I will visit and donate a bit to the sign cause. I will also get a firm cost on 20 signs. I think it has to be non-permanent, if I recall. We can give a sign to all instructors and people who are around east beach often. We can also leave a few near the range station (we were told last year). That way if you are the first out ( and want to) you can grab one and stick it in the ground. It would most likely help with confronting those who choose to be outright dangerous...

Rock out with your Kook-out, I mean cook-out!

Danny Johnson

I will happily make a donation for the signs,and was willing to last year as well. The only reason that I didn't last year is that it seemed as though with all of the "discussions"(read arguing), they probably wouldn't get done because of lack of agreement or support by all. When the people who are the ones who are going to have them made have gotten estimates and have a clear cut time of when they will be produced, I will happily donate. Like Scott said, I would have absolutely nicely confronted the guy on the Fuel who crashed on Steve's trainer kite if I had a sign to point to and say, "here's our guidelines, could you put a leash on your kite so you don't get us banned". As a noob who isn't even close to riding upwind still, I still feel as though I need a little backup before I confront someone I see doing dangerous things. So, I'm all for the signs, and my donation will be based on cost to make them. Meaning, if their more expensive than I think they might be, I'll happily donate a little more.
I'd say 95% of you guys wouldn't know who I am if you saw me on the beach. That's because I try to keep to myself so that I'm not the noob that's getting in everybody's way. And eventhough I've taken more than the average number of lessons, I'm still not 100% confortable with my skills. This is simply because my job doesn't allow me to get out nearly as much as I need in order to really lessen my learning curve. But, I'm cautious and safety oriented, and walk way upwind of everyone when I'm out there, so I don't get in your way, or drop my kite on someone's head. I tire myself out by riding downwind, and walking back upwind out of the way of others, and it decreases my time on the water. The reason I get annoyed, is because I go out of my way to do those things, and the next time I'm out at East Beach, I see some dude that has less skills than me(no offense Fuel dude) talking crap about why he would't take lessons, self-teaching his friend, and his friend nearly hurting people. Tha really ticks me off.
I really respect all of your opinions, since you all have been doing this longer than me. Scott has gone out of his way to PM answers to questions I had on other forums, and I appreciate it. I check out Steve's sites all the time, looking to see what local charity work they're doing, and when, because I really would like to help out. Unfortunately, none of the events are on days that I can get off of work to help. But I'm going to keep checking it out until finally my schedule will allow me to help out. And I took Steve-O's safety class at WSW a while ago, and it was awesome. So I say, let's all get along. It looks to me like pretty much everyone on the forum is working for the same goals. To have fun kiting, to make sure people are safe, and to keep our area open to everyone. It sucks that sometimes it's easy to argue on a forum, because its a less personal interaction. I say we all go out and have some fun. If you see a dude with a blue expedition riding a waroo(badly), come over and say hi, cause I'd like to get to know everybody out on the beach too.
If you look at the forum, there's a dude from Louisiana(like me) introducing himself cause he's new to the area, and there's a guy from England coming over for vacation to kite and he's asking about our area. Let's make sure they don't think we're a bunch of bickering douche's and scare them off from coming out and kiting with us. Cause as I know from personal experience, it can be overwhelming to kite with people that are so passionate about thte area.
One last thing, and it's not a "call out", but Uchuche, you don't want to make it personal, but calling somebody a pu**y on the forum makes it personal. I would take it to heart if you called me one on here.

My only wishes from this whole thread for the few who read it.....


1. Instructors need to respect everyone's space, we all have a right to be out there.
2. Instructors need to take more effort to teach away from crowds. EB can get crowded, but it does not take too much effort to take your students downwind of the "riding area".
3. Realize we live in an imperfect world, and it is how you manage your existence within that world can be the difference between a positive or negative experience for you and those involved.

I have always used driving as a parallel to our problems in this sport. Drunk driving is a huge problem in this country. It cost lives every day. Keep the big picture in mind as an instructor and realize that our problems are minute in comparison to the problems of the world.

I think this has been one of the most constructive threads on the forum in awhile. Welcome back Scott and Tom. Your insights are appreciated and well noted.

Tomorrow is day 8 of the spring 2009 wind run. Lovin it!!!!

good advice steve-o.

Wow, lots can happen in a day. I feel like I am reading a whole season of 24. Who is Jack Bauer? :shock:

The OP wrote:
Kook and Instructor in the same area.

this puzzles me..............................

Question: Is it the Kooks responsibility to know that they are kooky and stop or is it the Instructors responsibility to stop the Kook?

Versus

Should the Instructor avoid areas altogether with Kooks and let other Kiters handle the Kooks?

After all, we are concerned about the students/instructors well-being, aren't we?
Because it seems to me a kook will (usually) not be a kook forever, However there will always be some other kook to take his place. Bank on that. So, should instructors avoid them, or should they confront them?

That is the real question (knowing full well that an instructor has no authority whatsoever over anybody else no matter what)

Just use common sense

To anyone that says no one reads the forum any more is full of shit!!! This thread alone has gotten over 2500 views in just a couple of days.

Steve, when you have cooled off, and willing, I would like to have a long talk someday, maybe over a nice cold beer.

8300+ views and counting. This could be a record.

Guys, it's time to stick ( The Fork ) in this one...........Jordan