I’ve been in Squamish for a while now.
For the first 10 years, this sleepy little town didn’t change much. Most people were long-time residents who were at least familiar with each other. Everyone knew how the place worked, where you could go to do what. There was the Chief for hiking, lots of trails for riding, a few lakes up the road, and Nexen Beach (now known as Newport Beach) where you could take your kids and your dog to play and have fun.
As the town has turned from industry to tourism, we’ve welcomed the water enthusiasts – in particular, windsurfers and kiters. And they’ve been great, well mostly. Any warm day as soon as the wind shifts, they go racing to The Spit and have a fantastic time. My husband is an avid kiter and frequently comes home beaming.
Some of them, however, have taken over Newport and the little bay in front of the beach.
Why they are there? I imagine some don’t like having to pay the small fee to use The Spit. With the pandemic to enable social distancing, there’s also the issue of limited access. Whatever the reason, a few of them make it difficult for the rest of us.
Going by the number of vehicles parked there, it would seem most of the enthusiasts simply launch there and then go further into Howe Sound. Kudos to them. However, there are a few who are determined to stay in the bay. A few weeks ago, we decided to try swimming at Newport. My husband was sure the kiters would move further out once we were in the water. They didn’t. One of them even appeared to aim directly for me several times. I stood still and waved to make sure he saw me. Yes, he turned in plenty of time but what if I had been swimming under the water? He wouldn’t have seen me at all and I could have been badly injured.
As someone with limited mobility, the only serious exercise I can get is in the water but the pool is closed due to COVID. To swim within Squamish, Newport is it, period. I recently wrote a letter to council asking them to have an area cordoned off just for swimming as is common in many places. I’m not asking the kiters and windsurfers to go away; I’d simply like some room for myself and others to be allowed to swim safely.
My letter was supposedly brought up at a council meeting and then sent to staff to look into; however, the one councillor who actually replied wanted me to be patient for the development to happen down there which will include a swimming area. This is such typical ableist mentality and not worthy of our council. And kiters, mountain bikers, climbers, hikers, would you be willing to wait a couple of years to get to do what you love?
As to the kids and the dog, it looks like a tragedy waiting to happen. They could get entangled in a kite’s strings. Before launching, the wind could drop leaving a kite to come crashing down on someone. A landed kite could even be ruined by a dog running over it. At The Spit, people are watching out for what’s happening with others’ kites; at Newport, people are often focused on other things.
There needs to be a clear separation of kiters/surfers from others now. Not in a few years but before a tragedy occurs.
Patricia Carlin is a local citizen. Views expressed in this column are of the writer and may not necessarily reflect those of this publication.
Terri Lukyn says
I totally agree. I am a swimmer. The sound is so great this year. The clean water, the temperature. I back you 100%
David Cox says
I had to give up swimming at Newport Beach due to the reckless behavior of some of the kite surfers who seem to deliberately try to intimidate swimmers.
More than once I was close to being run over and one jerk actually sailed close by then spun around and went back on the other side of me, even though I was close to shore.
I also contacted the municipality and the group that organizes those on the spit.
One of the kites was rude enough to send me a video of someone running over a dog with their Jetski.
Such a nice beach should be enjoyed by all.
Nick says
I’m sorry that you encountered some jerks. You can find such individuals everywhere, but that’s not a good reason to punish everyone else and restrict public access to the waters for your personal benefit.
I’m not sure what you want the council to do. Any cordoning would need to cover a huge area to be effective at all tides, because of how dramatically the tide affects the shoreline at Nexen, that’s a non-starter. Next year beach access will be closed for construction anyway, as they will be building separate beaches for swimmers and windsports users, solving the problem for good. This will actually be a significant downgrade for windsurfers, as the new windsports beach will be much smaller and have essentially no parking.
For a temporary fix, have you tried swimming at the far west side of Nexen beach, close to the terminals? You wouldn’t need to cordone it off because kiters don’t go that far west. Trying to swim in the middle of a busy sailing area is just not a great idea, and the reason people are sailing here has nothing to do with spit membership fees. The spit just isn’t large enough to fit everyone safely, especially those practicing new skills who need flatter water.