Hi guys,

Was out on Ganthuame Point this afternoon when a D.P.I officer came up to me and aggressively proceded to tell me all of the things l was doing wrong. The first of which was that l had failed to give way to a dingy that was comming into the beach and then to make matters worse l had fallen off right in front of him. My reply was that even though l was on a left hand tack, and thus would normally have yielded, that in this case l had right of way because l was a vessel under sail being aproched by a vessael under power and that l had not fallen off but had stopped when it became obvious the he was not going to and that he (the dingy) was in the wrong.

He then proceeded to accost another kiter for not wearing a pfd. Correct me if i'm wrong but l was fairly sure we had some kind exemption on this. We were also told that we should not be water starting where all the swimmers, dogs and all the assorted other beach users were, all while both private and commercial boats were lunching and landing in the exact same spot! He also pointed out the we were breaking the 8 knot rule but had done nothing about the local sailing club cats that were doing a far higher speed than we were doing in the light winds. l'm 60 kilos and had a 14m up with a 139x46 board and still bearly had enough power to jump which should give some idea of the conditions. He then went on to say that we were in port authority waters and that the local harbour master had just succeded in getting jet ski's banned ( of wich he has a personal hatred l'm told) and that we were next on his list. l was told by another kiter on the beach that no council has ever been able to ban kiteing on any Australian beach but have no idea if this is true. Anyway thats my winge for the day and was wondering if anyone else had had a run in with these D.P.I knobs?

The DPI person was prob. a kiter and was just messen with y'all........as like WTF are you doing with these huge kites in no wind.....go figure.

I agree with Harry there's so much beach between Ganthuame Point & Cable beach the whole of Broom could be there & there would still be heaps of room.

sorry - what's DPI?

The Department for Planning and Infrastructure........ WA's licensing mob.

Steve Holdfast shores council have banned kiting on any of their beaches in Adelaide, so are you saying that you can kite the water but not use the beach and they cannot take any action???.