The above post seems like an origami puzzle.

English please.

Or am i getting a bit old for these youngsters.

Why are people still kiting from the beach at the bottom of Deane Street (Phone Box)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has a sign stating "NO KITING” can you guys read? Perhaps not. I watched a couple of show ponies on twin tips doing little turns on waves close to the beach! not very bright! And unimpressive! Show some consideration and kite somewhere else.

i'm certainly no youngster

1. a foreign dude got smashed into some wood work and was taken away in an ambulance

2. a kite did an impressive self packing impersonation all by itself

3. show ponies kiting in a no go zone mind u this was the only place one could go out on that stretch of beach- but the wisdom of kiting there in the conditions is questionable -see point 1, absolutely no room for any mistake

who needs tellie, just head to your local beach 30 minutes of virtual kiting

bolgo said...

i'm certainly no youngster

1. a foreign dude got smashed into some wood work and was taken away in an ambulance

2. a kite did an impressive self packing impersonation all by itself

3. show ponies kiting in a no go zone mind u this was the only place one could go out on that stretch of beach- but the wisdom of kiting there in the conditions is questionable -see point 1, absolutely no room for any mistake

who needs tellie, just head to your local beach 30 minutes of virtual kiting

Mint !!! but your first post was perfectly clear , J

bolgo said...

...just folded in a ball and locked itself in that shape, hadnt touched the water or anything....

I've had that happen before. Happens to bows/hybrids in extremely gusty winds from my experience.

Way too many knob jockeys writing crap on this forum too ;-) Sure, yesterday arvo was pretty sketchy and it's never good for the image of kiters to have someone carted away in an ambulance, but sometimes it's fun to go kiting in those conditions.

I'm a local cott kiting. I understand all the rules and, IMG, I was kiting yesterday arvo (although I missed the incident with the ambo). I launched at leighton cos there was a bit more beach then tacked up wind. There was a hint of North in the wind, so not direct onshore, but not far off I admit.

There were only about 3 kites out all day. Nobody show ponying from what I saw. I know I was sticking to the inside a bit for some flatter water.

So, to the ladies watching from the footpath, remember, our sport is supposed to be a little edgy huh ;-)

Pedro -
being a local, you of all people would probably want to preserve access to kiting in Cott, right?
I don't think it's necessarily an issue of kiters showing off (as kiter's do) in front of an awe-struck crowd at the 'Phone Box'. It's more of a case that those blokes shouldn't be kiting there at all.
A lot of VOLUNTEERS spent countless hours with the council on the WA Kiting Community's half to preserve access for kiting in Cottesloe. Two of the conditions to kite there (and to maintain this access) is WAKSA membership and not kiting at the Phone Box.
If you satisfy less than two of these conditions, how can you consider yourself a local?

I saw the accident and my heart felt sympathies go out to the poor victim.
There have been a lot of armchair critics finger pointing with irrelevant facts on this forum which does nothing for the image of kite surfing, please remember people, that the general public also read this forum.
As with all accidents we should be looking at this as a group to see what can be learned and take from this accident, so this does not happen to us.
The conditions were not as extreme as to be reckless as seems to have been hinted at by the armchair critics. The wind was cross on and 25 to 33(according to sea breeze) no stronger than a good summer sea breeze at Gero or Lano. There was a reasonable swell but nothing huge, and the beach was smaller than in the summer, but not so small that a kite could not be launched safely. But all that is irrelevant to the accident, as is the type of kite and where it happend. In dead this same accident could easily have happened with less wind and a bigger kite on any stretch of beach.
What I beleive we should take from this and focus on is to double check our equipment before we launch. That all lines are attached correctly and the bar is the correct way round especially when setting the kite up on a different direction to the norm. This happened to someone with 8 years kiting experience yesterday and unless we are all careful it could happen to anyone. I just hope that if this happens again, that it happens when we have the good sense to launch where there is nobody directly downwind, as the victim did yesterday.
I wish him a speedy recovery and hope he is back out on the water again soon

Dan - totally agree. I'm a WAKSA member and I certainly wasn't setting up and kiting at phone box. Do I consider myself a local? Sure, I've been kiting there 100% incident free for over 5 years. In that time I've politely reminded countless folks of the local rules, particularly with respect to where to launch and land.

Johnno - understand your point mate and you know better than anyone how quickly things can go wrong, but again, conditions yesterday weren't that wild.

As for what the wind strength and gusts were like, well I was on a 7m on "standard" settings (no need for extra depower at the kite). I was never over powered. So what exactly do the armchair army have issue with in this thread? The wind strength, direction, location of people kiting, or simply that some unfortunate guy screwed up and got taken away in an ambulance.

The main point that some folks seem to be making here is that yesterday was a dangerous day to go kiting and that people who did were being reckless. I think that's rubbish. It was challenging but no more. If anyone observes someone kiting in what they consider to a be a reckless way then they should trot down the steps from the cott footpath and say so. Claiming some kind of moral high ground on the SB forum the following day is piss weak.

Look forward to the flaming

I guess people need to recognise their limitations.

Its a difficult thing to do sometimes especially if you havent been out for a bit and are busting to have a go.

I went to the beach yesterday 30-40 kn direct onshore with a washing machine in full force. Too much for me too dangerous. So i watched three blokes paddled out to Cables for a surf from the warmth of my ute.

I love winter kiting, i love summer kiting its all good. You've just got to recognise and live by your personal and your gear limitations

Hope the guy who got spanked is ok and hope you have a speedy recovery

PS. Leighton this morning was great. Lol.

I was the guy who helped launch the kite that took the French guy off into the dunes. I need to point out a few things.

First I hope that he is ok, it is not good when this happens to anyone.

1. Talking to his mate, - he did not check his lines properly. One line was crossed.
2. I took a good look at the kite before I released it, but as I am not familiar with his line set up -it looked ok from where I was standing.
3. I released the kite, it crashed onto the sand and I was about to grab the kite, when it took off and kite looped across the dune. Unfortunately the rider did not release his safety in time.
(On this point, I do not have my safety attached or have my Donkey Dick "IN" when launching in tight spots, so if something happens I can completely disconnect myself from the kite - I would rather lose my kite than kill myself)
4. The Rebel kite. Rigging your kite up incorrectly and not checking it - is not a fault of the kite. I ride a IDS SWB3 and have had my kite fold into a ball as, I have seen many other hybrids do.
5.The "Phone Box" - this is banned as a kite location. I kite there only in winter when there is not enough beach left to rig up at "Dutchies". This spot is banned for kiting because in SUMMER swimmers use this beach. The ranger yesterday was only concerned with any dune damage we may have caused.
Whether this guy rigged up at Phone Box or Dutchies - the same thing would have happened. I have seen kiters get launched into trees/beach everywhere. This spot is no different. Also, kiting up at "Gero" in summer you are going to experience the same types of winds.
I see kiters rig up at Phone Box and other banned spots in summer - when there is plenty of space left on the normal kiting beaches. No one should be kiting with swimmers.
I have seen kiters do some stupid things down at Leighton in summer amongst swimmers too, so as long as kiters continue to kite where they are putting others at risk - then expect any beach to be put on the "ban" list.
I surf for Cott Board Riders and during the months of October to April you cannot surf at "Cott
Main". Why? Because it's a swimming beach. So I do not see why rigging up on a section of beach which is only 50m from where we normally rig up - in the middle of winter, where the only people on the beach are a handful of surfers/kiters/windsurfers, is going to ban our sport.
Kiting is a dangerous sport - we do it at our own risk. You can decrease the risk by choosing where you kite, the conditions and always double checking your gear. So if you want to kite in winter during squally conditions - you have to take extra care, and always expect the unexpected. Kite in the conditions that are suitable to your level of experience.

The conditions yesterday were challenging but not suicidal, I had a good time with no problems. Doesn't mean that I can't/won't have a problem next time. You just have to way up the risk and decide for yourself. But always be prepared for something to wrong. Keep a mind focused on safety.

boost20ft said...

I was the guy who helped launch the kite that took the French guy off into the dunes. I need to point out a few things.

First I hope that he is ok, it is not good when this happens to anyone.

1. Talking to his mate, - he did not check his lines properly. One line was crossed.
2. I took a good look at the kite before I released it, but as I am not familiar with his line set up -it looked ok from where I was standing.
3. I released the kite, it crashed onto the sand and I was about to grab the kite, when it took off and kite looped across the dune. Unfortunately the rider did not release his safety in time.
(On this point, I do not have my safety attached or have my Donkey Dick "IN" when launching in tight spots, so if something happens I can completely disconnect myself from the kite - I would rather lose my kite than kill myself)

So the lines were crossed, a front line connected to a wingtip. That explains it. If this is accurate this is totally avoidable and should never happen if you have kook proofed lines, that is a larkshead to knot on front lines and vise versa on the steering lines.

bennie said...
So the lines were crossed, a front line connected to a wingtip. That explains it. If this is accurate this is totally avoidable and should never happen if you have kook proofed lines, that is a larkshead to knot on front lines and vise versa on the steering lines.

If it was a North Rebel, the lines are "kook proofed", so steering/power line cross is unlikely, the "origami" thing seems like a fairly common experience with the 09 Rebels though.
Hope the guy recovers well.
I love kiting in crazy stormy conditions, but you've got to be on your toes, especially launching and landing or kiting upwind of anything hard.
Know your kite and your safety system inside out and be prepared to use it.

boost20ft said...

(On this point, I do not have my safety attached or have my Donkey Dick "IN" when launching in tight spots, so if something happens I can completely disconnect myself from the kite - I would rather lose my kite than kill myself)

Not attaching yourself to a death-leash is a smart idea. ^^^

waveslave said...

boost20ft said...

(On this point, I do not have my safety attached or have my Donkey Dick "IN" when launching in tight spots, so if something happens I can completely disconnect myself from the kite - I would rather lose my kite than kill myself)

Not attaching yourself to a death-leash is a smart idea. ^^^

Wasn't that dude talking about not attaching his kite leash?? I didn't think he was talking about a board leash.