[Steve-O]

Bayflite

You need to get your facts straight.

"remember the 16 year old kid that zapped himself and almost broke his spine @ fred howard or honeymoon i think it was?

he bought that kite @ watersports west after admitting he had no proper lessons.
not online, right over the counter.

steve-o sold him the kite before the kid even had a clue.
then steve-o basically fingers the kid as the one to blame.
irresponsible at best.
negligent at worst.
your post after the incident was quite telling."

Your attacks towards me are bordering slander and I will take legal action if need be. We can argue about buoys till the cows come home, but as soon as you jeapordize my ability to make a living with false facts, expect a battle. I will be contacting my lawyer today. It will be easy as it is a family member. Nothing like some free consultation to deal with this.

The kid that got in the accident has a family that has been long time customers of the shop. They are good people and love the water. They live 5 minutes up the road. This same kid saved all his money to buy these kites before his annual summer trip up to the great lake. It was something that was in the works for years.

This wasn't just some random kid that walked in the shop, we sold him kites and we told him to go have fun. Are you kidding me? Do you really think that is what we do here? Is it possible we have had no access shut down in our area actually due to our leadership role that we have taken? Is it possible that we chase people out all the time that want to buy kites without lessons? I have said this before...call the shop and try a buy a kite. Tell us you live here and you don't plan to take lessons. See what you can buy?

For the record, John knows the family very well, and as been friends with the family for years.

His mom and him came to shop on there way to the Great Lakes for the summer. He was enrolled in a 2 week summer camp with Bronea Kiteboarding. A highly respected kiteboarding school. 2 weeks of lessons "bro". Then he rode up there all summer long almost every day. We agreed at the shop that he wasn't to use the kites until the lessons were complete and mom was in total agreement. That's how we do it here. Whatever you have fabricated in your mind, is simply false and again, bordering slander.

He came back at the end of that summer tearing it up. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some more facts, he was at the Dunedin Causeway upwind of powerlines. How is it my fault that he showed poor judgement that we all feel aweful for? I even made the offer to the kid to call me upon his return home and I would show him some spots. He didn't take me up on it. A simple call to the shop to find out where a good place to ride that day would have avoided the disaster all together. See that's the beauty of a shop. We pick up the phone 6 days a week and answer any questions you might have. We will spend the time with you and warn you as well. The family continues to shop here, and I am proud to say the John and I personally took him back out on the water after a long recovery. The look on that kids face was incredible. It's unfortunate that you don't get to see that side of what we do. You just state useless facts, and bring others brothers down.

Talk to any of my students and they will tell you that their safety is my #1 priority. We have chased plenty of people out of the shop wanting to buy kites without lessons.

In addition I have invested $6000 of my own personal money towards a jetski in order to provide safer lessons for my students. I now have the ability to chase them down, stay right with them, and get them away from crowded riding spots. Who else in the area has made this kind of dedication to their students and to the sport?

You attack me brother, expect a fight. You are messing with my livelyhood and that is crossing the line. Your comments have nothing to do with the race but how I run business and instruct on the water.



Regarding the race, to all that have made comments, this is the first race that I have been a part of from an administration side. I made sure that respect would be given to the SZ. I even wanted to get it in writing. I have been to past races and I don't recall anything being said about SZ. That is one of the reasons I wanted to get involved. I wanted to make a better race . I recall Scott's comments last year about the SZ and wanted to incorporate them into the rules.