Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/336863
Siesta Seen Patterson told the SKA directors she would appreciate their willingness to talk with Alfieri. SKA President Michael Shay replied that he understood a county website-based survey on the issue of paddleboarding at the beach ended on May 26. He and his fellow board members await the results of that, he said, but they remain opposed to marking off a section of the public swimming area for stand-up pad- dleboarding. "The way I interpreted that … was at the beach, you would take, for exam- ple, a 100-foot-wide section, cordon it off and in that section, you'd rent paddleboards and [the users] would [stay] in that area and go in and out of the water." He added, "We had issues with that." Many families come to Siesta Public Beach, Shay pointed out, and those with young children, especially, like to stay close to the shore so the youngsters can play in the shal- low water while the parents keep close eyes on them. Taking a big swath of the beach for paddleboard use would hamper such activity, he said. Lifeguards have expressed concerns about how demanding it would be for them to supervise stand-up paddleboarders as well as swimmers at Siesta Public Beach. Photo by Norman Schimmel Sarasota News Leader June 27, 2014 Page 66