I thought that might get a few looks.
Had a a quick chat with some of the guy's at Takapuna today and they pointed me at this site. My name is Jim and I am the Deputy Harbourmaster for the Auckland Regional Council (Loud Boooing!). We have received many complaints over the last few months with regards to kite boarders at various beaches, but mainly at Takapuna, Eastern Beach, Mission Bay and Kohimarama Beach. The general jist is that kite boarders are going too fast in amongst the swimmers and within 200m of the beach.
Having watched at many beaches this is sometimes true, but not the norm as there are a great many who go a reasonable distance off the beach (although not 200m) and keep away from the swimmers etc. I do not wish to be off the boat with a tape measure and fine all those exceeding 5 knots inside of that (I want to be out surfing or joining in).

I would like to think that we can all be sensible and keep away from the direction some countries have gone, some to the extent of banning kite 's and board's. I'm open to all comment's (and you can't say anything abusive I haven't already heard!! even if some of it was true). What I see as the best outcome is for kite boarders to govern themselves. This has been done elsewhere with the National/local body/club/group of mates issuing standards to its members and working with all groups to ensure you can use the beaches and places you want when you want too.

First of all I just wanted to make you aware the subject has come up on the radar. Hopefully it will drop off it and all will self govern well.

Please put up your thoughts or email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
any abusive emails send to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

look forward to causing a bit of comment. Thanks for your time.

Looked good from the beach tonight!

Bring on winter... No crowds heaps of wind. hopefully by next summer we can all be good boys and keep our beaches ban free...

So glad i live in a country where most people are pretty chilled about us kiters. Most people don't have a problem with us but of course it only takes one REAL stupid incident to change all that :cry:

Pretty stoked to have a windjunkie in the council too 8) . AK rocks... gotta love this city.

welcome aboard mr. deputy and thanks for acknowledging our existence. as you'll find, we are all prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure our rights to go kiting are protected, because kiting means everything to us.

many of us have been pursuing our sport in this city for over five years now and apart from a few personal injuries have managed to avoid conflict with others. we feel we have built up some customary rights and have worked on good relationships with other water users, and we know we have added lots of colour to local beaches and provided entertainment and pleasure to many onlookers.

as our numbers increase, we recognise this increases the chances of conflict and we are all working to avoid this through informal self-regulation.

thanks for initiating dialogue with us. it sounds like you are sympathetic to our plight in our constant battle against the National Association to Ban Almost Anything (NABAA).

Bring on OBK... love to hear what he's got to say? And Spence, I be watching you brother. You'sa gonna be locked up big guy!

KP

Firstly, a big thanks to Jim for giving Aucklands kite community the heads up on what is happening in regards to kiting and the ARC.

Could you please advise us as to when and how the councils consultation process will proceed and to whom we will need to make our submissions heard if this issue does not drop below the radar.
I hope a transparent and public discussion is to follow allowing all those involved to voice their opinions so a fair and amicable decision can be made regarding access to our beaches and the safety of all those involved (including the kiters who will have to resort to using increasingly tight and dangerous launch areas if restrictions are enforced).

Secondly, I see this as a great opportunity for the various importers and retailers (who currently stand to lose the most from any restrictions) to lead the way in forming a unified voice to approach such situations, keeping in mind that if restrictions are put into place by the ARC they will be used as a model for other councils faced with similar complaints from the public.

Unfortunately, if we are lucky, this issue will only drop below the radar until next summer, at which time councils will be forced to act given the increasing rise in complaints from the public.

If an industry player or a group of concerned kiters is out there, and whishing to make a contribution to keeping our beaches accessible then please contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 021 151 7430 if I can be of help in any way.

Cheers and good winds to you all
Joel and Kaz.

Great to get some response and thanks for the posts and emails.

I will let you all know when the bylaws come up for review and will post the proposed changes on this site for you. Before then I will try and get a few thoughts from you on where kite areas may want to be placed and we can talk to the local councils about this to get support.

If we receive no complaints about kites then we have to do nothing. So work to keep the noddies under wraps and all will be cool. We realy don't want to fix things that aren't broke.

I will post any complaints or concerns we have here, with details of time/date, and description of kite/person so you are aware of what sort of things people are concerned about. I know you only get the complaints but I know from sitting on the beach or talking to peopl that alot of them find it a great sport to watch and it adds colour to the area.

Again I want to let you know all we want is harmony and people to have fun and be safe. I use the water as much as all and don't want to have to be regulated and controled.

Hope the wind comes back soon. If you see the Harbourmasters yellow patrol boat this weekend stop over for a chat.

How about just fining the people who are causing the problem. Theres only a handfull of people who blatently have no respect for swimmers and/or other kiters. I for one don't want to have to pay the price for some idiot who either thinks they can learn to kite by themself without correct supervision/tuition or an equally idiotic person who decides to kite 2ft from the beach. Everyone cries to me about how much better upwind performance a tube has over my Venom yet i rarely see tubes more than 10ft from the beach, especially those Slingshots :roll:

Allah be praised and a rousing F@#Kyaaaa to my brethren and special respect to our brother Kite Police.

I feel we need to ban kiting in the same way we banned the TV - the telly then all my brothers can gather around as we did with the telly-banned till the bugger Bush dealt us a final blow.

We could be the kiting-banned a group of masked brothers dressd like Elvis, or school girls is brother Lee is coming, who when the wind is right emerge from the darkness and devour a beach and then piss off before the feds arrive.
BAN KITING I say .

This forum has no soul there is no brother Lee he is the BEST in my humble opinion and all this talk of fancy dress and school girls this is not the nasty forum I have come to love..

Come on Shaan have you given yourself to Jesus -- !!!!!

OBK hear the wise words of Yoda

A rousin FAARRRK YAAA to my fellow mujahaddeen OBK.

It is true that our brother Shann has become a crusader of the cross. Allah is not pleased with this. Neither is I, the Hairy legged Beast of the East. I know this angers a warrior of monotheism and jihad like yourself.

As for filleas fogg... his attempts to make sweet lovin to old yoda is just an act of envy. He knows he just can't get from a short wrinkly pointy eared dude what you can get when you snuggle into the sweet bosom that is the one hump of the sweet darling Hazel.

mr. deputy. i apologise retrospectively and prospectively for the cretinous morons. like any other community we are unfortunately well represented by members of the National Association of Sad and Lonely Individuals. (NASALI)

Fella Shaan,

We know you love it!!!!!

This is the first bit of serious issue ever to set foot on your entertraining forum.

You are like a... pig rolling round in Hazels fresh secretions, when the boys from the middle-east oasis give their views.

So a big f#%k yaaa to all da brothers and ban who ever want to spoil our fun!

KP

whoops - new word 'entertraining" have to look that one up.

DK

Kite Police



Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 19

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2005 5:14 pm

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whoops - new word 'entertraining" have to look that one up.

DK



ahh DK i think you forgot to log out of your Kite police persona before you posted the above...opps.
makes alot of sence really and to think i once accused you of being blownaway/Mark Tucker... much the same as him though talking drivel and answering your own posts with multi personalitys.
with twats like you around kiting should be banned from all beaches by the cool police

Not me da-spy.

Even tho KP has used my initials to sign that post, and he has spelling nearly as bad as mine I can assure you KP and DK are different people.

I have only ever posted in this forum (and any other forum for that matter) under my own (nic) name with my full contact details available in my profile. Ill leave the multi-personality disorders to other people.

Dave Kay