Kiteboarding Banned at Padre Island National Seashore
Compiled by Outside Online
December 29, 2003 A July ban on kiteboarding was recently upheld by National Park Service (NPS) officials who administer Padre Island National Seashore. NPS cited concerns over the potential disturbance to nesting birds and park visitors caused by the sport's large, swooping kites.
Kiteboarding is a relatively new sport that uses an oversized foil kite to tow a board and rider across the water. Each kite looks like a small parachute and is tethered to the rider by a series of lines roughly 100 feet long.
The ban sets a precedent for other national parks in which kiteboarding has previously been unregulated. Kiteboarders are now expected to face the same scrutiny that other sports enthusiasts face within the national park system.
Padre Island Chief Ranger Randy Larson told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, "We’re paving new ground here. I’m getting calls from the Outer Banks [Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina] asking for a copy of our rule. There are no other examples in the National Park Service."
Despite reports that the safety of nesting birds was at the heart of the ban, an earlier statement by former Padre Island Superintendent Jock Whitworth cited concern over the "extreme" nature of kiteboarding as the primary reason for the ban. "Mostly it's the safety aspect," Whitworth told the Caller-Times. His comment was in reference to the kiteboarding death of local expert Peter Nordby.
A petition put forth by kiteboarder Jeb Loftin also suggested that there may be friction between traditional windsurfers and the growing number of kiteboarders. "If it comes to an allocation or division of time and space for the [two] sports, so be it," Loftin told the Caller-Times.
Though this is the first ban set out by the NPS, other state and regional authorities have banned kiteboarding in the past. At Huntington Beach, a popular surf spot near Los Angeles, tensions between surfers, windsurfers, and kiteboarders led to a temporary ban on the latter two sports last fall.
Several resolutions are being proposed, including the requirement of a certificate verifying an individual’s level of expertise. The U.S. Kitesurfing Association is confident that a solution can be reached that protects roosting birds and park visitors, and still allows for kiteboarding.
