VANCOUVER – Kitesurfing, or kiteboarding, had been banned at Vancouver beaches, from May through the summer, but the Vancouver Park Board has now changed the rules and allowed the sport from one spot at Spanish Banks.
“It’s just so special to kiters,” said Stephen Codrington from the Squamish Windsports Society. “You can see from the surroundings, the tankers, the mountains, the city view.”
Squamish is renowned for kiteboarding. There are more than 60 days a year with ideal wind that draws people from all over the world. Many people that rip across the by at Squamish are from Vancouver, but they wanted to stay in their own city for their sport.
“It’s such a pleasure, just being on the water and being pulled along by the wind,” said Chris Glazier from the Squamish Windsports Society. “It’s just another mode of ‘getting out there’, like windsurfing.”
Last year the Squamish Windsports Society approached the Park Board, who couldn’t see the sense in continuing to deny an activity that was happening anyway, with no problems.
“We’re trying to combat that ‘no you can’t do this,’ in our city with ‘yes you can’,” said Sarah Blyth, Vancouver Park Board Commissioner. “People are doing this anyways, so lets just see if we can accommodate it.”
Kiteboarding is a relatively new sport with growing popularity and new technology is making it easier and safer at the same time.
“We’re talking about 10, 15 events in that summer period,” said Codrington. “It’s not a lot of time that we’re asking to share our piece of the beach but I’m very confident we can make it work.”
– With files from Geoff Hastings.
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