| By Matt Soergel | |
| Proquest LLC |
Huguenot Park at the mouth of the St. Johns River is the prime kiteboarding spot in Northeast Florida – the perfect place, kiteboarders say, to give lessons, ride waves and get big air.
For now.
Kiteboarders are worried that a bill awaiting Gov. Rick Scott’s approval means that much of the city’s oceanfront park could soon to be off limits to the sport.
“It would completely wipe away the kiteboarding community in Northeast Florida,” said Cory Busichio, manager of Ocean Extreme Sports, which sells kiteboards in St. Augustine Beach.
The White-Miskell Act, which recently passed the House and Senate, would impose stricter rules on commercial parasailing operators, setting limits on what conditions they could operate in and requiring them to carry at least $1 million in insurance.
A late House amendment to the bill added restrictions on kiteboarders, banning them from within a mile of an airport. That was scaled back from an earlier amendment setting the limit at five miles.
Kiteboarders at Huguenot can look across the St. Johns and see Mayport Naval Air Station, which is home to helicopters and a frequent destination for the Navy’s fixed-wing aircraft.
Much of the kiteboarding in the park – including a flat-water lagoon where beginners frequently learn the difficult sport – is within a mile of the base’s runway.
Parasailors are towed behind boats and can be lifted hundreds of feet into the air. Kiteboarders ride on modified surfboards and are tethered to lines of about 60 or 70 feet in length.
The best can jump another 20 feet on their kites, said kiteboarder Scott Shine. “That’s getting up there,” he said. “Guys like me, if I bust 6 feet, I’m rocking.”
Kiteboarder Nathan Scheu is helping circulate a petition urging Scott to not sign the bill.
“They’re trying to classify us with the flying aircraft,” he said. “We don’t fly high enough to bother any planes.”
On that, the Navy agrees.
Kiteboarders aren’t a problem for Mayport NAS, said Navy spokesman Mike Andrews, who checked with air-traffic controllers and others at the base.
“The Navy’s not raised any concerns about the kitesurfers at Huguenot Park. It’s never been an issue on our scope,” he said.ADKINS OPPOSED
The parasailing bill was named after Amber May White and Kathleen Miskell, both of whom died in parasailing accidents in Pompano Beach.
It unanimously passed in the Senate and had just one dissenting vote in the House, from Rep. Janet Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach. She was not available for comment late last week or early this week, her office said.
Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek, who was a leader on the parasailing bill, said the amendment addressed a potentially dangerous situation at an airport in Sarasota.
He said he was not happy about the add-on for kiteboarding, but had to accept it to get the bill passed.
John Tupps, Scott’s press secretary, released a statement saying the governor “is committed to the safety of families and Florida’s visitors. He will review this legislation when it reaches his desk.”
The parasailing regulations are well-intentioned, said Shine, former head of the Jacksonville chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, which pushes for increased beach access. The inclusion of kiteboarding alarms enthusiasts throughout the state.
Jon Davies, a longtime Jacksonville kiteboarding instructor, said Huguenot is a prime spot for skilled kiteboarders, sometimes attracting the sport’s international elite.
It also has the space and flat water beginners need for their safety and that of other beachgoers – a combination that’s hard to find elsewhere.
The bill, if enforced, would cripple the sport, Davies said.
“Is it enforceable? Yes. Would local jurisdictions enforce it? Probably not. But the potential is there that it would prohibit or ban kitesurfing in one of the best locations in the world, which would be really, really sad.”Matt Soergel: (904) 359-4082