The Skyway, aka the Highway to Hell

[stormatzio]

So this is about my second post ever but I actually have my two cents to add. I went to the Skyway on Thursday and saw a whole bunch of people I have never seen before trying to ride in 10-12Kts of winds. There were a lot of fluttering kites hanging straight in the air. Probably 2 or 3 guys barely staying up wind. It was just looking ugly. I decided not to tempt fate and I guess I missed a pretty good late session.

So here it is.... The moment we have all dreaded...... People, lots and lots of people. The wind sucked the other day and the beach was packed. Gone are the days of hanging out and knowing everyone in the water and how they ride. Who you should stay away from and who is a good rider.

I see all of these posts about the skyway not being a beginner launch. My take is that the skyway is about the safest launch around. East Beach - slippery as hell most of the time, full of sightseers, palm trees, and road signs. Sure the water is shallow, but there is no really good bailout point other then the beach. Remember the guy who was dragged into the minivan last year...... Gulf - Newbies riding surf with a beach full of tourist and gusty conditions... I can't wait to read the post about that. Westside of Skyway - Oyster bars, boat channel, ankle deep water at low tide, big submerged pipe we have all dinged our boards on, slippery as hell muddy bottom, launch about the size of a postage stamp. How many people are we going to be cleaning out of the trees this year? I could go on and on, Southside of Skyway, Lassen, etc. We all learned in these spots when there were 20 of us total, Dakota was a puppy, and the one pump was the trickest thing on the market.

I haven't thought of an answer to this problem. I know it's not going to get any better with crowds and people are not going to stop wanting to learn. The summer is almost over and the wind is only a few weeks away, no matter what happens, I can't wait for the season to get going.

I have one word to describe it: carnage

It's going to be an interesting season!

[RKITEKT]

I'm sorry, I can't help but laugh... "one word: carnage"

Originally Posted by kite-4-life

I hate to be the one to ask, but what happened to everyone working together to create a sign/banding system to try to manage the rapid growth?

I think reality happened and many of us witnessed it.

[Wolfie]

Well...I still haven't given up, but I don't know how much I can do alone. I will try to keep talking to those who will listen. I'm sure no one wants to be the one to get us banned from SW. I'm going to try to approach those experienced riders who do tricks recklessly close to the beach and see if they will just try to go a little further out. It is those of us who have ridden for awhile whom all the new people are emulating.
I'm sure I will not be the coolest one out there...I'm sure few will listen straight out. But I feel I have to do my best. I'm sure if/when we do get banned from SW, at least people will take it more seriously. I bet we will be on an even shorter rope at Lassing if everyone has to show up there.

[toby wilson]

Wolfie, Kite-4-Life...I'm with you. I love how people get on here and preach about whatever it is they feel is the bitch of the week. Then the next week they contradict themselves. You would think that the recent events at the Skyway would have made everyone more eager to get at least some informational signs up for everyone to go by. What I am trying to get across is if you don't mean it, don't post it.

Lets stick to our original objective(s) and get something constructive done in the way of making our launches as safe as possible for the public and our community of kiters...in a POSITIVE way.

[bryanleighty]

Its taken only 1 week of semi-ridable wind for the smack talk BS crap to creep back on the forum. ugh.

From the beginning my initial concern was beginners at the Skyway launches.

The sign/rules/guidelines got thrown into the mix and while I think its still a great thing for us to have it was not my orignial concern.

Regarding some sort of ID, color tag, harness clip, etc.. I still would be willing to put effort into getting this done but only if its something that the local instructors are going to be 100% behind. Its their call. If even one of them is against it, then another system needs to be in place.

My vote is for whatever system our main local instructors come up with to keep the beaches as safe as possible. I will volunteer some hours to help out and thats all i can do. I think the topic has been talked through more than enough. It really has to fall back on the instructors to come together and get something in place. They are the only ones that have the ears of nearly every single new rider in our area. They have to be the ones to push whatever system they decide on.

I would say to start as simple as possible to see if it catches on.

[inferno]

i think a lot of our ideas are good ones, but will not be super easy to get implemented and will take some time.... in light of this i was trying to come up with a simple quick solution.....
my thoughts.....
to main riding areas of concern
-SW (N, NE, or E) and EB (E,SE, or S)
some of the main concerns
-to much congestion while trying to lauch and land
-riding/performing tricks to close to shore
.....
a simple and quick remedy
collect a small amount of donations and purchase a dozen or so of the orange bouys with some sort of an anchor, hand them out to whomever is at the riding spots the most and ask them to just throw them out a 150ft or so when they arrive on a windy day (a day that lots of people will be riding)

then every one will see them and its pretty clear that its a no ride/trick zone, and most people arent going to get mad at you for saying, "excuse me, if you dont mind can you try your best to stay outside of the safety zone, thanx"

atleast you wont have people who respond, i didnt see a sign or people who forget to bring there tag, or those who go out and buy there own tag....

not to mention, i know i jump to close to shore a lot , but im not always fully aware that im doing it, im just having fun... the bright orange buoys would be a good reminder for people like me

my, hopefully helpful, two cents

[Danimal8199]

Originally Posted by stormatzio

So this is about my second post ever...

I have nothing to say about this topic so I will just say that stormatzios profile actually says he has posted 4 times. Now his credibility is in question!