Sheesh - there is a lot of cr@p behaviour out there at the mo.

Last night on a downwinder between Floz and (the infamous) Brighton, I was about 100m off shore when i saw a kite unnattached floating (Naish Sigma/Cult/funny lookin thing) along the beach with it's owner about 150-200m behind. "Fek" I thought "Better get onto that!" So I hooted into shore as quick as i could to head it off.

I got to the shore just as a beachwalker (who turned out to be a touro with limited English) was racing up to it. I yelled at the bloke and gestured ( with one free arm) to leave it alone and not grab the lines.

Anyhow the punter reaches down to grab what i thought were the lines and I am yelling frantically by now thinking "He's gonna get sliced up real bad maww..". Luckily he grabbed the bar (tangled up in the lines) just as I got to the kite's LE (handily crashed into the dunes at this stage).

So anyhoo, we both sit tight (and I am telling the touro to NEVER grab kite lines) waiting for the owner to reach us. So he eventually reaches us (looking non too happy) and basically goes straight past us to check his precious kite etc. Seriously he pretty much turned his back and tended to his kite. If he did thank us it was a grunt at best and was missed.

Now kite or no kite that is just plain bad kn form! The touro could have been cut to hell and I nearly had my board wash away on me trying to help this ungrateful gimp from harming someone or losing a couple of $k on a shiny new Naish.

I also tried to engage the guy by asking "What happened? Did your saftey let go?" - in case he was a total noob and didn't know what had happened. He just grunted and turned back to the kite!! Now I have been there myself (had a runaway kite once and a massive stitch by the time i swam in then bolted 400m up the beach) and that is not a good feeling, but even for selfish kiters that is a bit bl00dy rich!?

Some peeps out there need to pull their head out of their @rse and get some freekin courtesy!!! If someone saves yur freekin kite - take the time to extract your head from yur date and be a bit freekin grateful!!

Have to agree, witnessed and experienced all the above ^^ from out on the water.

Hope I wasn't one of the culprits. I think not

No not talking about you Sam you stayed out of Rocko corner.

Slave I do care about the poleys as most of the ones complaining were good in the surf and know the rules, I kite with them all the time with no dramas.

It is a pity most kiters are just so ignorant and self absorbed, yes slave you are top of the tree.

sounds like WA is having all the problems at the moment. Hope the trend doesnt come east.

hilly said...

No not talking about you Sam you stayed out of Rocko corner.

Slave I do care about the poleys as most of the ones complaining were good in the surf and know the rules, I kite with them all the time with no dramas.

It is a pity most kiters are just so ignorant and self absorbed, yes slave you are top of the tree.

Nice. ^^^
lol.

You know, they totally despise you when you are on the water with them...
Seriously....
They just hate those freaking strings, man.

Morg said...

sounds like WA is having all the problems at the moment. Hope the trend doesnt come east.

Its really just Perth beaches, not WA. Ppl are just too lazy to head north or south of the metro area, esp during weekdays.

The majority of kiters are rally excellent people, I'm sorry you had to have such a bad experience. Yea, there are just many people from different cultures getting in to the sport. I find that more tourists have a greater need to show off.........perhaps it is because they are not really being watched........because they really ain't so friggen good or cool or whatever.....it must have some cultural roots..........hummmmmmmmmm.

Slave - Thanks for editing your previous post it was offensive.

Good to see a post on topic as well.

hilly said...

Slave - Thanks for editing your previous post it was offensive.

I didn't edit my post. ^^^
It was 'moderated' by the forum-nazi.
Isn't it funny (and unequitable) how my post was 'moderated'.....
but your post (which has an offensive reference regarding masturbation) remains unchanged.
lol.

Johnt said...

I was out at the same break about 2-3 weeks ago and a poley, in the channel and going out and downwind of us, kept on swearing at the kiters who were tacking towards the peak for a take-off, to go on the outside of him, which would have taken us to the middle of the channel with no chance of getting back to the wave. R sole!

So you mean you don't want to go out past the wave on your way out with the poley's but tack straight into the peak? I love surfing like that but if others( particularly polies) are out it doesn't work. Kites are new to the surf and rules have already been made.
But maybe I miss understood the post.

Hilly, don't be so locked-in to the poley pattern, you don't need to be, you're a wavekiter.
I've been short-circuiting the system for years.

So have I but when appropriate, 30 poles and 10 kites out you need a pattern/rules everyone can follow even gumbies.

waveslave said...


Hilly, you might be a wavekiter but you've still got the brain of a poley.
Depending on the wavebreak and windspeed......
there are two legit ways to get back to the take-off zone after flicking-off from a ride.
You can do what most poleys do and take the downwind channel and sail miles offshore......
and then gybe on a swell,
claim it,
then ride it all the way upwind to the zone,
then set-up for the drop......
or,
you can do short, sharp tacks hard upwind on the inside sections between foam-lines.....
super tight tacks close to windward (*grunty breeze required),
because kites can,
pointing super hard like a fken beagle,
making sure you're not getting in-the-face of any waveriders.

If there are riders fanging down the line towards you.....
you need to chicken-gybe quicksmart and head back towards shore and get the hell out of the way.
Tacking upwind on the inside section is good cause you can score empty waves that were missed.
It's fun carve-gybing onto the face when taking-off too.
I mean, as long as you aren't getting in-the-face of any riders, what's the problem ?
Hilly, don't be so locked-in to the poley pattern, you don't need to be, you're a wavekiter.
I've been short-circuiting the system for years.
lol.

And we wonder why arguments start between people in this sport!

I for one have no idea what you are saying in this post! As someone who has never consciously gone out to ride waves I am now totally in awe of how i would progress to this style of riding should I want to... should i be in the zone or flicking-off the drop, should i be in the channel of downwind of the foam lines?!?! Gybing, carve-gybing, chicking-gybing!!??!! wtf!

Don't get me wrong, I understand the basic terms such as gybing, tacking etc from my brief sailing days years ago, but my point is that if you are trying to educate people how to ride waves in a safe and courteous manner, the chances are the people who don't know already are the people who have recently progressed to wave riding and therefore are possible also the people (like myself) who have no idea what the hell to do based on a post like this.

Homework for someone who wave rides and can actually communicate in proper English - Create a seabreeze posting containing... 1) A definition of wave riding terms 2) An easy to understand guide to wave riding etiquette.

I am not trying to take the p*ss, rub anyone up the wrong way, I am literally confused as hell about what I should do if i decided to go riding waves at lano (for example) without annoying other kiters or windsurfers!

Lemm

lemming said...

carve-gybing, chicking-gybing!!??!! wtf!

First one is when you (as name suggests) gybe carving at speed generally powered up, most the time staying in the straps/stance you entered the turn in. Commonly done by kiters that short tack back upwind and do this onto the wave face. I strictly only do this when there is small numbers and its not impeding anyones wave. Other times this is common is on downwinders. Second one being the chicken Gybe, which as the name suggest again, It's like a quick escape from tricky situations. Kiters and poleys use it a like, it's only for ones confident in their ability as it normally only required and performed in pressure situations. Like when you need to turn and out run a breaking wave, or on collision course with another water user.

the chances are the people who don't know already are the people who have recently progressed to wave riding and therefore are possible also the people (like myself) who have no idea what the hell to do based on a post like this.

Well for one if you don't know or understand the rules of the surf from previous experience in other water sports, then I don't suggest you go 500m off shore to kite in waves. The location in question is not for the inexperienced, 100m down wind is some large amounts of shallow reef with breaking waves that will cause damage to yourself and equipment. If you manage to dodge it somehow there is an island on the other side of the reef that isn't the best for access, plus if you make it there the local seals will get pretty spooked if your still attached to you kite by this stage and probably bite your ass.

Homework for someone who wave rides and can actually communicate in proper English - Create a seabreeze posting containing... 1) A definition of wave riding terms 2) An easy to understand guide to wave riding etiquette.

The homeworks been done, the rules have been discussed over and over on many forums and heaps of other websites. The problem with this, is everyone has a different perspective on the interpretation.

IMHO I think people getting into the waves need to go to locations closer to shore and focus on practicing gybes, get use to flying the kite low and edging a surfboard for control instead of using the kite. Kites at 12 o'clock in the surf are a pain in the ass. I believe these couple of disciplines need to be mastered before you even think about cutting sick in quality surf.

Lemm I hope that helps. Didn't want it to look like I'm picking on your post, you make a very valid point. Maybe a pictorial with comments on the rules of the surf could be a good up coming article on SB or in a future KBM issue.

Cheers Sam

RayQ said...

waveslave said...

30 poleys and 10 kiters sailing a confined wavebreak is borderline stuff. ^^^
Even if everyone knows the drill, it still can be a total clusterf.u.c.k.
But that's the nature of crowd-sailing, and guess what Hilly ?..............
You're part of the problem too.
lol.
When it comes to tuning gumbies about wavekiting protocol, it requires a delicate approach.
The only gumbies that you can really get thru to are the ones that you know personally.......
and don't be too surprised if they take offense when you give them the not-too-subtle hint.
Folks don't like being called a kook.

Got to admit you are absolutly right on this, Sunday 3.30 at said break 20 poleys and 5 kites..... a waste of time.
At some point, if the swell size doesnt sort out the punters, it turns into a round about.
There were no complaints from poleys and all were mellow.
The fact is just, every location becomes saturated at some point, and then its no use trying to make every one the same, just go some where else.

"There were no complaints from poleys and all were mellow".
lol. ^^^
Who fken cares about whiney poleys ?
They aren't the keepers-of-the-gate.
Why suck-up to those paranoids ?
But I'm so pleased they were mellow......
I wouldn't be able to sleep nights if I knew they weren't chilled.

If there had been no kiters out.....
Poleys would just bitch about the other poleys after the session.
Whiners.

Whiners.

You must be a very clean pot.