Playground Sails

Ancient Egyptians and later the Greeks and Romans used large pieces of fabric to provide shade. The Colosseum in Rome was shaded with large canvas “sails” pulled into place by Roman sailors.

Mira Bay has sun shades just like these, they are now commonly called “Sails”, stretched above our playgrounds. The Sails were taken down prior to the last hurricane, many were found to be in such bad shape they were sent off to see if they could be refurbished, it was found that 5 of the 8 could not reasonably be repaired. Thus any new capital expense has to go before the CDD Board for approval.
The sails are not just a simple fabric, as we may have all experienced with fabrics in the outdoors, they will suffer from UV degradation. The proper material will include UV inhibitors are now added during the manufacture of shade cloth and good shade cloth now generally comes with a multi-year UV degradation warranties, which we definitely want for a long term solution.

The Board did direct staff to get pricing for the sails that need replacing, (5), at the close of the last meeting.
The remaining 3 Sails have been determined that they can be reinstalled. Installation of Shade sails are tensioned usually by means of either a stainless steel turnbuckle or a pulley system fixed at each corner of the sail and connected to a structure or poles in the ground. Thus it is important to understand not all sails are the same size, so the 3 to be reinstalled must go where they will work with the structure/poles already in place.

This also means we need a lift and a small crewe to put them back up. I can not act alone; but I can and have made the recommendation to staff that we put the 3 Sails back up where they will fit as soon as it can be scheduled.  The remaining 5 sails must be passed by the board for purchase and installation.  I am sure the Board wants to take care of this expeditiously and also take into consideration for a Sail at Wolf Creek Park for the good of our little ones!!
Have a great Mira Bay Day!!

Tim