Kite the Bike Path (part deux)

Post general kiteboarding discussion topics here!
Post Reply
User avatar
le noun
Old School
Old School
Posts:1645
Joined:Sat May 21, 2011 11:12 am
Contact:
Re: Kite the Bike Path (part deux)

Post by le noun » Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:19 am

Nckite: but most importantly, you forgot to tell us: how deep is the water there? :mrgreen:
Kites: 2020 F-One Bandit: 10m.
Board: 2018 F-One Slice 5'1 Surf/Foil convertible
Harness: Manera Union.
Wetsuit: Manera 5/4 X10D

User avatar
NCKite_Ryder
Resident
Resident
Posts:659
Joined:Tue May 11, 2010 8:22 am
Contact:

Re: Kite the Bike Path (part deux)

Post by NCKite_Ryder » Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:25 am

5'KOOK"
6,8,10,12 RPM's
2010 UG FLX
2012 Firewire Flexfire Strapless

NorthCoastKiter -

User avatar
le noun
Old School
Old School
Posts:1645
Joined:Sat May 21, 2011 11:12 am
Contact:

Re: Kite the Bike Path (part deux)

Post by le noun » Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:34 am

SC-surfer: I agree, I'm teaching this year and I'm doing my best to emphasis on the safety.
Manage the students expectation by letting them know from the beginning of the lesson that the goal is not to have them up and riding on a board at the end of those 3 hours but to make sure they know how to launch, land and self rescue.
If I have time to introduce the board at the end, well fine, but if the student is still sending the kite all over the place while body dragging, then I'm not gonna put a board in his/her hands.

Even in a "safe" place like alameda, I tell them that when they come and practice on their own, once they end up down the beach they should practice a self-rescue instead of walking back up the beach with the kite in the air.
I know it's annoying and time consuming but by the time you can ride upwind or at least stay at the same spot, then that means you probably practice your self rescue 20 times, so when you will need it for real you won't end up in the rocks at 3rd ave with everybody looking at you and wondering what the f**k you're doing.

I also agree with you, if one day one of my former students end up doing stupid s**t I hope to know about it so i'll know I failed at some point.
But beyond that, you can't control what your students are gonna do once you let them go after the lesson. You can only teach them so much during those 3/4 hours.
I don't care if at the end they're not happy because they thought they would be up and riding and tearing it up at the end of the lesson: I know I trained somebody to the best of my knowledge to be safe.

Greg: It's sometime exhausting to walk up to somebody and try to explain to him/her that they're doing something wrong and have them looking at you like you're a party pooper and 5 minutes later you still see them doing the same s**t.
What do you do then? look the other way and hope they don't injured themselves or a bystander? or cut their lines and get into a fist fight?
I wish I had a solution for dummies who think they know it all and don't need to ask the locals about the spot's etiquette.
Kites: 2020 F-One Bandit: 10m.
Board: 2018 F-One Slice 5'1 Surf/Foil convertible
Harness: Manera Union.
Wetsuit: Manera 5/4 X10D

User avatar
le noun
Old School
Old School
Posts:1645
Joined:Sat May 21, 2011 11:12 am
Contact:

Re: Kite the Bike Path (part deux)

Post by le noun » Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:35 am

NCKite_Ryder wrote:5'KOOK"
Standing up or piled up? :mrgreen:
Kites: 2020 F-One Bandit: 10m.
Board: 2018 F-One Slice 5'1 Surf/Foil convertible
Harness: Manera Union.
Wetsuit: Manera 5/4 X10D

User avatar
sc-surfer
Resident
Resident
Posts:740
Joined:Fri Apr 29, 2011 11:19 pm
Location:Santa Cruz
Contact:

Kite the Bike Path (part deux)

Post by sc-surfer » Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:42 pm

le noun, I'm with you on all that! Except that 3-4 hours is barely half the required time for all but the quickest learners. I'd like to see the basic lesson package at 8-10 hours. I know it makes the sport more expensive. But it will pay huge dividends down the road.
I also prefer to go with someone I've taught the first time they kite a new spot after finishing lessons just to get them started right. It's a luxury I have but I know it is hard to integrate into a school program. Maybe there could be intro days held at the main progression spots every couple of weeks that beginners could/should attend to get oriented. This workload could be spread out among schools and instructors so no one had to do it all the time. I volunteer for Wadell and other Santa Cruz spots. Anyone who wants a mini tour and orientation contact me here. I'll happily help ya figure out how it works and get ya started right!

shred_da_gorge
Regular
Regular
Posts:329
Joined:Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:43 pm
Contact:

Re: Kite the Bike Path (part deux)

Post by shred_da_gorge » Tue Aug 14, 2012 2:19 pm

sc-surfer wrote:As much as I hate the idea of an organization directing how to teach, I think we are to the point where it is necessary.
These are the ones I know of:
http://www.pasakiteboarding.org/
http://www.ikointl.com/

I have friends that run very responsible schools in the Gorge and in Texas, but I'm unfamiliar with teaching here in the bay area so I can't comment. You're always welcome to rant though, that's what Internet forums are for. :)
acctx wrote:Ok, so Im from out of town but at some point will kite at 3rd. What is wrong with crossing the bike path with the kite in the air?
Nothing, as long as you don't mind public humiliation online, or being accosted in person by someone concerned about their public kiting access being threatened. :)

In general walking around on land with a kite is not a good idea (my friend designed many popular kite models and this is his biggest pet peeve). If something goes wrong the lines can quickly become very dangerous to others. When I say "something goes wrong" I don't just mean a strong gust of wind pulls someone down and drags them, often it's the lulls that are just as dangerous, and the vortices that come from wind swirling around objects on land. At 3rd the wind near shore is very squirrelly, especially near the parking lot, and we also have a windsurfing community to coexist with (this guy is standing at the top of their launch) as well as the general public (a little girl's face was sliced badly at Alameda a few years ago by someone in the swim zone who took off like a coward and we banded together to help fund her medical bills).

With the growth of the sport we see more and more "kitemares" and as you can tell from the comments, some of this frustration gets aimed toward teachers for not emphasizing safety more (I have no opinion on the matter btw). My advice to anyone learning is focus on practicing the safety releases and self-rescue first. If your instructor glosses over this and focuses on getting you riding you're probably with the wrong school. Someone even recently made the point that those of us who've kited for years may be subject to forgetting how all that stuff works, or at least not thinking of it as instantly as we used to when learning, so I took this person's advice and practiced a self-rescue the other day (to the amusement of my friends).

Have fun, be safe, and remember you're an ambassador for our sport (like it or not).

User avatar
CdoG
Old School
Old School
Posts:1485
Joined:Sat Jun 16, 2007 6:12 pm
Location:AlAmedA
Contact:

Re: Kite the Bike Path (part deux)

Post by CdoG » Tue Aug 14, 2012 3:12 pm

and thats the deal
we have to leave some room for the public who may not want to have kites in there beach
experience.....
and it would be nice to have the teachers have at least 4 years on the water
before they start to teach

behindThePeak
Valued Contributor
Valued Contributor
Posts:248
Joined:Mon Apr 11, 2011 4:04 pm
Location:HMB
Contact:

Re: Kite the Bike Path (part deux)

Post by behindThePeak » Tue Aug 14, 2012 3:34 pm

acctx wrote:Ok, so Im from out of town but at some point will kite at 3rd. What is wrong with crossing the bike path with the kite in the air?
it's a busy bike path with people whizzing by both directions around blind corners. flying or laying lines across it could cause some havoc. also, there's nothing to gain from it. there's nowhere to land except the designated areas that aren't near the path.

User avatar
CdoG
Old School
Old School
Posts:1485
Joined:Sat Jun 16, 2007 6:12 pm
Location:AlAmedA
Contact:

Re: Kite the Bike Path (part deux)

Post by CdoG » Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:36 pm

You know the thing with luz the little girl who almost lost her nose is....
it was way cool that the community came together to pay for her medical bills
BUT
There must have been 20 kiters standing around watching the whole thing go down and no one stepped up to help him avoid ripping luzs face
Ya the community did a nice thing from behind the incident
but how come we failed to do something in front of it?

User avatar
le noun
Old School
Old School
Posts:1645
Joined:Sat May 21, 2011 11:12 am
Contact:

Re: Kite the Bike Path (part deux)

Post by le noun » Tue Aug 14, 2012 5:40 pm

sc-surfer wrote:le noun, I'm with you on all that! Except that 3-4 hours is barely half the required time for all but the quickest learners. I'd like to see the basic lesson package at 8-10 hours. I know it makes the sport more expensive. But it will pay huge dividends down the road.
I also prefer to go with someone I've taught the first time they kite a new spot after finishing lessons just to get them started right. It's a luxury I have but I know it is hard to integrate into a school program. Maybe there could be intro days held at the main progression spots every couple of weeks that beginners could/should attend to get oriented. This workload could be spread out among schools and instructors so no one had to do it all the time. I volunteer for Wadell and other Santa Cruz spots. Anyone who wants a mini tour and orientation contact me here. I'll happily help ya figure out how it works and get ya started right!
Again, I agree, but you can't force somebody to go for 8/10 hours. People are too cheap.
(look how well groupons offers go).
When I get a student who is not ready to get the board on his/her feet, I tell him/her to keep practicing body dragging, self rescue, etc, and to come back for a board lesson.
A few of them are doing it. I like it when I get a student for the second (or 3rd) time within a couple weeks so I know they're not getting over there head and good listener as far as safety goes.
I also always welcome my students to get my personal info from the shop if they need guidance to a new spot and ALWAYS tell them to talk to locals for ANY spots they might go to down the road, even once they become experienced riders.

Be safe people, 25 meters of lines that cuts like razors when the kite is powered are NOT to take lightly.
Kites: 2020 F-One Bandit: 10m.
Board: 2018 F-One Slice 5'1 Surf/Foil convertible
Harness: Manera Union.
Wetsuit: Manera 5/4 X10D

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 46 guests