Kiteboarding is not a Crime

Currently, kiteboarding is not allowed in Vancouver but I think that it should be.

I mentioned to Philippe at AirTime Board Sports that I was thiking about endorsing a Parks Board candidate in the upcoming Vancouver Municipal Election on November 19th, 2005 and he mentioned that he, and a group of other Vancouver kiteboarders, had been in discussions with the city recently, and he sent me the minutes from their last meeting. Here they are:


Vancouver Kiteboarding Access Issues Meeting Notes

Date: Thursday, August 4, 2005

Attendees: Paul Baratta, Philippe Cabanne, Phil Calvin, Andrew Chad, Ken Dunion, Darryl Enns, Richard Ewing, Chris Glazier, James Schouw, Charles Seaborn, Rob Wood

1) History
Formal and informal conversations have occurred between the City and kiteboarders in recent history. Most notably, Philippe Cabanne, Chris Glazier and others formed the Vancouver Kiteboard Association (VKA) and registered it as a legal non-profit association / society. The City stressed liability insurance was required before any consideration could be given to allowing kiteboarding within City parks. The group did not meet the City’s requirements and eventually the VKA dissolved.

2) Current Status

A) Where is kiting allowed / where is it not?

• Kiting is not permitted at any City of Vancouver parks.
  
• Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation controls lands east of the anchor at the far west end of Jericho Beach / Spanish Banks.
  
• Though kiting is not specifically mentioned the bylaws have enough authority to ban kiteboarding.
  
• Lifeguards enforce the ban.

Kiting is not permitted at the following GVRD parks:

• Pacific Spirit park, which is west of the anchor at Jericho / Spanish Banks. Rule only applicable to high water mark.
  
• Centennial Beach in Tsawwassen.
  
• Iona Beach, due to close proximity of YVR.
  
• Kiting is not permitted on UBC lands, e.g. Wreck Beach.

b) Jurisdictions and Controls

• Cliff Lemire is the Supervisor of Aquatic Services for the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation.
  
• Charles Schulz is the head lifeguard for Vancouver Parks.
  
• The City has indicated in an e-mail that kiteboarding is a concern during the summer months when lifeguards are on duty form the Victoria Day long weekend in May to the Labour Day long weekend in September.
  
• Richard Wallace is the representative for GVRD regional parks.

3) Associations

A) The Squamish Windsports Society / Skypilot

• There is no official association between the Squamish Windsports Society (SWS) and Skypilot. Members of both associations know each other.
  
• Chris Glazier is on the board of the SWS.

B) Kiters Anonymous

• Paul Baratta has started Kiters Anonymous as a forum for all kite powered sports activity (land and water).

C) Vancouver Kiteboard Association

• Chris Glazier moved to reform the Vancouver Kiteboard Association (VKA) with Rob Wood as lead organiser. Motion accepted.

i) Goals

• VKA mission is to advocate safe and considerate kiteboarding.
  
• Immediate goal is to reintroduce the association to the City and establish a positive, meaningful dialogue with the City. First step is to establish a repore.

ii. Action

• Rob Wood and Phil Calvin to draft a document to present to Cliff Lemire this winter.
  
• Document will:
  1. Introduce VKA mission and goals.
  2. History of kiteboarding in Vancouver and other nearby locations.
  3. Illustrate examples of successful kiteboarding areas, especially shared use areas.
  4. Code of conduct for kiteboarding.
  5. Discuss self-policing.
  
• Draft document will be reviewed by all members of VKA before presentation to City.

iii. Level of organisation

• Low key organisation at this time to meet immediate objectives with City. Primarily to be used as a discussion forum and support group for kiteboarders of Vancouver. Organisation is open to change and growth as sport evolves.
  
• Meetings as required at this time. No website, publications or fees at this time, or plans for such.

iv. Affiliations

• None at this time.

ENCLOSURE

The following is an e-mail response from the City to Ken Dunion’s questions about kiteboarding in Vancouver. Several by-laws are referenced in the e-mail.

The Vancouver Park Board is charged with the responsibility to ensure thatthe general public is able to safely use the public accessible park and beach areas and waterways. I have not been able to get any information that suggests mixed use of a public water area with "kite boarders" and otherwater sport activities is a safe and acceptable practice.

The danger comes from the larger foot print required for the activity, the increased speed and from the greater degree of experience required to handle the unexpected winds. Also a member of the public watching the activity isusually focused on the individual and not the kite and the line to which the kite boarder is attached.

As you know kite boarding is a relatively new high risk sport where anindividual on the water is pulled along on a surf board by a kite with at either line that is approximately 30 meters in length or in excess of 100 feet long. The immediate inherent danger is the "envelope of safety" that must be more than 200 feet around the novice or skilled kite boarder. The kite boarder is able to reach significant speeds and hence the "safety envelope" moves rapidly through the water. Given the high density of existing water sport activities; including swimmers, sailors, wind surfers, canoe and pleasure craft that are already on English Bay, the Vancouver Park Board has not endorsed the sport or made provision for the kite boarders to either launch or land on the Vancouver Beaches. Hence, to date we have not allowed kite boarders to operate during the Summer season when the Life Guards are on duty at the beaches from the May Victoria weekend through tothe Labor Day weekend.

Listed is a web site http://www.vancouver.ca/parks/info/regs/bylaw.htm that you can visit to check out the Park Board Bylaws. While "kite boarding" isn't directly named the bylaws are written to try and deal with allactivities and not just those that have a specific name. Park Board bylaws that relate to the safety concerns are: #7 ; #8 (d), (e); #16; #22 (c), (e), (g), (h), (j) and #24 and enforcement is covered under #4 (b), #5, #6, #25, #26 (a) & 496.

As kite boarding is an emerging sport, in time, it will grow and the participants will perhaps form an Association. As an Association, the expectation would be no different than many of the existing sports groups, in that the members may take on some self-supervision and develop rules of conduct that would better ensure the safety of the participants as well asthe general public. Such an Association would be better able to practice and develop some "Risk Management" standards and obtain liability insurance to both protect the Association members as well as the City and the Park Board in managing the sport. Until such time as the sport evolves further, I have no recourse but to advise that kite boarding is not presently an activity that can be readily mixed and allowed to take place through accessing the Public Beaches. I would be pleased to receive any material from any other municipalities that addresses mixing kite boarding with swimmers, boaters or any other publicly operated and supervised site. If you wish to further discuss the issue please contact me.

Your truly,

Cliff Lemire,

Supervisor of Aquatic Services

Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation

604-665-3422 or via e-mail at cliff.lemire@vancouver.ca

(Blog Post: Kiteboarding is not a Crime)