Although, maybe now newbies will know what to expect with or without instruction, the latest in safety gear and experience. Other than the 200 Ft, Maui loft circa 2003, and a few others, we havent had any scary footage of the dangers of kiteboarding.

scott's 2nd last post about staying off-shore ...
 

hey scott - that is some damn good advice - i just copied it and sent it to some buddies up north

It's very good advice. We just had a great day at east beach today with 7 guys there and we all landed our kites at the waters edge with the rider as far off shore as possible. We also as a group would come to shore and land our kites when we saw the bands of extra low clouds coming across the skyway towards us. If they hit and didn't rock our world we all launched and went back to riding. We had one guy come in and park his truck close to the water, I ask him to consider moving it and explained the reasons. He completley understood and was very cool to move it up wind of us. It was a great day. Very safe group of people to ride with.

The entire situation has me beyond frustration. But after much thought today....people are going to do what they want to do. Unfortunately Kevin and all of us will suffer the consequences of a completely avoidable accident. It is one thing to get caught off guard by a surprise squall, it is quite another to ride on the east side of a tropical storm and so close to the center of circulation with clear weather warnings.

Just a question to all riders that rode today. The conditions looked awesome. The radar was relatively clear and the wind readings were pretty steady all day. If you had the option to ride the Skyway (onshore with hard downwind obstacles) vs. East Beach (sideshore with plenty of downwind room for error), then why increase your risk at the skyway on a day of increased weather risks? Scott always preaches that room is your friend. Amen to that brotha!!!!

There are a group of seasoned veteran riders out there that when given the choice, choose East Beach as the safer location on a NE wind. Not trying to make a huge debate, but wouldn't the risk of injury be higher at the Skyway if something were to go wrong? Take that kiter in the news and loft him onto a car driving on the Skyway and you will have a news story for the masses. Most days, the Skyway is a low risk situation, but a day like today is why I pose the question. I definately think today was an acceptable day to ride for experienced kiters, but is the Skyway the best choice? Food for thought.

Steve-O,

I and a handful of others rode the skyway today. I would say that everyone that I saw out there stayed way up wind and there wasn't more than 6 people on the water at one time. Everyone seemed to be on the look out for each other by launching and landing kites. I know at times when I was coming to land my kite, I kept my hand on my QR in case something happened.

Al-kite-a, CrazyJ Chris, and I did a DW from Gandy to Lassing. I saw at least 20 Nurse Sharks out there today along the flats and the biggest I saw was close to four foot. We decided a DW run would be the safest thing to do with the conditions that were out there today. Nothing but wide open water in front of you in case anything nasty came through. Usually heavy rain and squalls are on the eastern side of a TS or Hurricane. So we knew the winds were going to be steady and somewhat safe but it never hurts to expect the worst.

My thoughts and prayers go out to Kevin. It sucks to have the media exploit this accident to make him look like an idiot. Lets just all learn from of it and be safe. This accident for the media is our 3 mile island and it will be around for quite sometime. Let us all refrain from talking to the media as they will twist this around and write it as they see fit.

Kevin I wish you a full and speedy recovery.
Sincerly

I didn't ride the SW today. I couldn't tell if that was the question.
Glad no one got hurt today.

I rode the skyway but only as a last choice when the wind direction switched from ne to dead n making east beach unridable.

Good time at the skyway but will never argue that I'd rather be riding at east beach!

I'm in Australia and saw it on the news
 

See you fellas in a couple days when I'm back from OZ. Got some wind here today too. 20kts

i was at skyway from about 9 til 2 and the conditions seemed less intense than a really windy day in the winter. There were definitely some gusts but MOST everyone that was out there when I was definitely stayed on the side of caution and stayed away from shore and weren't even pulling their best tricks. I'm sure you will be able to see from my pictures that the wind looked a lot lighter than most of us expected. Everyone was definitely looking out for each other. Media was at the skyway both this morning and this afternoon. Steve had a great idea and asked the reporter to run her article past him before publishing to make sure she had her facts right. I thought that was one of the best ways to prevent the misconceptions, although they always end up making crap up anyway. if anyone approaches you from the media regarding the accident in Ft. Laud., perhaps we can all refer them to a local media/safety spokesperson such as Scott or Steve in order to prevent as much bad press as we can??

actually... e beach was prolly offshore winds today and skyway was side-on.
steve-o,
kiters are not good at being told "hey capt dip sh1t...don't you see how stupid you are?"
i've witnessed questionable kiting practices by ALL the handwringers.
get ready to be even more frustrated.
but dude... lets jam sometime.
peace