So.. I just got back from the Skyway. And let me first say, “Hell Yeah”! Finally some freakin wind!! At least for me
It’s been months for me and it was great to finally get back out there. Unfortunately, somewhat bitter sweet…
Let me preface this by saying I’m no safety freak. I take safety very seriously for myself, but if others want to be reckless and endanger themselves, have at it. I don’t care if you wanna ride your motorcycle with no helmet, kill yourself with drugs... or do a railey into the backseat of your parked car. It’s your life. But my firm belief is “Harm none, do as you will”.
And that’s where the problem lies. I won’t accept actions that have the potential to harm innocent bystanders. Now, I’m not trying to stir this whole signage/regulations/access bullsh!t drama up again. All I want to do is remind/inform everyone to be diligent of not accepting behavior that is unacceptable on OUR beaches.
I’m not going to go too much into detail.. but here’s the very very short version of what I witnessed today in the few hours I was at Skyway. A guy drug up onto the beach. Kites bombing people on the beach. People showing off within feet of the beach. A guy boosting 15 feet in the air and landing 5 feet from the shore. Same guy repeating boosting and landing 10 feet from shore. Kite stalls. Falls about 2 feet from family hanging out (about 50’ feet away from all the kiters… all by themselves). Unfortunately kite narrowly misses mangroves.
While the guy was hurrying to launch his kite, I took advantage of the opportunity to say what’s up to him. Said hey bro.. not trying to be a downer, but you’re riding way to close to the beach and it’s only a matter of time before you hurt yourself or someone else. The latter being unacceptable. He seemed indifferent and hurried to relaunch his kite
, so I said “Clearly you don’t give a f*ck”. Fortunately he replied saying that he heard what I was saying. He seemed cool about it but I have doubts as to whether his actions will change. If I see him again, while he's not occupied, I'll talk to him again. And his friends if I see them off the water.
His friends (a new crew.. never seen any of them before) were exhibiting exactly the same reckless behavior. Quite a few of them too….. Now listen, when your riding so close to the beach that you can high five people standing on the sand, and your kites are sining over cars and the tops of people's heads….. YOU ARE TO F*CKING CLOSE!!!
What’s the point of all this rambling? Please, Please, Please. For the love of god. Be responsible and when you see people doing this crap confront them. Not with hostility. Just be friendly and let them know that as a proud resident, we’re not accepting this reckless riding style. It’s only a function of time before some innocent person gets hurt. If the guilty hurt themselves… fine. They should know the risk they’re taking. But we all know what happens the minute someone on the beach gets hurt………
Those who have been on this forum for awhile know I rarely post. But this is important. We can’t become complacent. I know I’ve had a tendency to, year after year of witnessing this. But as our sport becomes exponentially more popular, our launches more crowded, and a new season approaching, it is even more critical that we inform new combers as to what is not acceptable.
......if anyone even reads this forum anymore????? I'm sure I'll feel motivated to re-post along the same lines during the season when hopefully there's more traffic on here