Like I said in previous posts, say goodbye to kiting on the river in SW breezes within 5 years tops!!

haha 1st winds of the season and old kookville is up to its old antics. look forward to reading many more of these as summer hits!

Addikt said...
Pity are there any signs around helping the "special few" about safe water practice?

Who would read this? I've never seen anyone reading a sign at Peli Pt and many acting quite opposite.

My fellow kiters, behind a yellow bows is the Marine Sanctuary. Read the sign what this means. Please.

Hybrid_Z said...
I went there for the first time yesterday, it was an....experience. Got a terrible launch, watched a couple of kites get eaten by trees, couple of people get dragged disturbingly close to the road and to top it off had someone expecting me to help then land while i was in the middle of a practice self rescue pack down.

I certainly don't have mad skills but some of the people there really need to think about what they are doing.

Hybrid if I was the guy sitting on the bench who launched you and fell over in the process the reason why it was a terrible launch was twofold. One you refused to move further back in the water and thus launched it over the grass rather then the beach, and two you walked too far up wind before getting tension in the lines. The correct way to launch is walk upwind with your lines tense against the kite until it stops flapping whereby it would simply launch calmly up the edge of the window rather than pushing against the launcher who is standing upwind of the kite. If this wasnt you then cool no worries. If this was you, learn how to launch a kite!!!!

Finally, we are all there to help each other so if some wants to land - help them mate - regardless if it is an inconvenience!! Otherwise we would all be self launching and landing.

haha the melville circus, same story every year. Probably worse this year now every kook out there is worried about sharks.

Mark _australia said...
Everytime I come to the kite forum for a short peruse I feel so much love.

Aw Markie that's so sweet xx

the gibbo said...

Smithy said...

Mark _australia said...
Everytime I come to the kite forum for a short peruse I feel so much love.

At least the "love" is usually aimed at each other in an attempt to educate or protect the sport rather than some of the other forums that just bitch and moan about everyone else...

Meow

Welcome to season 2012/13, no river kiting for me, the amount of work some crew have put into keeping this beach open is already being undone, well done muppets.
3 years tops is my prediction, should get the TAB onto it.

i would put it less than 3 years .


and i don't hold hope for bourke street either for much longer .

Coupled with the retarded **** i have seen on the nedlands foreshore over the last month . Two cars of farking teuro's launched and landed west of jojo's . I had stopped and had a chat to them on the do's and do not's but was simply shrugged off . Another guy landboarding on a flysurfer last night next to guys playing soccer or touch or some other ball sport . again right in front of jojo's

Sounds like the east coast is heaps friendlier...

Such a shame this kind of thing is happening.

Would newbies please follow advice given by more experienced kiters. Perth has some great locations, and it only takes a few F&^% wits to mess it up for all of us.

Didn't pick up that this was a school bashing thread but there you go...

Anyone who's been a regular kite @ Melville over the past several years will be aware of the long standing issues here. The season's barely started & the madness @ Melville is already being discussed, and inevitably being monitored by residents & others.

IMO it's up to individual kiters to speak to & encourage all kiters (especially newbies & Teuro's) to comply with the local rules @ Melville (and all other beaches) if we want to keep spots open.

dbabicwa said...

dusta said...

Coupled with the retarded **** i have seen on the nedlands foreshore over the last month . Two cars of farking teuro's launched and landed west of jojo's . I had stopped and had a chat to them on the do's and do not's but was simply shrugged off . Another guy landboarding on a flysurfer last night next to guys playing soccer or touch or some other ball sport . again right in front of jojo's

Just wondering, what's wrong with this? Too close to footpath, obstacles, other people?
Wouldn't do it myself but just asking what prompted you for a chat?

what prompted me to stop and chat to them was the fact there were people around them walking dogs, families playing on the grass , people walking along the river . That area is a general use area and it is about 200m between the river's edge which has a retaining wall about a 1m high . If something was to go wrong there would be carnage but of course why would they care .

pic attached so you can see the distance they had to walk with their kites and how it is a high use area .

Although I prefer to kite on the ocean the fact that Melville is a stone throw from where I live I often kite there.

Yes it's busy with learners some who need to educate themselves more about kiting etiquette and local rules. Though every time I politely inform anyone what they should and shouldn't be doing it's met with ignorance. Whilst handing out location guides at the airport or listing on the WAKSA website is a good approach it doesn't cut it IMO.

Addikt said...
Pity are there any signs around helping the "special few" about safe water practice?

I also believe there should be some signage detailing beach guidelines.

The signs could be tagged onto the back of the benches already located along the beach so as not to upset local residents with street clutter. The signs should be targeted at the kitesurfers and not the general public as are the current signs “Warning kitesurfing activities conducted in this area”. A simple map with bullet points similar to the location guide should be sufficient allowing no one to claim ignorance.

Note WAKSA website for Melville location:
- Does not mention learners and lessons to stay downwind of large white gum.
- Claims wind direction southerly as well as south west. If it is direct southerly it is slightly offshore producing no wind or gustier than usual conditions close to beach.
-Skill level ticked as only “Expert”?

That's ok speaking to newbies or unfamiliar folk, I have no problem doing the right thing but from the perpetrators point of view you are taking the “moral low ground”. I bet you'd feel bitter If you were done for speeding on a stretch of road that had no speed limit signs.

I'm not advocating put signs on every beach in town but for a location that is so popular yet sensitive with local residents it is a case of time before more restrictions are imposed.

Maybe the rules for melville are not published enough.
I was down there yesterday with wife and kids and watched 25 windsurfers contending with kiters, some even tried looping infront of them with out looking at whats coming,looked very ugly from the beach, is this normal for kites to sail at melville in onshore conditions? The bill board in the windsurfing carpark claims kiting is banned in onshore conditions.
Can some one fill me in on what is rules and reg for kiting on the river?
cheers

Melville & onshore winds is kind of like Kiting 101...learn it early, & just don't do it....it's not that difficult...