I think I owe you all an apology, as this situation is probably largely my fault. You see, I have booked my first trip to Maui for Christmas, and Murphy's Law being what it is....kitesurfing will probably be completely banned in the entire Hawaiian Islands by then.
Kidding, but I am increasingly distressed by this, originally seemed like something way in future, latest update looks like this is happening NOW. Holy crap, will it ever SUCK if my first kitesurfing vacation is screwed by this. Those familiar with Maui ... are there other locations that have launch potential in windy zone? Is it just that launch possibilities are worse, or is the geography such that this is the only good area?
It is unclear to me if there's been any attempt at a political response to this. You have petty bureaucrats in one small dept making decisions on their own tiny sphere of influence and not looking at "the greater good". This issue needs to be expanded to include decision makers who can also consider the economics of tourism and supporting local businesses. Because I can say with certainty, that back in July when deciding whether to go to Maui, Dominican, or Baja, if there'd even been a whisper of this risk, I'd have taken my family's several thousand tourist dollars elsewhere.
Politics requires backbone...because you absolutely cannot please all the people all the time, so you have to make choices. Here, looks like one vocal opponent negating the interests of several thousand beach users. Surely there's some compromise here. But from what I can tell, within the letter of the law the vocal opponent is correct ... which means that the greater good requires changing the law! Those organizing this: suggest you combine it with a letter writing campaign, and not just DOBOR, but the local mayor, senator, governor, etc. A few hundred or thousand letters in their face is much harder to ignore than a petition. Get the local businesses to write letters too stating how much of their business comes directly from windsurfer & kiter tourist $$ ... because $ and votes is something that politicians care about! And what about the global kiting brands based in Maui? What is their involvement? Time to start channeling some of that revenue into lobbying, to protect their local testing grounds...again, $ and votes, that's what makes this world go 'round.
Arghghghghghg.