BayAreaKiteboarding.com

Hi all kiters.
Today was a very good day. Wind was strong anough, nice.
I am relatevly new to the sport but ride OK , jumping and small tricks that seems to me big :-)
I have a question about a day like today where so many of us show up and a lot of guys kite and jump write in front of the flag, it really looks scary , and I do not mean the jumps but how close the kites are with each ether.
Do you guys really feel comfortable to be so close and try a new trick? I understand doing a trick that you got really down and know where the kite will be but looks like a lot of guys are just trying new things.
The same just riding, is there a rule if you see a kiter jumping , trying some tricks don't follow him , give him some space?

Today when I was coming back in to the shore walking with the kite I sudenly heared kite smacking behid me, about 3 feet behind.
That made me think.

What do you guys think? Am I just fricking out or this is normal?

Aloha and strong winds for the weekend.
Rafal

Actually, the kiters are not that close and should not be. There is a oval rotation, you're suppose to come in high by the point, jump, and get out of the way for the next guy coming in for the jump. Lot of the locals jump there because it's good place to show off and that is the only flat water we have at 3rd. Sometimes it gets screwed up because beginners come in there to learn how to jump or mow the lawn.

However, there are a handful of kiters that insist on jumping EVERY tack no matter whho or what is in the way and this is as much of an issue as trying to jump over the beginner that is body draggin to the lower beach. What may look close often is but we know what we are doing enough that we can aboid each other. The thing that really annoys me is when some kiters cut in the "line" instead of heading far enough out to keep an even oval moving. "look at me! look at me!"

I generally try to kite a couple kite lengths downwind of the point to stay out of the way of the main rotation. But you should be aware of what is upwind of you.

Crowded?! Are you kidding??? Yesterday was one of the least crowded days at 3rd Av.

windhorny wrote:However, there are a handful of kiters that insist on jumping EVERY tack no matter whho or what is in the way and this is as much of an issue as trying to jump over the beginner that is body draggin to the lower beach.

I stay away from the lower launch because of this exact reason.

I was once there during the week and my wife (who is also a kiter, but was at the moment 8 months pregnant) came up to do some filming and show her dad kiting since he had never seen it and was visiting the bay area.

Somebody (won't mention names) jumped just just upwind of me and did a huge move.. (you can hear on the video my father in law going.. "Wow.. is he supposed to be that close?" and my wife explaining to him how stupid of a move that was)

I've kited in many places around the world, and I have found that the most advanced riders and the ones that are the most dangerous.. beginners are dangerous to themselves.. that's the nature of things.. but advanced riders are willing to put others at risk in order to show off.. not cool in my book..

I try talking to the person after the session.. he told me I short tacked him.. (there were only the two of us in the water).. I told him that if I did, I apologized and I didn't realized... he said.. "you do it to me I do it to you"... I personally think that's the total wrong attitude... and besides.. short-tacking somebody is very different that pulling a big move inches upwind from somebody... by short-tacking him all I do is I might screw his show off run.. pulling a move like that just upwind of me has potential to hurt me baddly

I'm not saying that short-tacking is cool.. and like I said.. I didn't realized and I apologized.. I just thought his attitude was not cool at all.. Eye for an eye is not the way to do things in the water..

I have a son now.. I want to see him grow up and kite with me.. I stay away from the lower launch.. I'd rather deal with beginners at the upper launch any day of the week..

my 2c

I choose to internalize my anger and channel it on my kite.

yeah, generally if you're jumping at the point, you're doing tricks you know you can land so you don't get in anyone's way....

those of us who crash almost every tack (like ramsey and me) tend to ride/crash further downwind so when we go down it doesn't inconvenience people.

with regards to how close the kites are to each other, a lot of us ride there very frequently and know many of the riders, so it becomes easier to predict the other person's movements and it's not as scary for the kites to be close.

last year, I went to brazil and kited in the famous lagoons near combuco, that completely changed my impression of what "crowded" could mean. imagine hundreds (yes hundreds) of kites all packed into a tiny little lagoon, in addition to fishermen, kids playing, horses and cows in the water too. you cannot imagine until you've seen it.

goosh wrote:

windhorny wrote:I'm not saying that short-tacking is cool..

From my continuous line of stupid questions: What's short tacking? I am trying to learn before I get into a bad situation.

I finally figured out what lawn mowing is, and I am looking forward to make it to that level :)

Thanks for your help

did i write that?