Hawaii State Law would prohibit WS within 200' of a surfer

[keycocker]

This is really the right thing to do. Hard to arrange, though. Few of the folks at the beach are Native Hawaiians. Almost none of the Hawaii Leg. is Native.
When the Hawaiians were in charge they kept a house on the mountain and a camp on the beach in the winter. It was a mess when they began using plastic and tin cans. In ancient days all natural packaging was the order of the day.

[swchandler]

victor,

I think that I have to take issue regarding just letting the Hawaiians decide this. One must remember that the tourism industry in Hawaii is huge, as it represents an immense engine that affects the overall economy of the state.

As we all know, especially now during this election year, a small facet of the public can greatly impact outcomes. We all must be mindful of that, because leaving things to a few to decide can have terrible results over the long haul. The interests of some aren't necessarily representative of the whole. Restrictive policies really need the light of day, and they need to reflect the careful thought and input of the broadest spectrum of interested parties, even those who may not live in the immediate area.

[geohaye]

Well stated (swchandler).

What's becoming clear in the aftermath here is that almost NO ONE in the windsurfing/kiting community had any knowledge about what was happening re this bill until the last second. Almost everywhere you see this news, it was posted on Thursday hours or minutes before the official email/fax testimony deadline, or more often Friday the day after the deadline (example: PWA website: http://www.pwaworldtour.com/ -- where they mis-understood (like most of us did) when the email/fax testimony deadline was. The deadline was in fact not 2:45PM HI time Friday, it was 2:45PM HI time on Thursday -- 24 hours prior to the Hearing in Honolulu).

This issue was first mentioned here on iWindsurf on Monday:
http://forums.iwindsurf.com/viewtopic.php?t=14054

High kudos to that person for first bringing this to our attention. But, perhaps the "subject" line of that post did not convey the urgency enough(?). That message also didn't include the comment period "Deadline" time & date nor the email address to send comments to -- if it had, maybe the word would have spread to other blogs/websites and our firestorm would have come days earlier! Then, the State Legislators would have pulled this hearing off their Friday agenda as early as on Tuesday or Wednesday rather than sensing major public opposition coming in on Thursday night and Friday morning and thus "shelving" the bill in response.

Looking at the overall picture here, at least one of these two things are true: (1) this bill was railroaded through quickly either with the intent or at least the effect of blind-siding the community that would be hurt most by the proposed law; and/or (2) the HI windsurfing community must get better educated about how to follow these legislative actions and hopefully at least a few people volunteer to watch the proper source materials so we all can be mobilized if necessary.

[nealpar]

[STEIN]

As to the "Machine powered" wording to local laws, as an avid bodysurfer it seems to me even surfboards can be considered "Machinery' propelling a person faster. No really Judge, that's my defense, seriously.

[geohaye]

There's a link below which apparently can be used as one of the ways to track this bill and keep an eye on the Legislature. It appears likely that this bill will rear it's ugly head again.

According to Sen. Clayton Hee during the Senate Committee
hearing, there has been "an extraordinary amount of testimony in
opposition to the bill", and the Senator who submitted the legislation
requested the bill be deferred so "they can work on it".

An update from Brian at the PWA:

Dear Sailors, Industry Members and Media,

We would like to thank those of you that wrote in opposition to the proposed bill.

Due to your support Senator Clayton Hee began the meeting last Friday by stating that SB2091 was being deferred (delayed or put on hold). Senator Hee said he would not be hearing public testimony related to SB2091. This does not mean an END to the bill, it might be presented again and we shall watch closely to check progress, if any. Updates to the status of the bill can be found at:

http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/site1/docs/getstatus2.asp?billno=SB2091

The bill was proposed as a SAFETY issue. When we called the senators to register opposition to the bill, they were only interested in hearing how windsurfers and kiters would affect the safety of swimmers and surfers. This is the basis for the bill and if the bill is presented again, we will have to approach it from the point of view of safety.

Again, thank you for the support and the many kind emails we received.

Best Regards,
Professional Windsurfers Association
http://www.pwaworldtour.com

[jeff_bennett64]

Everyone should be aware that there is a nearly identical bill in the House of Representatives. All I know about it is on the latest blog at www.MauiWindsurfing.net.