pay to kite a spot in uk

[longwhitecloud]

i am in the UK for a visit and am horrified that you have to pay to kite at some locations

It's like someone has decided to be neptune himself

i'll never pay 1c to kitesurf, the ocean is for everyone... well except here apparently. if you kite above the mean LOW tide mark a some spots you are trespassing on private land.. crazy nutcaseness

Anyway, pretty disgusted that people would think this is ok and go along with it.

#neverpaytokite

Been nice and windy tho!

[paulie]

Where is this? I only know of a couple where the beach is private and there is a club in place. 99% of spots in the UK are public and free.

Cheers

[Toby]

In Germany many beaches charge for the access...but not only kiters, everyone!

[juandesooka]

In Canada, the land below high tide line is public, Crown-owned. But the upland can be private with no access to it.

We are starved for good quality launches around here. If someone cleared some land with nice soft grass, no downwind obstacles, and the right wind orientation, I'd probably pay a few bucks to use it. Add hot showers, tasty snacks, and some adult beverages, and now we're talking.

[jack1587]

In Squamish, BC, Canada there is a location called the spit. It costs $20 per time or you can get a membership for the season. It sounds bad but they have rescue, people to launch you, first aid and most important deal with permits. So we do pay to kite there but otherwise we wouldn't get to kite at all in that location and would miss the great consistent thermal wind all summer. Paying in this situation makes sense to me but paying for no reason because of tide makes absolutely no sense!

[Tone]

i am in the UK for a visit and am horrified that you have to pay to kite at some locations

It's like someone has decided to be neptune himself

i'll never pay 1c to kitesurf, the ocean is for everyone... well except here apparently. if you kite above the mean LOW tide mark a some spots you are trespassing on private land.. crazy nutcaseness

Anyway, pretty disgusted that people would think this is ok and go along with it.

#neverpaytokite

Been nice and windy tho!

where you at bud?

[longwhitecloud]

paying to access via private land (always above water!) is a different issue... wow... paying to kite on the ocean is such crazy concept to me! I never surfed in Fiji until they gave everyone equal rights to the ocean a few years ago. i think the Maldives is the only other place on earth to do this - will never go there until they change this crazyness too.

Hayling Island and WItterings.

It's not even an access issue, it's the fact that the water below the mean high tide mark to the mean low tide mark is private! :-0 Where many of the slicks are... Someone basically told me they were chased out of the water - they accessed the location by riding upwind for a couple of km - never touched land!

[paulie]

West Wittering is pretty unique in the UK for the low water mark being private. That is not the case at Haying Island though, only the beach is private and you can access the lagoons from short upwind blast from a public beach. No one can stop you kiting there.

This is pretty much the case across the UK, the vast majority of spots are free access but of course we suffer from the same pressures as everywhere else with crowds and possible bans.That said the further you kite away from the South East coast the less the less the crowds become.

[Onda]

I have absolutely no probs with paying for kiting itself. If the payment assures for empty spots
What I find slightly annoying in the UK is the parking business model. You pay everywhere. And many parking lots are video monitored, with nice shots of every number plate entering and leaving. This is disgusting

But anyway, the Cornish spots and people are so brilliant, I´ll return very soon Despite the brutal exchange rate GBP - EUR.

[ronnie]

Because the weather and water are so cold, there is not an important culture of using the sea for recreation like in warmer places.

So you tend to get raw sewage pumped into the sea and a short season in the summer where water quality is even an issue. Due to pressure from Europe, the sea water inspection standards have been raised this year. That will eventually get better results for cleanliness.

The are a lack of access spots and poor facilities for water sports users - except for yacht clubs.

That's why few people travel to the UK for water sports.