Heads up to Kiters who ride at Scarbs. I was involved an incident yesterday whereby I was deliberately rammed by a windsurfer travelling at high speed.
I had just caught a small wave in and had gybed back out. I noticed a poleboarder was about to catch a wave and bare off down the line so rather than get in his way and spoil his ride, I chicken Gybed back to shore and continued toward the beach before gybing slowly back out. At this point I was about 7 metres from the shoreline.

What happened then beggars belief. The same windsurfer came at warp speed from upwind and behind me and collided into the centre of my upwind rail. Luckily and somewhat amazingly, his rig only grazed my leg. I am certain had he hit me directly I would have been seriously injured and possibly killed. My Firewire board is now stuffed. He refused to come in and discuss the incident but rather high tailed back out like a scared little girl.

The direction he was travelling indicates that he bared off the wind and headed directly at me. This fact indicates intent to harm.

I know who he is and have made a complaint to the Beachie and Police. If you see him steer clear!

Can't wait for his version of the events,

if he did truly purposefully ram you then you should have considered a little Hawaiian loving

Your reports to the police however has added one notch on record to be used by all the pro-ban crowds

That is appalling ADS there is no reason for that sort of behavior even if you did get in his way.
I hope you made an assault charge with the police. In my opinion that is the same as some one trying to king hit you.
Take him to small claims court for the damage to your board.

Hes just venting off some steam, most likely for one of these reasons,
His probably going through menopause,
His hairs falling out,
His oxygen bottle was empty

Jeez do you have to call the cops? We're all going to get banned if we keep carrying on like this.

Devil's Advocate:
It sounds like he caught you mid gybe??

Its not easy for a windsurfer to gybe. They need a 10m radius to do it in, often at high speed. Perhaps he thought he could get it in and stay upwind of you, with the shoreline quickly approaching he would have had to make a quick call if he can fit it in and looks like he ****ed up. Its not easy for them with the kiters ability to change direction quickly.

Reckless? Probably

Intentional? Doubtful

Calling the cops? GAY

Did a downwinder last weekend and went past the scabs crew and it amazed me how dickheads ride there. There were about 15 kites south of the flags and many were basically riding in the windsurf area and also twin tippers in the flags. Also not uncommon for someone to drop there kite and end up getting washed through the crowd. Also it appears most riders ride in and out, in and out, not really heading downwind on the waves (exact opposite in fact) and have no issues cutting right in front of you. And the one guy on the vegas kite looping on the beach (out of control) after launching. Pull the safety not hold on like a twat while sliding on your stomach through the crowd (north of flags where everyone swim and sunbakes)

Now on the North side towards trigg, well before thirds, there are little to no beach users and no one kites there. Go figure! It just amazed me where the kiting population gathers when there is so much coastline available.

Anyway not saying your at fault or anything but I could imagine the frustration of the wind surfers, clubbies and general public to be honest.

And complaining to the beachie and the cops? Not sure that create the best outcome for scabs kitesurfers. But in my honest opinion it should be banned if kiters keep kiting so close to the general public.

Glug said..

Jeez do you have to call the cops? We're all going to get banned if we keep carrying on like this.

Devil's Advocate:
It sounds like he caught you mid gybe??

Its not easy for a windsurfer to gybe. They need a 10m radius to do it in, often at high speed. Perhaps he thought he could get it in and stay upwind of you, with the shoreline quickly approaching he would have had to make a quick call if he can fit it in and looks like he ****ed up. Its not easy for them with the kiters ability to change direction quickly.

Reckless? Probably

Intentional? Doubtful

Calling the cops? GAY

Right mate, firstly I didn't call the cops the Beach Inspector did. Secondly, the impact was so high, I could have been seriously hurt.
Thirdly, this guy has form - he has done it before.
Lastly, I thought he was cowardly in not manning up and at least apologising.
I was standing in the shallows next to him and asked him why the hell hit just hit me like that. He said nothing, just took off and left me with a stuffed board.
Gay? Pffft.

Monkers said..

Same thing happened at Applx a few weeks ago. Only difference was he missed. Actually I'm pretty sure he was only trying to scare but either way very dangerous .. And absolutely intentional . He actually made 3 runs targeting kiters and missed one kiter by cm's. Was put in WA section if anyone is interested.

We can argue about rules , areas , ettiquette etc but at the end of the day people's trying to ram each other is not acceptable .. I'm no legal expert but looks like assault to me.. I think report to police is a good idea.

In hindsight maybe a cop report is not the best way to go, but in the heat of battle and if he did indeed try to ram you (not saying this is a fact as yet) I can see why you did.

If a windsurfer tried to ram me, then it's fair game and I can assure you he would have a number of kites bouncing off his head, if he rammed me on purpose Im afraid it would be him reporting abuse to the cops, especially after the entire crew had finished with him. That's if he made it to shore....

If he just stuffed up then I'd smile and have a laugh...then snake him on every wave after that, not like it's hard....bahahaha clumsy bloody
Things.

But yeh I can see how it could get frustrating for them and indeed other sailers with the numbers out there now....ho hum....

Just curious guys and I expect to get a bunch of smart arse answers and only two or three that are actually informed and worthwhile reading so knock yourselves out.

Why do so many incidents seem to occur in WA? Perth compared to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne have so much more accessible kite able space and yet there are so many more incidents in Perth and you all seem to be really aggressive toward each other (and the rest of the world)....not sure if its just cultural or historical or if you are all just more manly and tougher than the rest of us....reading this forum though it certainly seems like something is going on.

Let the beating begin

next time boost just high enough to take his pole with you on the way down..you could make a game of it..get friends involved...have a points system...
could get a kind of beach roller derby going...sounds like fun..

I am glad all the pole dancers I know are top blokes..there is no room in my life for fu(kwits...

I agree with kitebt's comment. I grew up in Perth and I'm lucky enough to come back here most summers to kite. I've kited in the USA and many parts of Asia where there is usually many more people on the water and generally less space for all. And I am SHOCKED by the aggressive and selfish behaviour of many kiters and windsurfers in Perth. Especially considering that there is so much space on the ocean compared to many spots in the world. It's really depressing. There used to be a feeling of camraderie in the sport here. now it feels like competition. Screw that.

eppo said..

kitebt said..





Come over here and drive around Perth for a bit, might give you an idea why?

Not to sure what you mean by this eppo? Is it crowded on the roads, will I see the mass of kites on the water.....please explain?

I think your comments about lack of point breaks might explain some agro on the water which would definitely bubble into the forums but I know in Sydney we really only have one good flat water spot which is crowded most afternoons and ludicrous on a good weekend and I promise you the traffic is 10x worse than Perth so still unsure if it quells my curiosity.

Shouldn't this be in the windsurfing forum

ADS said...
[br]

The direction he was travelling indicates that he bared off the wind and headed directly at me. This fact indicates intent to harm.

Actually, the description youve given right there of his direction of travel is the only suggestion to me (as a windsurfer) that he may not have seen you and may not have had intent to harm you.

Windsurfers have a rather large blindspot (a sail) which despite being made of clear monofilm in a lot of cases, still manages to blur/block our vision downwind of us. I'm sorry to say that it sounds like he did the bad deed though, if he didn't want to speak after the incident.

We're not all like that

MOWIT said..

Okay, red thumb away, but;

If the poledancer did go hard on the kiter, that su*ks and isn't right.

Now, please explain the difference between this and a kiter short taking another kiter and admitting it? If he was on a kite, "When, the poledancer was on the wave and the kiter deliberately took this action" I would consider a different action, angry or not, no need to hurt or injure any one on the water.

Seriously, were you there? I wasn't but I sure as S**t would be pretty p**sed off if someone short tacked me then Bit**ed when their gear got trashed due to what is being reported as "the other guys fault".

Why should a forum support bad behaviour from either party. Find out each others details, sit down and sort it, without the rest of the world having to reconcile your inabilities.

NO, get it right regardless of the type of equipment, Sailboard / Kiteboard you are equal in terms of "maneuverability" SUP & Surfboard need more room and Swimmers need even more. If you can't sort this, play where no one else is at risk of your ego or stupidity, both of you MUST get off the water until you can co-exist.


Rant over.

P.S: I support both disciplines, but see no benefit in any conflict whatsoever between the two

Here's the thing, I didn't short tack him.

ADS said..

I ended up in the windsurf area.

You see, there lies the problem. ^^^

You mistakenly accept that there's a 'windsurf' area ...

an exclusive zone just for poledancers only.

If you consent to such a retarded, flawed concept ...

don't be so surprised if the junkyard dogs are set upon you when you invade their territory.

lol.