Hey Guys,

For ages the sailboarders have been rigging and riding from the first walkway from the toilet block and the kites have been up on the point. Last year a spokesperson from the sailboarding fraternity even had a stern chat with the kiters to ask them to stay upwind from the sailboards which was a decent request and most people adhered to this unless by circumstance could not.

Recently there have been a bunch (6) sailboarders who are rigging near the gate to the beach and are riding in amongst the kiters. Nobody minds them riding with us as long as everyone accepts the risks and we are all having fun.

However, these sailboarders go out for one run and then come back and plop in the water along the beach and sit around chatting amongst themselves for 10 minutes whilst newbies from the school try and negotiate a bodydrag around them and local experienced kiters come in and gybe or come in or away from the beach.

Pinnaroo Point, for the most part, is a beach for learner kiters and a few good locals, having sailboards all along the waters edge and on the beach along the water, presents a serious hazard to all with fins pointed up with the boards upside down on the beach. We even had a guy come racing in flat out directly at a lady bodydragging under instruction and turn away 15 metres before her and sailed past with 6 feet at high speed. This is not the go, she was freaked.

We have asked for two days now for sailboarders to rig and launch from downwind at the walkway and ride amongst us by all means, but do not stop in the middle of kite central for a chat.

We respectfully ask that they move further downwind to avoid a collision or some form of accident with a kiter or learner.


Thanks for your cooperation and good winds,

Hi Nathan,

Thanks for the reply and your theory is good, however, our council and CALM permits to operate says we must stay up on the point from the dog beach sign down to the first walkway due to getting too close to the buoyed off jetski area.

As I said in my earlier post, no one minds sharing the water with the sailboarders, it's all good out there and there is generally no bad feeling either way, but is it necessary for 4 out of 6 to sit in the water all chatting after every run? I know the sports not that strenuous, I used to do it too. They dont have to go all the way down to the walkway, just a few metres downwind of the access roadway and there would be little problem.

After asking nicely yesterday, they moved further up into the frey. Don't know if this was deliberate or that some Euros dont know the difference between upwind and downwind. The weed should be gone by next week as the council has been raking the beach everyday for the last month and there is only a tiny amount of weed left in any case.

I'm sure it will all work out, just dont want to see friction start between the sports at Pinnas, we have all co-existed happily for years.

Good winds,

I agree with windy miller. kites should be downwind however if the council has put them up there then there needs to be a downwind limit for the learners to keep them away from the windsurfers. Almost had my wife who was swimming taken out by a learner yesterday, he dropped his kite about 2m from her with no warning. He got a right earful and was lucky he didn't get a serious punch in the head. I suggest the kite school move their learners further upwind of the kite area and stop sending their body dragging learners down through the windsurfing zone. If you stop sending your high liability learners downwind of the point I reckon we can stop sailing upwind of the point. You guys really need to understand that unlike windsurfing your learners can really injure people and they should not be learning amongst experienced windsurfers and general beachgoers.

L

Well I see your point, but 4 or 5 guys sitting on their boards in the water shouldn't be a problem. If it is then you need to adapt and take your learners further upwind or preferably downwind of the windsurfers. I don't sail Pinnaroo much but on the odd occasion I have I have nearly hit 'bodydraggers' as they pootle on downwind through the windsurfers. We all need to live together, but kiteboarding is so much more intrusive (for lack of a better word) than windsurfers beginners or advanced and so I think if anyone is going to be inconvenienced then it should be kiters.

yep..as soon as those lines touch any part of your sail - wave goodbye to your stitching.....

imagine what it could to to your limbs

TimB,

I challenge any windsurfer from Bob to Robby to avoid being hit by a kite that appears from 50m to windward in a matter of seconds as its user gets launched and then plummets into the water from above at about 80km/h. I can sail my way round just about anything but the kites of learners can travel enormous distances very quickly. BTW its not just about windsurfers its about beach users too, you can only swim so fast.
I think really its about the instructor at Pinnaroo having some discipline about not allowing his learners to sail so far downwind, he needs to be careful because will be held liable if there is an accident.

L

I find my knife quite handy, works on craypot lines as well

quote:

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Originally posted by mike

They seem to have no idea of people around them.

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I thought that was one of the drivers behind kite surfing - look at me, look at me... I am a kite surfer, I am SOOOO cool