Today was a great day at the beach for all and Sundry... well nearly all. Some complete noob turned up and went down the beach, just upwind of the sailboarders beach area and decided to teach himself how to kite in 25 knots of cross offshore gusty wind.

He managed to launch it and crash it seconds later fully powered into the water right between swimmers and a couple of sailboarder, both of whom were minding their own business . The kiter was overpowered and had no idea. Quite rightly the sailboarders came over and started bending the ears of any kiter in range. They were upset but very reasonable, and asked if we could keep the area they use to launch, free of kiters. This area is between the first and second beach access pathways. Its not too much to ask, after all, they're only there on windy days generally.

If kiters could stay South of the first pathway towards the point and not come in until after the second pathway to the north, that would really help relations and keep our beach access the way we like it ... free. If you see noobs down there self teaching, please let them know of the sailboarders area.

The sailboarders have been exposed to a few dills that dont want to come up to the point in fear of looking like noobs in front of everyone, however, the point is clear of peeps apart from kiters as the rest of the beach North is filled with swimmers, sunbathers, families, fisherman and Jetskiers. Please try and keep up near the access road onto the beach and do not go right down the beach if it is crowded. In the interests of public and sailboarder safety .

They've been pretty good about it, I'd personally have been pissed off

Good winds to all

???.......and the last thing that I can remember about that sport called kitesurfing...
Yeah, it was the infamous newbie zoo invasion.
Heck, every damn beach was infested by them.
And when they launched their ugly bow kites on those public beaches with the Mums and Dads and the kids;
****, it was like watching a freaking trainwreck !

Man, the END happened so fast, ofcourse it's all just a blurrrr now.

you already in ya rockin chair Slave?

Airhead, totally agree...
but at the same token, it wouldnt make sense to us as kiters but to them they are not doing any harm.
This is more of a reason for getting kiting out there to the public as a general interet story so that people are made aware. It would suck that the general community is made aware only by some news headline "Young girl killed by kite".
More signs, more public awareness.

We're the last on the importance list unfortunately.

the council have included a warning to the public re: kitesurfing on its sign at cott so they have basically indemnified themselves. still does not stop joe public from coming down and taking a dip in amongst the crew

there are flags for people to swim between. they are patrolled by lifeguards and are large enough for many people to swim between. if the people are stupid enough to swim out of the flags then they can die and go to hell because they are stupid ****s.

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Originally posted by milosh

there are flags for people to swim between. they are patrolled by lifeguards and are large enough for many people to swim between. if the people are stupid enough to swim out of the flags then they can die and go to hell because they are stupid ****s.

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I think you should take your stupid attitude back to Brazil !
We dont need that s*** here!

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On one occasion I offered the father a quick try if he waited till the end of that lesson. he did and was an instant hero to his kids, bet he won't be bagging Kiters.

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Brilliance tony sheer brilliance.

Was down at the river yesterday, there was a guy out on a Naish Boxer at about 1pm, bloke already on beach, with 2 kids running around building sandcastles.
Guy lost control, too close in, kite came down with a thump, hit the beach missing the kids by literally centimetres.
I went to have a chat with dad he was well, suprisingly cool, had it been me i'd have cut the guys lines and let down his car tyres.
Turns out the guy was an old windsurfer and interested in kites. Told hime to start you need lessons and used the guy who f****d up as an example of why!

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Originally posted by RAL INN

Families ie, mums and dads bring their kids to the beach for some entertainment. Kids seem to like kites, so to some parents getting close to kites makes sense.

In my experience, and especially while teaching, going up to these families before they finish settling down, and in a very friendly and concerned way explain that the student flying that kite has very little control and that kite lines under tension can cut flesh very easily. This is all it takes for them to happily move to a safer spot. Even offering that upwind is the safest is well recieved.

On one occasion I offered the father a quick try if he waited till the end of that lesson. he did and was an instant hero to his kids, bet he won't be bagging Kiters.

Best winds
Tony L
ABK

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mate i like your style, this is a great example on handling the situation, i have found 9 out of 10 people are open to a friendly suggestion, at the noosa river mouth we have a great deal of fishermen right where we kite, we do get situations where a line gets tangled in a board, anyway most of the time a friendly chat sorts it out. Anyway nice work.

I would agree with Kevy, more than a bit harsh. So the guy was out Kiting at 1pm probadly to get some experience when there is not to many people around and maybe the Freo Dr isn't fully in yet. Sounds responsible to me. Seems like an accident. What's not an accident is when you see F!@$ whits flying kites almost to the boot of their car and landing them on the grass cause they dont want a bit sand on the kite or launching upwind of a nice family picnic. I have even seen a guy at LongReef kite attached in carpark (Sth End) talking on his Mbl phone. Big difference between an accident and irresponsible behaviour.

Oo I crashed my kite yesterday aswell!

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Originally posted by Kevy

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had it been me i'd have cut the guys lines and let down his car tyres.

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Poor relative,

That’s pretty harsh! Everyone is new to the sport at some stage. I was the newbie that you are referring to and was out with a board for the first time. I was a bit overwhelmed with a gust and lost control of the kite. I was totally embarrassed about crashing the kite near the guy with his kids but they were not there on the beach when I launched (or you launched me if that was you).

By the way I have had lessons and I’m sure that even more experienced kiters f**k up every now and again….as seen at Mullaloo.

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Originally posted by fences

kevy,
Why were you so close to shore? I thought the Melville action group had posted some guidelines outlining the safest use of the area which includes not venturing in within 50m of the shore unless launching or landing because its too gusty. Am I wrong and just talking ****?

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he think you will find he was at Pinnaroo!

yeah right
can we mend? Fences

do you see what my argument was a few days ago. there are no big public signs to inform anyone. like myself had no idea about the sailboard launch area off the beach at pinnaroo.
or even set up a website that has the guidelines for each popular spot and post signs refering people to the website for the guidelines.

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Originally posted by Jesse19
set up a website that has the guidelines for each popular spot and post signs refering people to the website for the guidelines.

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Hi Jesse,

Take a look on the WAKSA website http://www.waksa.org.au/local-area-guides/ where we have setup some guides for some of the most popular spots in and around Perth.

We're working on adding more as well as keeping these ones updated with more information as it becomes available. The only way we can do this is by hearing back from kiters that regularly use particular spots.

Drop us an email at [email protected]
mailto:[email protected] if you have additional info we can add.

Safe kiting

Alex
WAKSA

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Originally posted by Alex - WAKSA







We're working on adding more as well as keeping these ones updated with more information as it becomes available. The only way we can do this is by hearing back from kiters that regularly use particular spots.



Safe kiting

Alex
WAKSA

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Friendly advice for WAKSA:

Please be wise about giving out information when it comes to exposing certain sites on your website.
Some sites due to their limited area are not suitable for crowds,
have dodgy launches and landings due to cross-off wind conditions,
are used by familys and fishermen regularly,
and are not kite newbie-friendly.

Your attention has been appreciated.

Regards,
waveslave.

when are they going to remove the 3 star picks from the very middle of the launch land area
they don't even have the protector thingies on top