law enforcement for now actually breaking a statute law becomes complicated. This is different in certain countries ie UK where local kite clubs work closely with the authorities and actually have the power to eject troublesome kiters and here the policy seems to work quite well. The problem in many other places is that there are so many different interest groups vying for use of the beach, local kite schools want zones for learning, windsurfers want a separate area, jet skis the same, and then of course most people simply want to lie on the beach and swim unmolested by kites, fins, lines and other potentially dangerous objects. This often leads to certain groups pushing their own agenda to the harm of others and leads to a situation where everyone loses as beaches are either segmented in unworkable ways or certain activities banned altogether. Which in the long run affects the entire local economy.
Retaining our right to ride as kitesurfers is becoming a very serious issue as more and more councils seem to be taking the easy option and simply banning it altogether, have you experienced this? Or maybe you’ve got some ideas on how we can reverse this trend…if so let me know in the comments below.