3rd ave boneheads landing on bike path
Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 6:53 am
Last Saturday at 3rd Ave. Nice and warm, with a lot of people, kiters, windsurfers, bikers, kids in bike seats, runners, etc., out enjoying October summer.
Not a blustery day as far as wind goes. Most people got a short light wind session and headed in. Many were left on the water as it dropped.
This event is a perfect example of why we need to be active in our policing. There is a reason we have signs posted which mention where to launch and land kites. One bonehead enables the next.
In any event, it all starts with one d-bag.
Not a blustery day as far as wind goes. Most people got a short light wind session and headed in. Many were left on the water as it dropped.
This event is a perfect example of why we need to be active in our policing. There is a reason we have signs posted which mention where to launch and land kites. One bonehead enables the next.
- First, I see the German d-bag standing a the edge of the bike path about 1/3 of the way up from the rigging area to the upper launch. He's busy yelling at his girlfriend in the water. Not clear what he was saying, but got the impression he was concerned that she was going to drop his kite before she got it to him on the bike path. While his girlfriend was still a little ways out, I gently said Hi and suggested that most people at 3rd ave liked to avoid landing their kites across the bike path because of the risk it might present to other users of the waterfront area. I offered to swim out and help her self-rescue, if she needed it. His response was "I don't give a $%!# about you". I suggested that it wasn't really about me, it was more about the people on bicycles, and he reiterated his lack of concern about others in a somewhat more forceful way. He was a pretty hostile jackass, and bigger than me, so I walked off. His girlfriend landed her kite to him, with the kite and lines on the Bay side of the bike path, and except for a certain amount of waving the kite around, the risk to people on the bike path was pretty minimal.
Next, I see bonehead number two out in the water dragging towards shore and frantically tapping on his head for a landing. Who can really blame him, it would certainly be easier to land to someone on shore than put it in the water and wind up your lines. And he did just see someone else land on the bike path. Someone (the german d-bag?) landed the kite for him, leaving it in the duck pond on the far side of the bike path with the lines running across the path. I didn't see the landing, so I'm not sure whether it was landed across the path, or just carried over there and left while the guy climbed out. Again, who can blame him. Perhaps he doesn't ride here that often and doesn't understand the risks. And, he did just see someone else doing it.
Here's the winner. Dip-shit number three comes dragging in to shore. Nobody except non-kiters to land his kite. So, I watch from the upper launch as he self lands across the bike path. No regard at all for the people nearby, or who might be riding along on a bicycle, risk of a relaunch, or whatever. Yeah, I understand that maybe we wish the bikers would ride a little slower, and I'm sure they wish we wouldn't walk up the path with our kites. But this is just dumb. Again though, who can blame him. He just watched two other people land on the path, and was probably wondering why nobody was landing him.
In any event, it all starts with one d-bag.