SA
229 posts
Nice session at Seaford this morning and it was pretty busy.
Unfortunately I saw a wind surfer have to make an emergency maneuver to avoid being decapitated by a kiters lines. As I live on the mid and know a lot of these guys and I know that passing them too close when they are downwind is an issue that is being brought up. I have been approached by windsurfers that are pissed off by kiters and this is not the first time I've apologized for others on behalf our sport. The number of kiters coming down here now has increased a lot over the last couple of years.
Basically I was heading out just behind and downwind of a windsurfer (in a Red Gath helmet) and another kiter who did not even have right of way was cutting in towards the shore and cut straight in front, and upwind of the windsurfer. The guy had to duck and swerve to avoid the lines. This is totally pointless and stupid, we were not in the surf zone, the windsurfer had right of way and it was no problem staying upwind. To my line of thinking a kitesurfer takes up a lot of space and our "vessel" is the board AND the total space the kite and lines take up. Flying your kite over the head of a windsurfer as you cross tacks is just not respectful - and dangerous. Some of these guys have been sailing here for decades - I know most of the kiters do the right thing but please, if people want to come down here to kite I feel respect should be shown by those who may not have considered this. If you fly your kite over the top of a windsurfer you are going to piss them off and then the whole kiting community down here has to deal with the negative vibes. If you cant cross them with your kite totally upwind make a small correction and pass downwind. Wave as you go by.. it will make you feel good!
Thats my rant for the day.. I'm interested if anyone else has an opinion?
POP.
SA
1312 posts
^^^^^+1
Name and shame is the best way to nip this in the bud.
SA
86 posts
Your on the money here pop,
I live on the mid as well and mainly kite at moana or southport havnt been out at seaford yet .We all are out there on the water doing our chosen sport & need to respect each other.As far as i know we dont have any restrictions where we can & cant kite on the mid,but if we start getting complaints about our behaviour on the water this could happen & this will *uck it up for all of us.Lets just get out there enjoy the power of nature and use a little common sence & think off others playing in our playground .bring on the seabreezes. Calbs
WA
614 posts
Hey POP- the guy in the red Gath was Bondy yeah ? I spoke to him in the carpark after the session and he was all good...that said- our lines definitely are intimidating and a bit of respect goes a long way.
If it is something that you are dealing with alot maybe SAKSA needs to sit down with the windsurfing association and sort out a code of conduct ?
From where I was the only person who had right to be annoyed was the lone surfer getting snaked all the time....
SA
229 posts
Hi Loverboy, I dont know the guy in the red Gath but there was only one red lid so it must be Bondy... HAAK - I didnt put up a post to single someone out - last thing I want to do is divide the great kiting community we have so hopefully bringing this up will just make people aware of a potential issue because I don't think the people involved are even thinking they are pissing windsurfers off. Also to give someone the benefit of doubt it may have been a miscalculation in how much room there was to pass.
I wasn't approached on Saturday by any windsurfers - they were all gone by the time I got out of the water. Good to hear Bondy was Ok about it then. I intended to have a chat with him as I was cringing when I saw it happen. A couple of the older crew down here have talked about it with me on several other occasions. I think some SAKSA people may have discussed kiters passing too close upwind with the windsurfers too? Anyway regarding a code of conduct, I'm never one for overregulation but hopefully if people are made aware it will all sort itself out. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have a note somewhere about how close to fly to other windsurfers, surfers or vessels. I'd say flying your lines over anyone except maybe another kiter is not a good idea but with a windsurfer you have the pole sticking up and if you snag a back line if they jump or you hit some chop it would not be pretty.
Good winds today!
POP
SA
311 posts
I was out this day, it was unusually busy as the wind was very strong. There is a simple rule on flat water and where simple sensible in waves, slip down wind of the windsurfers, usually this is easy and makes sense as we can head up wind so easy and regain ground. I am happy to pass a windsurfer close downwind of them and generally they are obsessed with staying up wind (I know as I was one once), So that's easy, generally on that day everyone was fine,
I also have been surfing, windusrfing and kiting there for more years that I care to admit and I head there on every northerly, I get along fine with the windsurfers and we kite together with no drama, if something happened it was a simple error and we have already discussed this with the kiter.
everyone is amicable and easy to get along with so there is no need for anx.
the bigger issue is the surfer line up, and both kites and windsurfers are at fault on occassions here, once that line up starts to fill with seals it gets hectic.
I do not agree with name and shame as it allows for guilty until proven innocent and for people to rant on with their own perception of what happened and the suspected kiter just gets ****ty and things get worse. The best rememdy is to chat to the crew and then the crew can chat to the kiter, we all know each other and its more effective.
What I do not agree with is that once you start on a wave, its yours and a few windsurfers don't think so and decide to try and ride the wave too. I make no fuss on this but once that starts I will either keep riding on the wave if its safe or hold up the pocket if I am downwind, if I am upwind and I get a classic drop in then I swear but I don't risk safety on it. usually however they don't make the drop due to lighter winds and we ride it anyway
as far as the title of this thread, well I am a local and sometimes I do get pissed off sometimes, usually when I am surfing though
Daz
