This is copyed stright from Darren Marshell Web site under tips and tricks for Intermediate kiters.Great web site with loads of tips. A good time to read up on the rules of the surf with ever more switching from flat to surf.Also with Mambo coming up 100+ kiters on surfboards should be fun.Hope you dont mind me copy from your site Darrem.Danny read this before you take your new surfboard out.
actionsportswa.com.au/
Tip #16 Priority Rules in the surf
Wave RidingPriority Rules in the surf or surfing etiquette is now more important than ever with the current wave (pardon the pun) of enthusiasm for kite surfing. As many kiters come from non kiteboarding or wind surfing backgrounds, it is important for them to understand who has right of way whilst kiting in the surf zone in order to avoid accidents and injury to others.
1. The rider who is on the wave first has priority or ownership of that wave unless they fall off the wave.
2. If two riders catch the same wave at the same time, the rider upwind has priority over the rider downwind.
3. In peeling waves, the rider closest to the breaking section of the wave has the wave. The other rider should "bail out" of the wave.
4. "Snaking" a wave by pointing up higher and passing another rider who has been riding a swell in from out the back to gain upwind advantage is highly discouraged and can lead to very unhappy kiters. Same goes for kiters gybing onto the wave that is already being ridden by someone else.
5. If you are learning to ride waves and cannot ride well enough to remain on your board so as you are often body dragging around in the breaking wave zone, it is courteous and respectful to ride 100m or more further upwind away from the rest of the riders who are hitting the lip and using the waves. A less perfect wave will make little difference to you when you are learning. Many competent riders get seriously annoyed at learners constantly body dragging back and forth through the prime sections of the break looking for their boards. No one minds sharing the waves with you whilst learning, but if you are ruining others fun, people tend to get dark. If you happen to lose your board, body drag to the beach and walk up the sand to get a view of it, then body drag out after it. The surf normally takes a board and washes it downwind and onto the beach in any case.
Nice Wave6. The rider on the wave has priority over someone who is riding out or jumping.
7. Give way to sailboards and know that they have priority when going out through the waves (opposite to us) as they are often underpowered in the surf on the way out and therefore have little maneuverability, and then ride waves coming in using the power of the wave. Give way to surfers who are on a wave and be respectful enough to not drown them in spray when passing them as they wait for sets. Most surfcraft all operate by the same code of ethics and tribal law. Respect is paramount. if you want respect, first give it.
8. Dropping in on another rider who is already on a wave, or backdooring a wave, causing the other rider to alter their ride is a sin punishable by death in some breaks around the world. Just don't do it. Have respect and find another wave. Do not hang around on the inside if there are riders coming in on waves, windsurfers especially find this distasteful.
9. Avoid collisions at all costs regardless of Right of Way!
From
Keep out of the Flag area dont F it for the locals and if you do drop your kite and getting washed into the flag area role your line up.
Thanks for reading this safe kiting to us all
Just thought I would add a few common sense tips to these rules that unfortunately not everyone gets:
- If you are behind the wave racing to catch up with it, you are no where, not your wave, go away, you missed your chance, catch another one. You need to be on it or just in front of it. Not behind the crest.
- Also, if you just want to ride along on a wave in a straight line back to the beach, as 90% of people do, then either call others onto the wave as you are just wasting it, &/or don't get snotty if some one else gets on it. If you are not even attempting to ride the wave, that is actually turn more than 20 degrees at a time, then you don't count as being on the wave.
Unfortunately with kiting allowing so many people who are unfamiliar with wave etiquette onto the water these otherwise obvious things need to be pointed out.
Thanks,
Jeff
Basically the best thing to go by, is if any rider (of any type) is on a wave, get out of the way (far out of the way!), especially if they are going down the line, as they will need a lot of room to move their kite/etc. Don't share, don't drop in, don't come close to have a look, get out of the way. Good wave riders will go down the line with a lot of speed, and you will find yourself in their way pretty quickly! If your not riding the waves, then don't come into the break line, go to were it's closing out and get you little boosts there.
Man I need a wave session :-(
Regards,
JB
Yeah, it can be a pretty hard call sometimes on what the right thing is to do in particular situations, especially if your not to familiar with riding in the waves - good on Darren for putting something out there and thanks to the dark side for posting it. I have to agree with JB, if there is someone on a wave try and keep out of there road as stuff can happen pretty quickly and it’s hard to focus on other things when you are ripping down the line on a sick wave, but most of all it just comes down to common courtesy and common sense, don’t be a wave hog – take turns.
How does it work at a predominantly surf based spot???
Was out at Kalbarri in WA surfng at Jakes Point in nice 25 knot winds. Perfect left hander for me, but I kept getting abuse from all surfers. I was the only one out on a kite.
Can I stress that I even approuched the guys in the line up and stressed that if they paddled for a wave when I was coming in, I would leave them to it. And was over curtious I thought. But seemed to make no difference.
Maybe because I could take off so much deeper and would always be first on the wave.
Generally when surfers are out in the water, you should find somewhere else to ride or wait till they are done for a couple reasons -
1. They have been around a lot longer than us and we have to respect them and windsurfers alike.
2. Most of them don't know that you’re in control and think you may hurt them; this will freak them out and give us all a bad name.
3. No matter how in control you are you can still lose it at anytime and hurt a surfer and that would end up getting us all shut down from riding in the waves.
Having said that I kite with some friends while there are still surfing, but they understand what I'm doing and from time to time if there is a good break that has a couple surfers on it that I want to kite, I would go up to them and ask if it was cool if I got a couple waves down the line from them and they are generally okay with that.
Unfortunately the pecking order goes,
Probably swimmers really first, but I'll just go with surf craft.
1st. Surfers,
2nd. Windsurfers,
3rd and last, Kiters.
We should stay clear of all water uses. I think the only thing lower on the list than kiters are jetski's.
JB
quote:
Generally when surfers are out in the water, you should find somewhere else to ride
Wave rules just posted in the gallery... 
www.seabreeze.com.au/gallery/gallery.asp?imageid=6540
Hey guys
Can understand where you are all coming from, I have surfed since I was about 12 and when it is on, I would rather be surfing that kiting, but when the wind gets to 20 knots plus and is cross shore, the kitesurfing aspect takes on a much more pleasurable experience.
We have the best of both worlds I suppose.
The temtation gets the better of me sometimes, when you see surfers paddling into a blown out wave and can't get round the section because it is closing out, that is when you think how good is it on a kite, just go round.
quote:
Originally posted by Ben Wilson
Generally when surfers are out in the water, you should find somewhere else to ride or wait till they are done for a couple reasons
Correct waveslave no one owns the ocean.... However respect is needed for everyone to get along and enjoy it. I'm the same at my local, thats the beauty of your local, you know most people and they understand what your doing - I'm just suggesting if there are people out sufing or windsurfing go make nice with them and show some respect. Harry potter is correct you can catch a million times more waves and thats going to where off pretty quick if your zooming in and out of a crowded line up.
Sometimes I have a bit of trouble with this one:
"6. The rider on the wave has priority over someone who is riding out or jumping.
7. Give way to sailboards and know that they have priority when going out through the waves (opposite to us) as they are often underpowered in the surf on the way out and therefore have little maneuverability, and then ride waves coming in using the power of the wave."
We all get caught underpowered on the inside from time to time when we've done our ride and are trying to head out again to get out of the way for the next person coming through - especially at Brighton WA towards the end of summer when the current is going with the wind and sucks all your power.
In this instance I believe kiters are the same as windsurfers - if you're underpowered you are not manouverable, you cannot get out of the way of someone bearing down the line even if you wanted to. This can be made worse when the swell is biggish.
I appreciate Ben's comments that when you're riding fast down the line and concentrating hard you're not necessarily paying as much attention to what's going on outside of you and the wave but at the end of the day you are manouverable and the person who is underpowered is not, so you need to abort the wave or at least give them space. Disappointing to lose a wave of course but if someone actually slammed into me in that instance (as has often nearly happened), I would be hitting them up for any damage, not vice versa.
It comes down to common sense again. Just thought I'd bring this up as I think it's a grey area and would like to know other people's views.
Jess
I agree with waveslave, but think common sense is required.
Its kind of like when driving a car, just because you have right of way doesn't mean you have EVERY RIGHT to be in the way.
if its 25 knots why are there blokes paddling out? i think kiters should move up the pecking order when it gets windy.
a lot of surfers don't show any respect in return, they have that bull**it attitude where they think that only short board riders deserve courtesy, anyone else is below them
quote:
Originally posted by Jess
I appreciate Ben's comments that when you're riding fast down the line and concentrating hard you're not necessarily paying as much attention to what's going on outside of you and the wave but at the end of the day you are manouverable and the person who is underpowered is not, so you need to abort the wave or at least give them space.
Have 2 agree with waveslave. Get your wave, go downwind, and get out of there. At brighton your talking about a wave that is breaking a whole 50m out the back in summer? Generally its not guys on surfboards, it's dudes on twintips who want to humm in and out of the shorebreak and are not going downwind. I lost count last season how many times you'd finally get a decent wave only to have someone cut you off directly downwind, then carry on how they were coming in and had right of way.BTW malibu surfboards still SUCK, and one better, those new stand up mals.....see you soon at your crowded local!
Hi Guys,
You're comments are well and good when you have some power to work with, my query relates specifically to when you are underpowered (bogging down, not planing, massive dives of the kite across the window to get going)?
Dave, at Brighton WA it ends up getting quite messy towards the end of summer: the banks form in a way that the wave is dumping only metres from the sandy beach with a deep trough that channels the water north to south (downwind), hence the underpowered problem in dumping waves. You can't turn inside because there's no water, it's the beach already so you have to head out and down. You have to fly the kite quite aggressively to stop it luffing as the current is pulling you under your kite.
Anyway, the fact remains that if someone physically can't get out, or downwind, or turn back to the shore because the dumping waves dump you onto the beach, that leaves them no option but to keep moving their kite and trying to get out and downwind. I think it's just something we all have to be aware of.
I've aborted my fair share of good waves because if I didn't I'd run straight into someone having the issue mentioned above, and others have had to do it for me - it's the name of the game I think...
Jess
Brighton/scarbs/trigg was my local 4 20 years whilst surfing and now go there often but (not usually Brighton). The banks are very different depending on what time of the year it is, however if you move from brighton to 3rd carpark/contacios you will find that the banks will be different when the sandbank/trough system happens. To solve the bogging down issue, dont wave kite when its that crap.... From 12-16knots, being 90+kgs I kiteboard freestyle exclusively and dont consider kitesurfing as downwind waveriding doesnt happen due to little to no apparent wind, especially with our dumpy crap waves. Who wants to spend most of the day walking anyway....
Go to woodies when it's marginal one more wont hurt
Hey Dave,
You're right, Contacios is way better at that time of year. We used to go there to avoid the Brighton crowds but unfortunately the thieves in the carpark have become quite a problem so we've moved back to Brighton :(
Good winds,
Jess
quote:
Originally posted by Jess
I've aborted my fair share of good waves because if I didn't I'd run straight into someone having the issue mentioned above, and others have had to do it for me - it's the name of the game I think...
quote:
Originally posted by JB
Unfortunately the pecking order goes,
Probably swimmers really first, but I'll just go with surf craft.
1st. Surfers,
2nd. Windsurfers,
3rd and last, Kiters.
We should stay clear of all water uses. I think the only thing lower on the list than kiters are jetski's.
JB
Nothin' better than a strapped-in upside down goatboater who's just been smashed after nosediving on takeoff go over the falls.
Notice most goat-boaters look like motocycle cops? you've got to have the beer keg as a belly to bring your centre of gravity lower.
I had the opportunity to meet Derrick Donner from Hawaii, and the tow-in boys always giveway to paddle. ie... "straps give way to waxs". Respect and we will all get along.
