Just like to say thanks to the kite surfer who managed to crash his kit into me whilst on a wave at Scarborough today. Not only did he manage to knock me clean off my board when he dropped his kite but when i surfaced from under the water i had fully powered kit lines rubbing up against my neck. Certainly not a pleasant situation. I have a couple of simple words for you...."there is no substitute for stupidity"
Did you have a chat with him/her?
I've been knocked off by a kite clipping the tip of my mast before, the guy couldn't apologize enough.
Having said that, you do come upon the odd mongrel that wonders what you're doing in the way of their kite, I carry a hook knife for them
[}:)][}:)]
Must say whenever I have had run ins with kiters they have been good with the apologies. As long as they are not doing anything dumb as accidents easily happen. Fortunately for our sport the implications on others are usually not as severe. Merry Christmas to all out there who use our oceans.
Dom saw you all tangled up in the break Ben was standing next to me and commented "good old Gary again", Ironically he used to be a windsurfer, I have no idea why he doesn't stay upwind with the Kites maybe he still thinks he is a windsurfer and seems to like hanging out with us getting in the way? 
While I was watching I thought a hook knife or a pair of scissors on you would have set you free in no time.
I was just saying that if fifty percent of what you share is angry then it's not that nice...
I dunno if it is that angry. He stated he was mowed down by a kiter, at a spot that has a segregated area for each sport to avoid conflict.
Others who sail the spot regularly complain of the same issues. Maybe how he wrote it could be construed as emotive, yet it reeks of fact so one can forgive the "angry" tone, surely?
One angry post ( valid reason ) out of two posts,
Maybe a little early to judge character
Come back Dom,
Dom, its best to have words with the kiter who did this at the time. Its not acceptable to have kites crashing on others, and lines are dangerous.
By the way, I nearly got hit by a windsurfer a few days ago - I will have a chat if I see him again. This is the first time in 5 years of kiting I have had an issue sharing the water with windsurfers. www.peterskiteboarding.com/2011/12/brisk-easterly-at-mentone.html
In my experience, the vast majority in both sports respect each other and do the right thing.
donut worry - lord of the wind showdown in january 2012 and kevin pritchard will show the kites who's king !!!
stehsegler, did you read my blog post? I was stationary in the water with my kite overhead at neutral.
The windsurfer in question was bearing directly at me at speed and passed me upwind very close. I felt I was in danger and could see absolutely no need for this.
His buddy did the right thing and went past with a good safety margin. I was well out of the 5 knot no boating zone.
I hold no malice against kitesurfing in general but this is the third incident/collision i've had with a kitesurfer. Twice at Scarborough and one at Lancelin. Touch wood - i've yet to have a collision with a fellow windsurfer. After my first incident with a kiter I certainly make a conscious effort to stay well away from them.
Remember back when you were at primary school and if a girl liked you she would often hit you, in a confusing show of hatred to mask her true feelings.
Maybe it is the same with the kiters who run into you.
Do they generally have a lisp, are wearing unnecessarily tight lycra, have a rainbow coloured kite and seem to swing both ways when they do a high dingle dangle ?
I had a kite surfer run over me a few days ago. I was at the beach riding a small wave in 20-25 knots, when from upwind I saw 2 kite lines hitting my sail. I tried to get away by bearing downwind thinking this would work, but it didn't as the kite followed me downwind and then pushed me down into the water with my rig on top of me.
When I surfaced I saw his board crash into mine and then he crashed as well.
Not impressed ..... I checked my board out for damage and it was OK. Lucky also no marks or damage on my sail.
To his credit he asked if I was alright and if the board was too. I said "Yeah it's all good."
Later, on the beach, he came up and apologised to me and said he got a big gust that pulled him downwind straight onto me. Said there was nothing he could do to control the kite. (Fair enough).
I was OK with all of this and glad he apologised as he seemed like a nice bloke. Think his board came off second best as it was fibreglass and mine is epoxy.
Guess I was lucky, but at least he was concerned enough to see me and say sorry. We all have to share the water don't we.
Best thing that ever happened to our local windsurf club (founded 1991) was that about 5 years ago, we changed our name to 'windsports club' and opened up to kiters.
Suddenly...... twice the membership (now around 120), average age went down, more numbers so more clout with local council etc, each half understands the other better and no aggro on the water.
Try it, you'll like it
