Great to see new/visiting kiters/kites in the water but for fuqs sake, can you keep at least 50m from the swimmers before the locals get banned.
There are two red bouys running parallel to the beach at danger/cozies, please keep east (seaward) of the bouys. On busy days like yesterday just stay 50m seaward of any swimmer, a visiting kite crashed numerous times within line length of swimmers, how about using some common sense. Big ocean, use it.
There are torquay SLSC patrols on front (cozies) and back (surf) beach, they have already made complaint to Water Police this summer.
Hope there is no trouble. Haven't kited there for years. Been talking about coming for a visit.
Kited at a local Melb beach last Sat and the flags were up. A few guys kept kiting into and through the LSC flagged area. Do people not realise what the flags mean?
There was no one swimming but that shouldn't make a difference. Stay out of the flagged zone.
There would be heaps of kiters out there that dont know what the flags are fore or how far to stay away from swimmers or even the right of way rules. There are a lot of kiters that couldnt even use common sense to avoid a colision etc. and there are allways people on the forums winging about these kiters that probaly dont even know about these forums, but if you look at the main cause of the problem it would come down to people not being taught properly its far to easy to just walk in to a store and buy some gear head down to the beach where there is no one kiting, probaly because its baned in that area, and have a masive accident.
I can see the only way to prevent this is to have a licence system, that would prove that you have been trained and proven competent covers you nationaly for insurance, and gives a basis for individuals to be punished for doing the wrong thing instead of blaming the whole sport.
A lot of kiters will disagree with this but is there realy any other way. How do you stop the cheapskates and luneys from getting every kiting spot within a 100km from your home baned. The bigger the sport gets the more of these people that you will come across and the worse the problem is going to get. We try to rely on self regulation and as much as we try the more futile the eforts get with more and more complaints and incidents, the problem is only going to get worse and if we cant controll it now how will we cope in the future.
^^^^^ I agree .... The problem is people are taught how to fly a kite they are not taught proper safety, they are not taught how to self rescue, they are not taught water packdowns for self rescue and they are not taught about marine markers flags Rights of way etc......
Kiting between the flags in particular is inexcusable.
It is all about the $$$$$$$ for 90% of the schools rather than proper education and safety. It is a disgrace and contributes to the possibility of bans.
Bring on licencing I say and flush out the cowboys and the inexperienced who put the public at risk
Tend to agree about licencing. Took issue with a guy the other day kiting between the flags, completley oblivious to what was wrong with that and on top of that didn't know about no boating zones. Watched him go downwind after talking to him and kept doing the same thing downwind at the next flagged zone, silly worrying about it we're all screwed, enjoy the rest of the season.
On a positive note "kite republic" at Inverloch the other week took all their students well away from the pulic on a busy day, good stuff. Again 3 people kiting next to kids that day, wreck it for the majority.
Licensing is the go. I've got no problem with paying a fee and learning more about this wicked sport, even tho most of it would be common sense? Could make it safer on beaches ect.. just means if your and idiot ya pay for it, or loose ya card yeh? or mabe just a licence to ride in populated areas?
licensing a good idea in theory, not sure how well it would work tho. the same douchebags that ride through the kids will be the same douchebags riding without a licence or common sense. perhaps AKSA memberships could come with a small book/brochure just outlining a few of these issues/flags/boating zones etc..something like that?? but then again i would assume anyone who can apply for a waksa membership should also be smart enough to know the difference..or not...sheesh it is just a head fk isnt it? how hard can it be!
Hey 62, you are spot on, you may be the guy that needs to get the ball rolling.
In the 20 years of visiting Point Danger and enjoying the stoke with the local crew, there’s no doubt it’s getting worse every year. It’s not a matter if the ban will come, it's when.
You guys need to be pro-active and approach your local council / parks to discuss your concerns. Maybe some by laws or the likes will come out of it!!
With out in put, I’m pretty sure from past experiences actions taken by the likes of councils don’t favour offenders (kiters / windsurfers in this case).
What about a few temporary witches’ hats places on the beach by either local crew or Parks when is busy. On one side “ No swimmers / sun bathers beyond this point “ and on the otherside “No kite surfers beyond this point”. They can be placed on the beach according to the tide.
Create a roster, it’s not as if we don’t visit the Danger at least 3 times a day to check the wind or swell.
We all need to police it more diligently ourselves. I’m guilty of sitting on the hill complaining about something not kosher on the beach / water.
Approach the offender to discuss our concerns. Maybe encourage them to go to Whites Beach until they are comfortable to tackle Point Danger.
Licencing is a no brainer IMO.
Doing nothing will certainly result in our demise.
HAAK
