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  #11  
Old 12-19-2007, 01:41 PM
Ross Bond(blu Swchblde 2)'s Avatar
Ross Bond(blu Swchblde 2) Ross Bond(blu Swchblde 2) is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Skyway Scott View Post
In my opinion.
It basically means I realize many feel otherwise or just don't care about the topic.
Did you ride your "home spot" this past Saturday?
If so, was it gusty? I was thinking about riding there, but thought it might be too far south.
ya i had to work on sat night so i missed out. but i was soo determined to kite, sun i woke up early and took a city bus to the beach with my gear, and found that it was way to windy for my 16 so i just watched. but im really bummed that i couldnt kite becaues of too much wind.
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  #12  
Old 12-19-2007, 01:54 PM
Skyway Scott
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Yeah, almost worse than no wind. Good call though.
Smart, smart, smart.
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  #13  
Old 12-24-2007, 04:25 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Kite House View Post
Do the people who are teaching have no conscience that are putting someone in harms way? Teaching at hobbie?

Man maybe i am getting to upset at this anymore, but i can see if you teach some one bad habits and they think is a safe area, then they go anywhere and do the same thing. Cant really blame the rider, if they learned on shore with riders around and could hit the parking lot. Sounds like a survival course, more than kiteboarding.....i dont know, does anyone else feel this way or am i just a raging kook.....ok, well back out to the water.
Well put, Paul. Students will do exactly what they are taught at the places they are taught. (Monkey see, monkey do) It is a fact and been an issue everywhere for years. Site evaluation, gear selection, weather conditions, safety systems/ procedures, should all be understood by the student PRIOR to flying a kite, and demonstrated/practiced by the student throughout their lesson. The true reward of being an instructor is not how much money you made that day or if you sold them some gear. It is watching them progress into a safe, independent kiteboarder and ride away from the beach with confidence, knowledge, and respect for Mother Nature/ fellow kiters.
I let every one of my students know about this site and encourage them to read every bit of it. We are lucky to have guys like Rick looking out for us and spreading the word about safe kiting.
Thanks Paul, Rick and all the others who promote safe kiting!
Merry Christmas to everyone!
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  #14  
Old 01-02-2008, 05:39 AM
Modart Modart is offline
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Default Hobie accident

I was at Hobie that day, in fact it was my vehicle he hit. There was a frontal line coming in, most riders including myself came in. I had put away my gear for the day and was in my truck when a rider was having a hard time with the gusty wind. Several people were yelling at him to let it go, 1st he was lofted out of the water to the beach line and then from there into the front of my truck (grill and bumper). I actually thought he was coming thru the winshield. I immediately called 911 and rendered first aid, he was able to talk and had a bit of trouble breathing, definately got the shit knocked out of him but not apparent serious injuries. There was an instructor right next to the whole incident, he was yelling at the guy the whole time ( about 20 seconds), the rider did have enough time to react to all the verbal instructions .
Hopefully he is well.
Hobie is not a place for those that are new to the sport......BEWARE !!!!!!!!!!IT IS DANGEROUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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  #15  
Old 01-02-2008, 10:01 AM
kent kent is offline
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Modart,

Do you know if the "instructor" was teaching at the time? I think that we as kiters that enjoy this sport need to be very diligent as to protecting our beaches. Teaching off of a beach at Crandon or Matheson, while not great is not in the same ball park as teaching at Hobie Beach. We simply can not allow anyone to teach at Hobie Beach EVER. I would strongly encourage those that see anyone teaching at Hobie to kindly ask them to refrain from doing so. This would include our local group of instructors and friends teaching friends. This place is for very, very experienced riders that also have common sense.

Kent
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  #16  
Old 01-02-2008, 10:59 PM
The Kite House The Kite House is offline
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Seriously time to start taking this instuctor teaching in bad places and illegaly for real. This just blows me away, and people will only bitch after something is banned or someone is hurt bad or worse. Time to get some balls people this shit is getting bad.
Some one who doesnt know anything is only as good as the person helping them. So lets not blame the guy taking the lesson.
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  #17  
Old 01-03-2008, 02:51 PM
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We have had a similar problem like this in Tampa Bay for quite a while. The instructor is well liked (even by me) but his (or hers) choice of teaching location is misleading to the student, and all attempts at finding a solution have had no results. It seems that some are more concerned with selling a 2 hour lesson and a kite package than the preservation of EVERYONE'S access at this launch. If a local instructor will do it, so will traveling instructors/students/newbies/cowboys/kooks/etc.- leading to an increased risk of accident or loss of access.
-AS AN INSTRUCTOR, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO LEAD BY EXAMPLE.
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  #18  
Old 01-03-2008, 05:17 PM
Modart Modart is offline
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The instructor I referred to was not local and was not giving lessons at the time. I know this after having talked with him when first arriving, in fact he was visiting from out of the country. He was in close proximity as the events un-folded.
Recently where I ride (14th st) an individual about took my head off wih his lines, experienced rider just not paying attention to wth he was doing, needless to say he had a few discussions regarding this. Haven't seen him around since.
Protecting your riding area is important!!!!!!
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  #19  
Old 03-06-2008, 08:15 PM
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Exclamation

It looks like conditions will be ripe for accidents at Hobie Beach over the next couple of days. Strong winds are forecast 15 to 25 mph Friday (are already blowing 15 to 30 mph as of Friday am*) and particularly for Saturday, 20 to 30 mph and likely much higher in squalls. There is a 60% rain chance for Saturday alone with a strong cold front passing over.

NO INSTRUCTORS should be teaching there and sensible kiters should avoid the area. I understand a student was injured recently in a squall in the area and was well offshore.

NO KITEBOARDERS should be launching or riding much inside the swim buoys. Guys jumping nearshore are not only breaking the law they are begging to eat someone's bumper or shattered windshield, AGAIN.


** NEWS FLASH **
Just because you are flying a flat kite doesn't mean you are automatically safe from squalls. If that is all you have ever flown you may not believe that as much as someone who came from C kites. Dealing with squall gusts can be complex, your reactions and systems can fail, many things can and have gone wrong.


How many kiters have been lofted into cars and timber posts at this beach over the years? I can think of at least five but there likely has been more. I can still remember chilling stories of the lady kiteboarder from California who was lofted into a timber post screaming in agony with kidney damage and fractures in a similar SW wind 6 years ago last month. Kiteboarding Magazine tastefully included a photo of the injured woman on their back page at the time. That was years ago and too many people haven't gotten the idea yet. For that reason alone two shocking images are reproduced below. I apologize to the rider, her friends and kiters that were there that day for showing these here.


From: http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2296336

I remember a guy getting ripped off the water and blown into a car flying 15 ft. away from me in less than a 32 mph gust. If any one of them struck head first they could have easily been taken out.


Why is Hobie dangerous?

- Southwest to west winds are gusty due to land shadow from the western shore a short distance away.

- Southwest to west winds come with fronts and powerful squall lines frequently with dangerous gusty winds.

- There is virtually NO beach or reasonable safety buffer onshore. The timber posts and parked cars are feet away.

- There is a four lane high speed roadway, Rickenbacker Causeway, a short distance away.

- Riders have foolishly launched and landed on or near the shore and ridden too close to shore out of bounds swim areas marked by buoys for too many years.

- Too many easily avoidable accidents have happened here. We need to improve this situation, now. Don't ride there in these conditions.




Illustrations of past loftings


The winds at Hobie Friday morning (3.7.08), WITHOUT squalls and a 5 to 10 ft. buffer from timber poles, cars and more. The guy that was lofted into a car in front of me was out in winds little stronger than this.
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Last edited by ricki; 03-07-2008 at 08:24 AM.
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  #20  
Old 03-07-2008, 08:15 AM
miamikiteboarding miamikiteboarding is offline
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Unfortunately , the guys who take the liberty to teach in hobie beach , will do it anywhere and anytime, because at that point there are not led by conscious or responsible thoughts but simply by ca$h.
And in this state of mind, the concepts of riders community" safety", Liabilities risks " or just guiltiness" doesn't not even cross their mind ....

I'm still chocked when i see "self-made instructors" or even worst: certified ones(?) throwing their students into Bodydragging exercises with kids and bystanders right in their wind window , 30 yards from the beach in 1 feet of water , on a hot sunday ! as it can be in Hobie.

Being an instructor and trainer , that;s details we observe rigth away on a spot> where the danger can come from ? and it's sad to say in this case, it comes from guys supposed to set an example and teach the opposite.

So it can not work , cause you can be sure the same student will come back and practice in the same spot by himself , in the same conditions as soon as they get sold a kite...! likely be the same instrcutors ...and so on.

Basically, u must know that for a couple of hundred $$, some guys have no more respect than this regarding the fragile beach accesses we have for our sport.

What everybody should know mostly is that Hobie is a spot tolerated by "default " since there is no signs to forbid kitesurfing yet, but there were working on it 3 years ago, apparently they stopped the process , not for long i think.

But more than anything, as we warned before: if there is a kite involved in a car accident or just injured bystander at Hobie, we can expect the big Media cover and the definitive ban with a sign up right after , maybe extended to other beaches , depends how bad will be the incident . …

still we see the same behavior from every day’s can’t-happen-to-me riders .


The funny thing is we still have some cheap “hotshots riders” out there who are still thrilled by throwing the same-old-move-they-know to impress 2 fat chicks wrecked on their beach towels meanwhile he lands in between 2 other kids playing 10 feet away from the beach …yet the dude smile and already prepare mentally the next move he could boost…unhooked , maybe ??

So As Rick Iossi perfectly described about Hobie as a riding spot and to confirm Paul, Kent's, all of those riding here for long enough:

Riding on hobie is typically before a front ( warm or cold) when the wind veers to the S first, then SSW as the front lines passes over associated with squalls from heavy Rain and or Cummulonimbus, T-storms, etc,
So keep an eye and be ready to get back to shore BEFORE THE GUST FRONT HITS .

Next step, you still have to make your way through, rocks, trees , cars, pickup trucks, broken glasses, Cops, kids, dogs, bikes, joggers …then:

YES you can ride at Hobie, but must walk, launch & waterstart 50 yards ( 2 lengths of lines) from the shoreline. And stay out of the buoys at all time.

NO You can’t teach at Hobie , it’s cheap, dangerous ,disrespectful for the riders and bystanders and your students…and from the beginning, illegal.

After it’s up to each of us to apply these simples rules, which should not be a problem for whoever pretend caring for the kitesurfing community where we all ride.
If we all do and say it , only the bad ones should stand out. ?
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