VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

I do feel I should also make this statement. While safety has been the primary basis of this disscussion I do believe there is a way to also push yourself to excel and achieve new things/tricks. In no way would I expect those that wish to do so to not explore that avenue as I do from time to time, however I do EXPECT that I and others ensure that the moment we choose to push our limits we survey around ourselves to ensure none others in the immediate area downwind are placed in a position of unreasonable risk. By unreasonable risk I mean I calculate for error of judgement with the possibility of a yard sale. Naturally "shit" happens when you push yourself, but I do my best to ensure that the "shit" that does happen doesn't put anyone else around me in grave danger. Equipement failure is something that does factor in but is relatively rare and very hard to calculate so not something that really I fully consider when pulling the trigger so to speak.

AS BK I think said .. know your limits

Cheers
Dale

One place that isn't getting mentioned much, but was really helpful when I was learning kiting (10 years ago): Parkesville area. No, not in the summer, for obvious reasons.

But I remember being at the stage where I had progressed from trainer kites, had bought my first 'big' kite, and needed somewhere to learn to bodydrag and get used to flying.

March and April, on South Easters (in the rain) were great - wide open beach, thigh to waist deep water, and no one around. The wind was sometimes challenging, but that was the whole point. I remember Ross telling me that tough wind made good sailors, or something like that.

The way I learned where and how to kite (safely) was due entirely to being treated kindly by the guys who started the scene (Ross, Grant, Jan, Mark etc.). If it wasn't for those guys, I would have taken much longer to learn than I did, and would have been even more kooky (tough to imagine...).

OH, and GWIND, ironically, the names you posted (JL, KSD) etc. are the ones doing the MOST on the ground to ensure safety is respected. Agro? No. But I think the point has been has made that if we all step up on the polite 'reminders' that maybe a bit more of a carrot and stick approach is best. i.e., we should all be warm and welcoming and helpful to the beginners (we were all there once too). If the occasional dickhead curses out someone trying to help, well, in those rare occasions maybe whoever feels agro can deflate the dude's kite. Not my first choice, but I will support it if the kiter is truly putting himself or others in danger.

Cheers

I believe there should be some sort of neutral Zone at the lake
between kiters and windsurfers.
There should be small bumper zone/space between for margin of error.
also keep people from getting Agro,:)

Never Mind:)

This is an engaging conversation.

The accident reporting on this forum is a great resource! It is another way that this website improves our windsport community.

That said, I think that near-miss reporting is just as informative as accident reporting, and we should make more of an effort to record here near-miss situations. So often we see things at the beach and say “wow, that could have been really bad” but then just go about our way and forget about it. At work we report near misses and accidents to our safety coordinator and she summarizes them monthly and disseminates them throughout the company (sans names). Reading what happens to your coworkers really makes you think more carefully about even the mundane things we do (e.g. driving).

Perhaps we could start the post with “Accident Report” or “Near Miss Report” so it is easier to find in the myriad of posts?

Edit: Deleted some text and pasted below some good comments from the messageboard:

Kitesick: If we are to discuss every near miss and possible catastrophe on or off the water; we would be reading our forum more than enjoying the wind. Also, I believe that if every horror story and near miss that takes place on our local beaches is discussed on an open forum, we provide ammunition for local authorities to build a case for limiting or closing beaches to us wind junkies. - Monday February 22, 9:20PM

Kus: true enough, yet some vastly underestimate numbers & odds. Any accident vs. near miss study indicates you tend to get lucky"" 1000-10000 times before serious shit happens, chipping away at the near miss numbers is where it's at & u do that by awareness, turning one newbie @time to proper lessons 1st, what's our other option?? nuff said I guess - Tuesday February 23, 7:10AM

(Kitesick and Kus pm me if you don't want these posted here and I'll delete them)

Well, I was done posting because I thought this thread was becoming quite ridiculous, but read Dale, Paul, Big W Dave, Dwane, Billy's and others posts and had a second thought. Some really good things are coming out in this. It reminded me of the days in the earlier 90's learning how to windsurf. I bought my first gear at Ocean Wind at a swap meet, and learned that because I could ride a long board and uphaul, I was ready to learn how to water start. NitNat was the place to learn (who would of thunk it). Living up there for two summers really hooked me into the sport not only for the obvious, but for the people.
Sitting at home with your 12 maybe 18 channels on TV, and Windsurfing Mags were the only window of perhaps learning a new move, or finding out about a beter location. People went to NitNat for friends or that Johny Reed, Grant, Serge or maybe Ross might be there. I even thought it was strange that people from Vancouver would show up somtimes. Things as we know it have changed. Now we have internet and kitesurfing.
New people with kite gear will show up at any beach (wind or not), whether we like it or not. We can not stop anything like this from happening. I have watched so much carnage from the water, and again, nothing I could do but talk to them when I got in.
Getting the core of this group together, will bring common ground. I have met some really cool newbies that listen to criticism, and others that I want to just punch in the head. If we show all people, including non kiters and non windsurfers that this is a close community, and that we take care and watch out for one another. We will solve a lot of these problems. I know that Billy, Dale and Dwane really have done a great job of that at NitNat, and Jimmy down at Island View. Oh...and of course Life guard Dave at Cook St. But really if we just get together and have even a simple barbecue at say......Island View one day in the spring and call it a swap meet, shit could sort it self out and new people that have been miss understood could talk there bit, and beginners can talk with some local experienced kiters and windsurfers and learn about all of are big wipe outs and mistakes. Just a thought.
Controlling people will fail, educating and having a stronger tighter kiting/windsurfing community will out number the ones who choose to try and kill themselves by not listening. It may never solve the big problems totally, but could be a start of a movement. Bring it back to basic, just remember how we did it when kiting did not exists. It does now, so move with the times. Get learned up!
Thanks, Jordan

Great stuff guys. Super last post Jordan. I agree with the idea of a positive direction where we all help each other. Just happy I am not the target anymore.



Reuben

WOW! What went wrong here?

Nice post Jordan. Kiting is dangerous but lets keep the stoke. It's easy to point out the negatives. Shit happens and always will. Lets stay positive because everyone reading this forum has learned something. Lets continue to enjoy the wind! I'm looking forward to spring kiting.

Just to switch it up and prove there can be positive outcomes too, here's a little story for you...

Last summer Pfillion and I were out at Gordon's enjoying the nice sunny westerlies. We had both recently come in from some nice riding and things were filling in nicely, probably close to 25 kts off the beach.

We saw an unfamiliar face haul his gear down to the beach and we soon ended up going over to say hello. This stranger quickly told us that this was his first time kiting and that he was very excited about it. He had a brand new kite that was yet to be flown.

Immediately we were cautious and a bit nervous. When he told us it was a 16m the alarm bells hit full panic mode. We both began, repeatedly, to make it abundantly clear that this was a HUGE kite for the conditions and there was no way anyone would ever need that much size. ESPECIALLY someone who had NEVER FLOWN A KITE BEFORE (not even a trainer!!!).

We continued to tell the gentleman that this really was not the place nor the time to be playing with his new toy as we did our best to empathize with his pure stoke/determination to try out this sport.

At this point he was still determined to at least fly the thing. We were horrified and extremely nervous, and persisted in telling him this was a terrible idea, and that we did not want to be picking his bones off the breakwater stones 5 minutes later.

He still decided to get the kite out and rig it up. I told him that I couldn't launch him in good faith, even if I couldn't physically stop him from flying this thing.

We kept an eye on him for the next 20-30 minutes as he continued to mess around with his gear and try to rig things up. At this point I was thinking of ways to sabotage him before he could attempt a launch - it was either that or get the hell out of there, I didn't want to be around to see something awful.

We packed our gear and were ready to go, and came by once more to encourage him to do the same and buy a trainer or go to Nitinaht for lessons. Thankfully he had finally decided after all that time, watching the conditions, and having had us blather on for the better part of an hour about every possible disaster that could befall him, that he too would be packing up and going home.

Pfillion and I were pretty proud, we felt we probably saved that guy at the very least a wrecked or mess of a kite, and at worst.... well you can guess that.

I guess the point is, that even the most stubborn people can be reasoned with. The longer you can talk with someone (and maintain your cool in doing so - very key), the better chance you likely have of 'winning' them over.

I'm still pretty proud of that result

Thats the way to do it ... Firm but polite .

I think the time he put into his gear is great ,getting Familiar.
Time is everything, Observing, Getting comfortable with surroundings
and taking any free advise anyone wants to give if they have the time.

I think people are way more aware of the risks involved with kiteboarding.
only the stubborn ones will not ask for advise, or pay the dues to have an Instructor put all of there energy into teaching someone correctly.

Out of curiousity, did you ever see that person again??? (the one setting up at gordons?)

@ Dale

No I haven't actually... I do wonder what happened to him and if he ever got kiting or not...

A little cool this a.m. ... Waited for 5'c & the ebb tide ... Sweet session with buttery swells on the inside & gusty wind ... Broke the line holding my leg strap on the back of my old harness (My repair not O.R. & I didn't use the brand new harness in my van !!!) Came in for a self landing: 1. walked to my usual spot near the gazebo & dove the kite into a leading edge down position @ the edge of the window towards the beach 2. reached for a fwd. line to pull the kite into the wind 3. kite relaunched 4. Noted the rope to the front lines had taken a turn OVER the left side of the bar 5. Let go of the bar 6. Ungracefully dragged about 70 ft. along the field as my 7m dove towards the rd. 7. Reached fwd. & grabbed my 'Oh Shit' handle after kite & myself stopped with the kite on the field next to the parking area (you know the one on a front line @ the outer pulley ) better late than never 8. with kite properly on the ground & leading edge into the wind I assessed the damage 9. Bruised ego & torn knee on wet suit ... I got off easy ... Lesson learned: 1. self landing in gusty conditions don't get fancy, just find some open space down wind & toss the bar 2. consider putting the safety line @ the 'oh shit' handle on gusty days ... I could have used my release @ the chicken loop & kite would have flagged out from a front line ... Feel free to add your comments if they are constructive ... Thank you. p.s.: I'm so glad I was wearing a helmet !!! http://oceanrodeo.com/_inc/phpthumb/php ... 821f_b.jpg

Pretty funny Jim...I did pretty much the exact same thing, including the wrap around the bar! No dragging but I did have to relaunch out of the tree. Fantastic session, had a couple of hours at least, on the 6. Beauty waves.