So you see, in the grand scheme of things, at least ancedotally, its not private ownership of land that has restricted beach access, its actually been the babysitting government that has made our lives inconvenient because of the actions of the few inconsiderate and stupid amongst us.
Good to hear it's that way in your neck of the woods. Elsewhere around the country it's at least a mixture of both. There are beaches in California where private ownership has cut off the once free access to the beaches - it's been an ongoing fight from what I'ver read. Few people who own such property want to let others onto what they have paid to own. In my neighborhood in MD we have beaches, launch ramps, boat slips, racks for kayaks - but you have to own property in the community to use any of them - and the community guards it pretty closely. The waterfront properties don't actually own the waterfront, but you'd need to go through their yard to get there, and then you still need to be from the community (community retains riparian rights). There are a lot of such neighborhoods either guaranteeing access if you live there or cutting it off if you don't. In Galesville where my club races, there are no public launch ramps or beaches. The land around the water is privately owned (including the land we use) or controlled by marinas (with no launch ramps). In actuality, the only true public water access around the Annapolis area other than the marinas (private, not all with launch ramps) are the county and state parks that just happen to be kept operating by the "babysitting governments". In fact, our "babysitting governments" are studying ways to guarantee more access, which will probably involve some socialistic practices like buying land for public use.
