Onshore lofting by novice kiters...protecting riding areas...

[HYNMAN]

Heard a unknown kiter up in Ormond by the Sea got blown up onto the beach and their gear got wrapped up into the power lines on busy A1A. Not a good thing. 2 FPL trucks were called out to help assist the removal of the kite from the lines. It was blowing 20-30 dead onshore and I believe he was a beginner kiter. Distance from A1A to the waters edge is less then 50 yards.

Another kiter dumps his brand new kite on a cactus bush. Has been told repeatedly not to kite in that location because of no downwind buffer zone.

Why do these people not listen to other seasoned riders when it comes to kiting safely?

And here's the best one yet....My friend has been teaching his buddy how to landboard. No lie.....it's the blind leading the blind here. It's blowin' 30mph+ and this guy thinks sending the kite back and jumping on CONCRETE is too cool. Upon several requests of not jumping and the conseq. that can happen. This guy sends it.......gets' hit by a gust. And is lofted 10ft. into the air in a superman position. Kite loops...powers up....and he slams to the concrete breaking his ankle. Requiring 2 pins to hold it together.

All of this happens within acouple of days. I'm now taking more of a proactive effort to police the places that I like to kite. Sooner or later we're probably gonna have designated riding spots due to such incidents.

How do you politely ask someone to pack up their gear and head to a beginner kiter spot? Should I post a sign down at the beach for rules and regulations for kiting advanced riding spots? Just seems to me that these people are getting their kites off Ebay and just showing up at the beach. With little to no instruction.

Time to lead by example.....to keep my riding area safe & sound.

[Skyway Scott]

From our experiences in St. Pete, having several people approach the rider is the best way to talk him out of it.

We try, if possible, to always (we have done this maybe 10 times in 2 years) approach in a group of 3 and at first ask the rider to stop or reconsider politely, and show genuine concern to the rider's safety and our local spot, stating our concerns plainly and rationally in about 30 seconds or so. Most of the time this works. Some times this doesn't work and it has to go to the next level.

The next level becomes necessary, imo, when the risk to bystanders, the rider or losing the spot seems obvious (new guy attempting to launch 16m in 30 knots, instructor giving a lesson in 30 knots only 50 yards from shore, etc).
Some scenarios are just unacceptable and as such, "no" isn't a viable answer from the "offender".
The next level is usually entails just increasing the strain in your voice and body language/gestures to get the idea across. The other guys (assuming you have help) can just stand there showing support. Their support is invaluable.

I wouldn't recommend just giving up if you feel in your heart the situation has a high chance of turning out bad. If it's obvious, it's obvious, right?
If you make it clear you won't leave the guy until he changes his mind, he will change his mind.

It has never come to a fight here, but has become moderately heated a few times if the rider is blowing someone off and poses an obvious threat to himself and/or others. The rider has always backed down, btw.
I can't honestly see the opposite outcome if you have support and it is obvious the person is in the wrong.

Some areas are more gray. That's where it gets tricky, for sure. But we are talking "Clear and Present Danger".

It's obviously never fun to do this, but imo, most people want someone to speak up in the situation and will have your back.
This just happened today, actually.

Later in the day today, when the wind picked up, two riders asked me (I am only 150 pounds) to initiate a conversation. The guys that asked were 190 and 205 and could kick my butt in a heartbeat.
A couple of things stood out at that moment to me.

1) It's always best to have an agreement among riders prior to approaching someone. There is definitely power in numbers and it's wise to alert a few people to your intentions, and/or ask for help.

2) From what I have seen, no one wants to be "that guy" that took the initiative in one of this instances, no matter how bad ass they are. They most likely don't fear getting in a fight, they just hate the confrontation.
No one wants to confront someone, it's not fun.

3) Most will back you up, no questions asked, if need be. Also, most riders want to see the "right thing" happen, but again, don't like the idea of confrontation.

Hope this answer made sense. I would ask for help from another rider you trust and then approach with good intentions, is my recommendation. Sometimes (oddly enough) good intentions end up turning into yelling at a guy to not kill himself after he doesn't respond to rational thought and signs of concern. Sad, but true.




Good luck.

[ricki]

Heard a unknown kiter up in Ormond by the Sea got blown up onto the beach and their gear got wrapped up into the power lines on busy A1A. Not a good thing. 2 FPL trucks were called out to help assist the removal of the kite from the lines. It was blowing 20-30 dead onshore and I believe he was a beginner kiter. Distance from A1A to the waters edge is less then 50 yards.



That sucks, thanks for mentioning it here though. Was the rider injured? Would you be be able to take some profile shots, that is looking north or south along A1A showing the ocean, road and powerlines? I would like to write this one up and spread the hard won lesson around. No mention would be made of the area, maybe not even Florida. If this is feasible, would you please PM ricki?

Too right, people are way too indifferent to onshore winds, particularly strong winds. They set themselves up for avoidable problems and the rider and the rest of us may get stuck paying the price.



Another kiter dumps his brand new kite on a cactus bush. Has been told repeatedly not to kite in that location because of no downwind buffer zone.

Why do these people not listen to other seasoned riders when it comes to kiting safely?


There seems to be an element of human nature in this. I originally thought natural selection would have taken this trait out of the gene pool eons ago. I figured out why it may not have been selected out. Think of a skillet over a fire full of mexican jumping beans going nuts. Some stay put and roast, others jump out and land in the fire with the same outcome. Some jump out, clear the flames and jump off to Reno or something, staying alive. The moral being random stupid behavior may lead to unusual outcomes, most of which may be fatal or cause injury however a few doing stupid stuff may land "beyond the fire" accidentally and thereby persist. Natural selection, jumping beans and kiteboarding, go figure?!


And here's the best one yet....My friend has been teaching his buddy how to landboard. No lie.....it's the blind leading the blind here. It's blowin' 30mph+ and this guy thinks sending the kite back and jumping on CONCRETE is too cool. Upon several requests of not jumping and the conseq. that can happen. This guy sends it.......gets' hit by a gust. And is lofted 10ft. into the air in a superman position. Kite loops...powers up....and he slams to the concrete breaking his ankle. Requiring 2 pins to hold it together.

All of this happens within acouple of days. I'm now taking more of a proactive effort to police the places that I like to kite. Sooner or later we're probably gonna have designated riding spots due to such incidents.

How do you politely ask someone to pack up their gear and head to a beginner kiter spot? Should I post a sign down at the beach for rules and regulations for kiting advanced riding spots? Just seems to me that these people are getting their kites off Ebay and just showing up at the beach. With little to no instruction.

Time to lead by example.....to keep my riding area safe & sound.

Clueless newbies wanting to "teach" other clueless newbies isn't that uncommon. The sport looks too easy, so it goes.

I would try to find some like minded kiters in your area, get together, figure out the most threatened launches, those that you want to work to preserve vs. those better avoided intentionally by kiters. Figure out the most common issues there, write a short set of guidelines (6 to 10 points, people have no real attention span for more) and consider putting up temporary signs, hand outs, etc.. Permanent signs usually require a lot of permissions and may start some new threats to access in the asking.

You said it, Lead By Example, bigtime.

[ricki]

What do you guys think about a short handout, a single sheet of paper with some quick listings of some self-training accidents, a few photos of things gone wrong involving new kiters? Something that focuses on the need for adequate quality pro training putting the burden of the accident on lack of proper training?

We tell people these stories in an effort to wake them up at times. Maybe a handout might make this easier and be more effective? Just an idea, input?