WHAT DO YOU DO?
Ian, saw your posting about the Cottesloe dude who got upset at a kite boarder, when did that happen.
I was kiting down at Cottesloe phone box yesterday about 4 oclock , and came in to shore to land when I saw an old man with a bald head, and his wife snorkelling in the shallows about 5 m offshore. Directly where the kiters launch and land from, I got a hell of a fright when I saw then, I cruised back out , but turned back to talk to them as 4-6 kiters were using the beach ,( it was 20-23 knots of wind a bit of swell and real hard to see swimmers with the glare) I was concerned they would get injured. I kited to shore and wlked out to the swimmers and VERY nicely asked them if they were aware of the risk they were taking swimming with the kite boarders. He then went mad , saying he had every right to use the beach etc,etc, I said yeh , but I’m concerned about your health, very nicely. He continued to argue his point , so I said “What ever,” after a we had talked for a max of 30 seconds and I left.

I never asked them to leave, never asked them to stop swimming, I just wanted to make them aware that is was potential dangerous swimming right there, as the kiters MAY NOT see them snorkling. His point WAS he had the right to swim there and the kiters shouldn’t come in so close.
The guy was instantly aggressive when I started to talk to him, so I suspect he already had issues with the kiters.

What do you do? Personally I will alway warn a swimmer to be wary than to do nothing and watch as someone gets injured. I have seen learner kiters take out wind surfers at the phone box ,so swimmers are a real danger.

Jonathan Keys

what do you do?...
Ok swimmers or fishermen have been here before and?? .. if I was windsurfing at Dutchies with 20knts and saw a guy snorkelling on the main reef, I would certainly tell him that it is not the safer place to do so.( not without thinking that he/she is just being stupid, I am not sure what you are able to see when it is that windy anyway).Same if I was surfing at the main reef a Trigg beach..and everybody would
it is one thing not to like kiters but it is another thing to be stupid and to say I've got the right to be here.
of course mate everybody does,you've got the right to swim at the main break at Margs if you want;not that it is gone be very safe.
So what do you do???
well first what you did Jkeys seems very good to me.
That is exactly what we need to be doing : inform people that there are some places where, with 20 kites or 20 surfers or 20 windsurfers out, that are maybe not safe for ONE or TWO swimmers.I reckon that from all side, if more or less kiters stay near PhoneBox, windsurfer near Dutchies...there are still a lot of place in between for canoe swimmer or whatever..then if you are kiting or windsurfing just be a lot more carefull when you are going further upwind or downwind that these main sailing areas.

and why not asking the coucil to put signs near Phone Box saying "Be aware: kitesurfs when windy".this is not trying to appropriate the beach for kitesurf it is just to inform for safety reasons!!!!
Same with Pelican Point on that part of the beach/grass were kiters land their kite ( there are always few tourists looking at how nice all these colorfull kites in the sky are.........)
Can WAKSA do these sort of things????

if not we should start bribing few Cottesloe Council members ( and others) with few free kite lessons,so that more members start kitesurfing,so that kite get a more positive spin during council meetings...hey!!!

I almost bled to death at north cables before I even got wet. The water is real murky and the ominous black reef seems razor sharp.

I totally agree that we need to be more responsible when kiting, but as jkeys says what do you do and how far do you go in being responsible?

Is it a case of just mentioning something to someone or do you pack up your kit and go home, because somebody else decides that they want to swim right where you are kiting?

I was down at Pinnaroo yesterday, I had my kite all setup and was ready to do a self launch (launching towards the ocean), when a couple of ladies came wandering down the beach. They were downwind of me, so I waited till they had walked further upwind along the beach. I then set my kite up ready to launch and walked back to my bar. The two ladies then strolled back down the beach and stood about 5m downwind of my kite to watch.

I had to go over to them and explain that it was a dangerous place to stand and could they move. They were okay about it, but I have this worry that (just as jkeys found out) some people are going to go off on one and start proclaiming the beach is theirs.

The general public need to use a bit of common sense as well and take some responsiblity. If there was a sign up saying "sharks frequent this area", how many people would actually go in and swim?

I think the idea of the signs is a good one and I've seen a few along some of the northern beaches warning about windsurfers.

There is so much space in Perth, everyone can have their own area. Pinnaroo is a well known kiting and windsurfing spot, even the Whitfords sailing club use it at the weekend. Either side of this point is loads of kms of beach. To mark off a 500m stretch as a kite surfing area wouldn't inconvience anyone. And I'm not suggesting that nobody can go in this area, it merely has a sign that states that kitesurfers use this area. The same as they do for animal excersise areas. If you don't want to get dog ** between your toes you won't got sunbathing on that area of beach!

As has already been suggested, could this be something that WAKSA could push harder. The pro-active stance is a good one. Maybe as kiters we have to accept that there should only be designated areas where we can kite, but surely this is better than having a total blanket ban, which I honestly believe could happen sooner than we think.

BTW Hi to everyone here, I've been reading the forum for a while now, but this is the first time I've posted.