yeap heard that too! snippet I heard they were talking about some young kid being dragged down the beach through swimmers/sun bathers

bad news all round

Thanks to a phone call I caught the end of it as well - two very good replies.
1) the mum from Safety Bay - thank you for that.
2) Pat from Hillarys ? excellent call Pat. Very informed, accurate and reasoned response - esp re self regulation & needing 'no go zones' rather than 'go zones'.
WAKSA will be interviewed as well some time soon.

can you let us know times & dates so we can all listen in please phil ?

"10ft long cables"!!! wtf!!!

An irresponsible broadcast by not asking WAKSA to be part of the discussion!

I listened to the 720 segment. Some very emotional statements by the anti kite surfing lobby.. "blood on their hands if nothing is done "sort of stuff.
There were two calls pro kite surfing ....one mother and a kite surfer Pat. They were reasonable and good.

IMO we have a problem . Some kiters are endangering the public and those members of the public that are injured or who observe close calls ( or what they perceive to be) are livered. As a kiting community what we are doing now i don,t think is working. Unless the kiting community comes up with a solution that works , the authorities will solve it for us.

Perhaps all kiters should have a readable registration number sown on their kites so they can be identified.

The way I see it, the issue is very straight forward. If a beach is busy, dont kite there, or at least dont come close to shore. Dont rig or pack down there and dont move through crowds. If we all obey these simple concepts, there will be no issues. If you are learning, go to the well established 'newbie zones'. If you are a poser, pretend the trees, white caps etc are your public, or just get over yourself!

As has been said many times, the actions of a few... So to everyone, listen to the sensible side of the argument to remove us from the busy beaches, and before it becomes legislation, move on your own free will. Then when the beaches are not crowded, they are still open to us.

sandgroper said...


The solution is SIGNS!!! SIGNS!!! SIGNS!!!
Solved.

Yeah, right. Lets put a sign up every 50/100m along the Australian coastline near metro areas. I reckon they would have to be fairly large signs with maps showing highlighted exclusion areas and a list of dos and do nots in English and maybe German/French. That would be a great addition to the natural beauty of the beach.

As a 1980's philosopher once said: "Stop, collaborate, listen."
Every issue raised by the 'killer kite' lobbyists could have been solved or prevented by verbal communication. Talk to each other, talk to other beach users. The solution is TALK!!! TALK!!! TALK!!! I saw a dude trying to self land a kite at leighton beach last week when there were maybe 4 or 5 kiters standing watching, not cool. The dude should have talked to the others and asked for a hand. The others should have talked to the dude and offered a hand. Kiting is a team sport now because we must support each other to make it a safer sport with a more family friendly image

Let's also have kite only zones, we would be well separated from the rest of the public and we would never have to mix with other beach users and infect them with our love of kites, fitness and fun.

Peace

onepump said...

Let's also have kite only zones, we would be well separated from the rest of the public and we would never have to mix with other beach users and infect them with our love of kites, fitness and fun.

I agree with all the rest 'onepump' but if it comes 'kite only zones' we have totally lost.
Think about it. No more choice, no more downwinders, massive over-crowding etc etc.
This is the worst possible outcome.
This is what we must self-regulate (& talk talk talk) to avoid - at all cost.

All about the teething issues coming with a new sport.....I hear you all. What I was pondering today was; why is it that the anti kite lobby at Mullaloo is so vigilant and getting some support vs. the people at Meliville who are not as able to rally others? I theorize that the answer lies with the differing demographics.

The Mullas crowd are young active families who worship the beach and the activities well established before kites came around. Now imagine how all the young kids who see the kites get turned on by this and want to do it. Kiting looks like so much more fun than running, paddling or swimming....even surfing. The mummies and dadies of these kiddies are confronted with something their kids want to do...imagine what goes through their heads....danger, money, the unkown...the list goes on. Why can't the kiddies just be happy surfing and swimming they ask............go figure. So, these mums and dads wish the sport was never invented and would love to have it banned, especially at "their" beach. It is kind of like parents who want to ban kids from being on the net....they more they speak badly of it and the more they try an ban it the more the kids want to do it.

Now the demographics of Melville crowd is a bit different. People living along MBP are not beach types at all.....they are likely to hate the beach. Not as many young families live along MBP either. So it is a few elderly ladies who have a constant cry to Council and they can not really neighbor support because kiting at Melville is not an issue.

And where does this possible insight to the vigilant attitudes at Mullas leave us? I think that the only way to win over the Mullas anti kite crowd is to understand the deep reasons why they want to ban kiting....and not random events that they use to support their cause.

Perhaps the local Mullas kiters need to have an open round table discussion with the leaders of the ani-kite movement and ask some more questions. They of course also have the opportunity to ask you all things about kiting. So what can the Mullas kite crew do for all those young kids who want to get in to kiting? An explanation to mummies and daddies about all the benefits of kiting to their dear little ones might be a start.

Perth and kiting go hand in hand...it is the best sport for this town. The sooner we embrace this the better. I am for registering every single kiter in WA period....you want to kite here, you register and are given the local rules...no if and or buts.....otherwise fark off to another country or state.

onepump said...

Yeah bro. I was kinda being sarcastic

DOH sorry onepump .... my bad - missed that.
Still. Worth spelling it out though. Everyone needs to understand the fight is for isolated 'no go zones' NOT isolated 'go zones'.