Accident at Hobie Beach Wednesday (5-21-08)

[ricki]

This is an important topic, one that needs to be seriously discussed. To get anywhere productive, I think we need to work at it as Ken and Kent are trying to do. To that end and to avoid things getting dragged out into left field to where nothing useful will be resolved,

I would like people to use their actual names in this thread.

Reasonable respect and restraint would help as well, also as shown by Ken and Kent. Too many important discussions over the years have been deep six'd by anonymous postings. Sorry to move your post mudslinger but that is why it was done.

Kiting was scheduled to end at Hobie Beach a couple of years back along with bather access by government order. Not sure what happened to that but I am relieved that we have a reprieve.

Kiting had a very bad reputation with authorities at Hobie. The label they tied to kiting is nothing any activity or group would ever want or likely survive for long either. Poor kiting behavior and lots of avoidable incidents and accidents created this impression. We need to take steps to reverse this perception.

Lots of accidents have happened at Hobie vs. other launches. Why is this? What should experienced riders do to avoid having problems like these? Why is it a bad idea to instruct at this beach? Are there worse conditions than others here which increase the hazard to kiters? Is it possible to teach here and stay out of the out of bounds swim area?