So i'm out having a sail with a friend at Shearwater on Saturday. We come to the beach to have a chat because i had just split the nose of my board from the front of my boom hitting it after trying a very ungraceful jybe. I am relatively novice. I'm not in the best of moods now because of the board thing. We are in thigh deep water and there is some people out there learning to kite surf. This guy is teaching his missus to kite surf which is all good except for the fact they are UP wind of the whole of Shearwater. So this lady looses control when she does get up out of the water and comes straight for us in the water but obviously hasn't been taught how to steer the kite properly. Her board goes straight across the top of my sail which is only 4 days old. It puts a mark on one of the batten pockets and scuffs it up a bit and puts a gouge in some of the reinforced area of the mono film which was that close to going through it's not funny. I tried to move the sail but couldn't do it in time. So now i'm even more pissed off. The guy says sorry she is only learning. I understand the whole learning thing as i'm doing it myself. So to the amazement of both my friend and I he drags her back UP wind again and tries again. WHY WHY WHY would you teach some one UP wind from every single person there that day. Come on common sense has to prevail sometimes doesn't it. Why should i have to put up with my brand new sail being damaged by a lack of common sense. If he had a brand new car and i was teaching my daughter to drive on her L plates and she made a mistake and put a dent in his car and scratched it would he still think that it was OK and then get her drive in exactly the same manner again and again, i think not. I know it's not quite the same but it's similar. Please bear others in mind and use common sense when you are teaching or learning. We all need to use the area together it's not a bowling alley where everybody else in the water are the pins, nobody wants themselves or their gear to be hit by an out of control board, kite or windsurfer. I don't know why they call it COMMON SENSE because if it was common everyone would have it.

Yep,common sense is lost on alot of people.
Your best bet would have been to have a friendly chat to the chick and point out the problem she is causing.
Most people will thankyou for the advice,,,problem solved,,you might of saved someone from getting hurt.

Having a spit on a forum that they dont read will get you nowhere.

I find many kiters teach from the upwind-most position. Including schools sometimes.
I suppose they simply want more room should they lose it and don't care about people.

I usually sail close to their beam line and get in the way. Sometimes they move, but some are really, really thick.

lotofwind said...

Having a spit on a forum that they dont read will get you nowhere.

This is true but sometimes when you are frustrated and angry having a spit will do wonders, works for me

barn said...

Also I can't understand how you would get upset about dinging the nose of your board, I trash my gear all the time, never bothers me...

Good for you Barnsy if you don't give a cr*p about your gear, he does as most of us would. But that wasn't what fired him up, it's getting his new sail damaged by someone else.

pierrec45 said...

I usually sail close to their beam line and get in the way. Sometimes they move, but some are really, really thick.

Just plain stupid

lotofwind said...

Just give learners ,kite or pole, a bit of room to move,not get in the way.... That would be common scence.

Agree 100%

lotofwind said...

Your best bet would have been to have a friendly chat to the chick and point out the problem she is causing.
Most people will thankyou for the advice,,,problem solved,,you might of saved someone from getting hurt.

Agree again, only thing different I'd do is ask for a new sail or repair. Same if someone backs into your car, you'd expect it to be fixed

Cheers Uncle Bob

I wasn't in front of her she headed straight on shore and traveled probably 30 to 40 metres and hit my sail and almost got dragged to the beach. We were well clear. I don't blame her at all i put more blame on the person instructing because they are the ones that would have the greater experience in saying that i suppose BLAME isn't the right word, i know non of this was intentional and he did say sorry. Like i said i understand the learning thing but while people are learning wouldn't be better and safer to be down wind a bit of the other dozen or more people in the area. She didn't know how to steer the kite which again is not her fault at all. There was 3 other people there including a young boy being taught and they spent nearly all there time learning how the kite re-acts and how to steer it before they even got on the board and caused nobody any issues whatsoever. i just believe she should have been taught to fly the kite better before being thrown on the board. I could be wrong and maybe she had been taught and panicked a bit or something but if that's the case down wind a little would have been safer in my opinion for all concerned including her. Genetically superior? looks like some people are taking this personally. I just think that we should be taking others into consideration. The last thing any of us need is the nanny state coming into play more and restricting areas and activities due to injuries and so forth. It's already happening with other sports and activities. I'm not trying to inflame anyone just venting my opinion. I may be off the mark but i'm sure someone will be more than happy to let me know if i am it seems

firiebob said...

barn said...

Also I can't understand how you would get upset about dinging the nose of your board, I trash my gear all the time, never bothers me...

Good for you Barnsy if you don't give a cr*p about your gear, he does as most of us would. But that wasn't what fired him up, it's getting his new sail damaged by someone else.

Well he did say he was in a bad mood over the board thing.. Its wear and tear.. You can't get angry when gear gets damaged.. This summer I've snapped a 100% carbon mast, broke a carbon boom, trashed a brand new sail, snapped a board I spend a month building, snapped a board I didn't own and I can't afford to replace any of it. Can't remember getting upset, and I care about my gear as much as anyone.. If somebody gets angry at a dinged nose then they need not be upset, and maybe eat a perspective sandwich.. I reckon getting run over by a kite and only getting a few dings is a good result, could be a whole lot worse..

Good for me!

Firiebob you get me. Yes i care about my gear and make no apologies for that, it costs a lot of money. I don't know of anyone that would be happy about having a 4 day old sail that can cost anything up to $1000+ damaged or a kite for that matter. I don't and never did want it to become an us and them mentality. I like it when there is a heap of people out enjoying themselves all i was trying to say was as these sports become more and more popular therefore more and more people we need to consider the people around us and try to make sure we don't impact other people in a negative way. A little bit of thought, common sense and consideration will go a long way towards EVERYBODY having a good day. Just for the record i have spoken to a few "kiters" and one of them said he was an instructor. His exact comment on what happened after seeing first hand was "if we did what they are doing while teaching someone we would be shot". If we have kiters and windsurfers crashing into each other and others swimmers or beach goers there will start to be exclusion zones set up if the fun police are brought into play lets try and avoid that sort of thing by policing ourselves. Oh crap i just jybed right off my soapbox and split my board again. Oh it doesn't matter i'm not supposed to care it's only money. Ooopps can you say sarcasm.

windsufering said...

kiters are as dumb as dog **** tell them to practice in a park on the monkey bars

Very intellectual,,,and we are spouse to learn from our elders????
Im so glad you are a minority and all people arent like you.

windsufering said...

kiters are as dumb as dog **** tell them to practice in a park on the monkey bars

lmfao .... Are you sure they are not just .... What is your usual comment? Oh that's right

"cashed up bogans!"

You're an idiot!

Barn, you must be gen y, all this " cool I don't care if I trash my gear" ..
bummer. Getting a board trashed is upsetting, having a sail trashed by someeslse is very upsetting, some people have the means to replace broken gear straight away, others don't.

Dr J you must be very happy a cashed up bogan is captain of the aust cricket team

it's the popular "L Plater" kiter spot - if you haven't had a kite land on your head, or watched someone fly their kite with only 3 lines, or watched a kiter go for a drag up the beach and into the shrubs on their guts and then mumble "it's all good" with a mouth full of grass and dirt, you haven't fully experienced the joys of the shearwater

^^ I scence sarcasm?

pierrec45 said...

lotofwind said...

^^^^^^ this guy is smart and has common scence.

Yes, common scence indeed.

I scense you're pretty smart yourself.

I think Lotofwind meant "common scents"

Sometimes peoples actions and best intensions do go wrong for some reason, inexperience, ignorance ect.
Hopefully a lesson learnt, if you dont want your gear damaged by other people stay far enough away so they hopefully dont come near you.
Noboy likes there gear damaged, espeacially by other people when you have spent thousands of dollars.