Dumb move of the day - Sunday at EB

Here's the thing...

I personally wouldnt mind wearing some sort of rashguard or little tag hanging off my harness....

But rigger is right, once we go down that road....of having someone else regulate us... thats what we will get Regulations....
And their will be no comming back from that...

I understand this is not a soultion, just my .02

[amber]

let me clear something up. The idea of the tags was to prevent "the authorities" regulate us by being proactive and taking care of things ourselves. It is to avoid "them" having to become involved. Its an easy way to promote safety, and give others an idea of who they're on the water and beach with.

I personally get all panicky when someone rides really close to me. Even though people know who i am, they might all not realize that i should have a yellow tag because i'm still learning. That kook with the ebay kite and no lessons would have no tag which would be an alert to area riders.

Rigger... not sure who you are, and that would probably help, but blatantly stating that you don't care and you don't think anything bad will happen is just plain careless. if you care about this sport and the future of it in our area, be a big boy and stay outside swim markers unless its 40 degrees out and there is no one out there.

I think that your mentality in dealing with the authorities via PR people AFTER something bad happens is absolutely ridiculous. sorry... it is. You act as if you're invincible. I don't know who you are so i don't know how you ride, but let me tell you that you can be a kiter as good as Billy or Matt or Mike, be riding thru a swim zone with kids in it, be in total control and have a line snap, a chicken loop accidentally release, etc. Shit... Tomstock had a freaking BIRD hit his bridle and snap it.

Its a risky sport. We try to do what we can to lower the risk level. If this includes putting a luggage tag on your harness and you're not okay with at least discussing that, maybe you need to find other places to ride so your arrogance and ignorance doesn't cause me to loose a great place to ride.

I see your point but we are already regulated by the authorities. We are just getting away with it because our numbers are still low and there hasn't been a serious accident yet.... but there have been PLENTY of accidents on the beach with bystanders. I've seen my share.

When the crowds increase and we DO have that one bad accident expect your beach launch days to be history, just like Howard Park. All it takes is ONE accident. Look how much attention the power line lofting got and poor Chris didn't even hurt a bystander. With all of the "Dangerous sport?" headlines imagine if he HAD hurt someone else?

Sorry I'm not being a spokesperson for anyone "after the fact". Tough luck on that one. Thats like telling someone not to do something and then cleaning up for them after they blatantly do it anyway.

I'd rather just quit kiteboarding when that happens than clean up after a bunch of egotistical careless self centered kiteboarders (obviously this doesn't include everyone).


Honestly I can't believe nobody can even agree to stay outside a swim area. That is about as rediculous,self centered, and irresponsible as it gets. It's just one thing and it's something we are already supposed to be doing.

Forget the newbs who don't know any better. The real kook is the one who DOES know better and does it anyway...

Also, I am not talking about a few tacks inside the buoys. I am talking about blatantly jumping and riding 10 feet from shore in and around swimmers. Everyone tacks inside the swim area one in awhile just like we all speed once in awhile. There is a difference between pushing it and outright disregard.

I got to ride today. It was definitely a nice day. It's amazing how clean the water is getting year to year. Visibility today reminded me of the keys or something. 20 years ago it was basically pea soup out there.

It's cool to see all the viewpoints on here. It's interesting for sure.
After today I decided that I am going to focus on myself and how I ride. I literally don't care what others do anymore. Attempting to change views is a waste of time, so I won't do it. I think Tammy saw how I will interact with/as a part of the community today. A new guy showed up and asked about me about the rules at PaG. I said "just mimic everyone else and you are good to go". Majority rules, basically.

So, I am just going to focus on me. To that end, I want it understood that I have zero intent of making a video (pointless), talking to any authorities (pointless) or doing anything. I just don't want to be "the guy" that screwed us over, so I am going to ride outside the swim zone, regardless of what others do.

The main reason I want to make it clear that I am not focusing on the rest of you is that when/if we lose access, I don't want one person thinking even for a second that I was somehow involved. It's not going to take someone talking, it's only going to take further bad behavior. So, if a ban happens, trust me, I didn't talk to anyone up to this point and won't. Anyone concerned about myself approaching authorities has my word on it that I won't. Only a fool would talk to the beach police at this point and risk being blamed if something bad happens soon.

Rigger, yeah thats what I am talking about. I'm not talking about just riding back and forth in areas with few swimmers.

Anyway, I'm just going to let it go and hope for the best.. ... be safe.

[rigger]

Amber first thing is im not egotist. Im being a realist. And my point is that we are going to shoot our selfs in the foot. My thoughts were a collection of what i read on this thread. I don’t think I addressed anything you mention in your posts. I respect how active you are in the kiting community. And i think you to be sweet, well until you bashed me Oh and Ive been discussing this shit for years. If we all rode in the same spot, then we could possible enforce some kind of the stuff mentioned. But the fact of the matter is that we dont. I would gladly were a luggage tag if it made you feel safer. Oh and this is Jeff Btw

Tom, my point is that most us practice as safe riders.. All this regulation stuff usually comes up after one incident occurs usually with a new kiter, which is also far and few between. I would gladly wear a luggage tag if it made you feel safer too. That’s not my point. My point is that I enjoy riding in the gulf most of all and the meager waves that we get. And when i read about people wanting to video tape people on the beach and have the authorities make our regulation all because someone is riding inside the markers, it irks me. I don’t pull kite loops 10ft from shore, im talking about tacking in and out and playing in the waves, I don’t think its unsafe, If you call that selfcenter than oh well buddy,because we ALL do it. That is my point.
If you really see something unsafe, (beating died horse) Then say something. If they dont listen call the authorites like OS did. Keep all the super regulation stuff at EB were the masses gather and the real possibly of a serious accident occurring. Most times even on a windy day, i can count the amount of kites in the air from coast to coast on one hand. Us riding inside the marks has never been an issue, please dont make it one. I guess thats all im really saying.

[rigger]

I hope a few different views and disagreements really don’t make you feel that way Scott. You are definitely Old school and your knowledge about kiting is a valuable resource for all of us. I mean that.

I have to admit that the video tape thing did twist me the wrong way. Mainly because the Gulf is my riding spot of choice, and I do tack in and out thru the markers, with the mentality those swimmers have the right of way. Again I don’t feel that as being unsafe. That’s just my take on it.

[amber]

ok rigger... your last post seems MUCH more reasonable. It seemed in the previous one that you were basically telling us to F-off. What's important to stress is that its not something that Scott or Steve or anyone can fix once its already happened. Wanna know how quick we could lose access for a SMALL incident? Just ask the guys up in Chicago or Miami. They had to work their asses off to get their access back, and now they are limited to certified riders, mandatory helmets, etc. I'd prefer to do what I can to prevent that here. If that means keeping a reasonable distance from swimmers, it baffles me how that could be something people are trying to argue against.

You definitely got me fired up earlier. A lot of research and discussions led us to the tag thing last summer and for someone to take something as low-key as that and say that I (we) are trying to strangle them with it... well yeah. You pissed me off. No hard feelings ever on here... until someone is an idiot, and not by accident and it screws over the rest of us. then there might be some hard feelings.

see you at the beach...

[kite-4-life]

*To clarify one thing- My goal is to educate, not regulate.

I admit I get fired up and get on here and start voicing my opinion maybe louder than I should. I sort of get tunnel vision. For that I appologize. Forums have always been an issue for me... maybe I am a little obsessive.

I'm just going to ride, take my meds, and let it work itself out. I guess it will eventually.

No point in pissing evenryone off and making enemies with a decent bunch of guys over differing opinions especially when I don't even ride the beaches much anymore. Plus I have 5 boards in progress so I don't even know why I'm wasting my time on forums anyway.

So with that said, I'm outta this thread and I wish I'd just never even read it.

See you in the flat water...