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  #11  
Old 08-21-2007, 08:33 AM
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DanB DanB is offline
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Exclamation Update on injuries

Here is an update from my friend who spoke to the family.

The rider is from Venice Florida and had a gash on his head, sprained neck, broken vertebrae, broken tailbone and several lacerations.

He stayed overnight and will be released today.

Hope that he is more careful next time.

This does pose a serious risk of beach closure and yesterday at skyway was pretty messy.

I am not sure the best answer but we as a group may need to consider something soon.
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  #12  
Old 08-21-2007, 09:06 AM
popeye
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Sad to hear about this. It's disappointing that someone didn't stop this guy when they saw the deal going down. Asking for lessons, trying to ride right before the wind picks up at 7, etc. Who launched him?

So much talk about self regulating our sport and obviously it is not working.

If you try to speak up instead of just giving a thumbs up you are branded as a drama queen, chastised, etc. We are getting 25 new riders per week and if we are going to be too polite to stop someone (obviously unqualified) from riding we are going to have a few more serious injuries this year, maybe a fatality.

Sad, I hope he recovers and gets trained correctly.
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  #13  
Old 08-21-2007, 09:10 AM
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It's pretty obvious.

We need a gatekeeper.

An that person is the person who is always at the beach.

Also , if that person doesn't have the time to keep the new person under constant vigilance then that new person cannot kite there until they prove to be proficient.

It's also in the best interests of the gatekeeper since shuting down access also shuts him down.

Otherwise we won't last another season there
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  #14  
Old 08-21-2007, 09:29 AM
TritonKiteboarding TritonKiteboarding is offline
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Default Shocker.

Almost got jumped on the other night about half a dozen times, also watched guys jumping about 10-20 feet from the shore. Mainly saw waroo's doin it, but as everyone has one, they're pretty much hard to single out. Was pretty suprised no one got injured sunday night.

The stoke is good and its cool to encourage people to progress and jump but i'd try and refrain from cheering it on when it only takes a gust to move their landing zone to dry land.

Sorry to hear about this guy hope he his recovery goes well and he's learned his lesson.
-TritonKiteboarding.com
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  #15  
Old 08-21-2007, 09:31 AM
popeye
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Yeah... since Randy sort of claimed the spot for his kiteboarding school, and since 90% of the beginners out there are his students, I would have thought this is something he want to do (to protect his own business).

There is really not a single day that he is not out there teaching... usually 3 people per day, every day as long as it's blowing at least 6mph.
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  #16  
Old 08-21-2007, 09:35 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TritonKiteboarding View Post
Almost got jumped on the other night about half a dozen times, also watched guys jumping about 10-20 feet from the shore.
Totally agree... I showed up to ride on Sat night and saw the same thing. People jumping right on shore. It was complete chaos .... ended up riding alone after everyone packed up. It completely blew my mind as to how irresponsible many riders have become in just the last year. Can't say I didn't see it coming though. Either these people will learn a hard lesson and it will stop, or it won't stop and we'll all learn a hard lesson later.
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  #17  
Old 08-21-2007, 10:05 AM
Optionryder420 Optionryder420 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevil Kenevil View Post
I hope the guy is OK.I am both sad and very angry that this happened, please pardon my tone...
newbies riding at the sketchiest launch in town at night??? WTF?
monkey see, monkey do-This kind of sh@t has to stop RIGHT NOW
there are no less than 10 certified instructors around here now, no reason for this to happen. no more "cowboys" and no more friends teaching friends. If you're not a PASA or IKO certified instructor DO NOT TEACH ON OUR BEACH. BELIEVE ME FOLKS, I WILL CALL YOU OUT WITHOUT HESITATION OR REGRET.
Its about time we address these type of situations to protect our access.
That's funny. You'll call us out for teaching without a certification huh. I was teaching my friend David before he left for vacation, I'm not certified.

I believe IKO and PASA are just some commercial brands that sell certifications, see if I care that some of the instructors have some piece of paper that says they can teach how to kite.

Sounds to me like NOBODY was teaching this guy, so that's his own fault, nobody elses.

Most of us are grown ups and as so we should be able to accept the responsibility of ourselves, not others.

Take the "holier then thou" attitude and get the hell out of here with it.
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  #18  
Old 08-21-2007, 10:11 AM
Optionryder420 Optionryder420 is offline
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And about the people whom jump too close to shore, there are quite a few that do that. They are usually the riders whom have been riding for a while.

I almost had Danny slam into me and Randy's girlfriend on the beach one time a few months back. Jumping right next to shore, not to mention jumping in others ways consistently. He's not the only one, I know there are a bunch more.

There's no way they're going to ban riding anywhere anyways. They can ban it off a beach, but you can always launch from the water. There's no way the police are going to waste their time trying to ticket you for it, and that's all they could do.

I'd hope they would ban it from a few places, that way I'd have a riding spot all to myself. You think a sign that says "no kitesurfing," would stop all of us? I know it wouldn't stop me, I'll take my chances. I figure if I can get away with it a bunch then get one ticket it'd be worth it.
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  #19  
Old 08-21-2007, 10:12 AM
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inferno inferno is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Optionryder420 View Post
Most of us are grown ups and as so we should be able to accept the responsibility of ourselves, not others.

no offense, but those who are actual "grown-ups" will understand that we do have to take responsibility for others not just ourselves if we want to continue to have some of the best riding locations around...
anybody can take responsibility for themselves, thats easy... but more respect to those who are man enough to take responsibility for others...

(my 2 cents)
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  #20  
Old 08-21-2007, 10:16 AM
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I agree with Bob. A certification means close to NOTHING. It is easy for a "certified" instructor to get lost in trying to pound out lessons to make the most money possible or to lose genuine concern for the student due to the number of students that they teach. I am not saying that this happens locally but rather that I feel that a good quality instructor is more than a piece of paper saying that you are "certified" to teach.

"What kind of board was he on? I know a guy that showed up earlier with a particular brand board asking about lessons and had already purchased a board and seemed very gung-ho."

Don't worry Scott, it wasn't one of my Skywalkers this guy was riding...

Creating drama on a forum because you are bored is something completely different than showing genuine concern for someone's safety Tom. Stop complaining about it on the forum as has been done on countless threads (not pointing the finger just at you, but at myself and others as well) and actually PROVE that you are CONCERNED by showing that concern at the beach. You are right, someone should have stopped this guy if he was exhibiting kook-like behavior...like asking about lessons and when he couldn't get them just launching.

I agree a "gatekeeper" would be a good idea but that person also needs to have close contact with others in the area who have given lessons and "approved" other newbie riders or it will cause friction on our beaches.

Bottom line is that you can't control this type of thing, it WILL happen sooner or later just like car accidents do. It is a fact of life and I don't see any sense in bringing attention to ourselves until the authorities ASK us to. I thought the sign with rules idea a while back was a great idea to post at each launch site but these ideas never seem to develop into reality. I think we as a community have a good track record in our area as far as accidents go, keep it what it is...as soon as you change it you will be wishing it was like it was "last season".
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