BayAreaKiteboarding.com

At the request of several other kitesurfers, I decided to post about some disturbing events at Alameda yesterday (Sunday, 9/30). There were two individuals whose blatant disregard for the safety of other kiteboarders and non-kiteboarder on the beach was disturbing at the very least. To keep things simple, I'll just recount the various incidents involving these two.

Incident #1: While trying to launch, one of the individuals slammed their kite onto a young women on the beach hitting her in the face with kite lines that were under tension. Neither the launcher nor the kiter stopped to apologize or check if the woman was alright. They just relaunched. Jane at Boardsports and others talked to them about the incident. They didn't seem to care.

Incident #2: They decided to launch directly upwind of the kite launching area. Unable to launch, they just repeated slammed their kite on other peoples kites. One of the kiters went out to talk to them about where to launch. They didn't seem to get it.

Incident #3: When the kiter who talked to them later tried to launch, one these guys ran out and tried to launch 10 feet directly upwind from the kiter almost taking down his kite. No apology.

Incident #4: As I was about to land my kite at the launch/land area, one these individuals came into shore behind me at top speed completely out of control and slammed his kite into my kite as my kite was over land. I barely managed to avoid getting yarded onto the beach. At the time, we were the ONLY two kiters on the water at Alameda and he still managed to hit my kite from behind. Again, no apology. The individual just turned and went back out.

The reason for this post is so that other kiteboarding can watch out for these two individuals. If you see them out kiteboarding, please keep a safe distance as they are an accident waiting to happen. Also, if you see them endangering other kiters or spectators, please talk to them. Several kiters spent a lot of energy talking to (and yelling at) these individuals. Hopefully, we got through to them.

I tried to make this as PG rated as possible. If you want to know how I really feel about these two individuals, just throw in your own curse words. Even then, it probably won't do justice to the langauge that we used last night when yelling at them.

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. Also, if there are any other local forums that I should post this on, please let me know.

There are some occasions where, for the good of non-kiters and for the preservation of access at your (favorite) spot, I believe the right thing to do is either deflate the kite or cut the lines of the offenders.

It sounds as though you tried being civil, tried reasoning, tried yelling, and tried cursing with no success. The next logical step may be to get the group of locals that are there to approach the offenders and simply disable their ability to create a dangerious situation.

There's always a baseball bat, but that tends to have jail time as a bonus.

EDIT: You might also want to post this on ikitesurf.com. Kiteforum.com may be an option as well.

Very good post!

The description doesn't tell much. If this type of behavior continues, I suggest to do this: take photos of these idiots, post them on this forum as well as at the shack. The more people could recognize them, the more unwelcome they will become at Alameda (or any other place).

lets move the thread to the Alameda only locked section as I also need to add another idiot, but will do it only there.

Georg

I think I might have met #2 a couple of weeks ago, he asked me to launch his 11m SS in 40mph winds and I told him I didn't feel comfortable launching him since he would be *really* overpowered. He told me he only had 2 kites the other being a 13m SS, I told him he should sit this one out, he actually seemed quite nice. He has taken about 5 lessons in Hawaii and is starting to get up on the board.

I was out yesterday and didnt see anyof this, but i guessthats because i rode in front of my place and not up at max's launch. The same rule should apply no matter where you are, if you can't keep your kite in the air and get away fromthe beach, then you need to wait for a day when there is noone in the way of your learning how to fly a kite in light winds. If its windy generally people arent scattered all over the beach. But unfortuantely, Alameda attracts people in light wind as well as Yellow Cabrinhas. A mnonth ago Tianna and I were about to launch in really light wind and decided it wasnt worth it, then this french guy came up and asked how to hook up lines on a 4 line kite. I looked at Tianna and thought, oh man, this guy doesnt know how to hook up a 4 line kite, he sure as hell shouldnt be flying right now. So I told him he should goget a lesson and if I helped him i would be doing the wrong thing for him and possibly thepeople around him. He was F'in pissed off! A total ahole. So later Tianna went up and tried explainnig to him why. He didnt get it. And thats just it, many dont get it. As good as it feels to dog people on this forum, the real answer is to stop this from happening more by recognizing beginners launching in bad areas. I wont launch in front of my place whne there are poeple, i walk up to the main launch, and I know exactly what I am doing.

It is a problem that will realistically never end. There will always be the beginner who bought a kite off ebay and just wants to try it out. Who can blame him? The hard part is enforcing what we know is the right thing to do without using a baseball bat or being a dickhead. I can only say the one thing that helps prevent this is to keep the launch at the same place it has always been-at the shack. At least this way you can tell people it is a kitelaunch zone and they wont get as pissed when you ask them to politely move.

If I'd had to speak or yell at someone more than once and they blatantly were threating to injure others or me... I'd have no problem pulling out my kiteknife and cutting their lines! That seems to be the best method to make them stop. However, I'm sure the possibility of defending your actions could be the outcome of cutting their lines, but I'm sure others would quickly jump in to support you.

I'm so glad I don't kite at Alameda... what a drama fest! Seems to be the most scetchy place to kite in the entire bay. :roll:

i would say pull the plug and let the air out over cutting lines.
do not cut lines
as that
crosses a line.

we have to spot,
and tag
and help.

i have had times when i wanted to fight,
but is just faster,
to teach them over, beaT n on theM.

my 2 cents.

How about tranqilizer darts :mrgreen:

Thanks for the feedback. The persistance of their stupid behavior was what really shocked everyone (all of which happened in the launch area). Don't think I'd cut their lines but at the time I got hit while landing, I seriously thought about yanking the guy off his board (it was low tide), wrapping his lines around his scrawny neck, and sending his kite into a down-wind spiral. By the way, these idiots were NOT beginners making learning mistakes. These guys were more intermediates who just didn't give a damn about anyone around them, spectators and kiters included.