VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

After having my recent crash and reflecting on a few things I came up with this idea.

What if there was a club that held say casual monthly meetings at a restaurant/coffee shop. This would be a casual, no commitment, no membership kind of thing that you could attend to discus things like equipment, kite locations, and planned trips. We could also discus the idea of voluntary rules/regs. and information training on local launches. We could go over communication with local authorities regarding access, education, and signage.

I do believe some areas of the world have mandatory education about the beaches and launches required before you are able to kite there. Might be a great idea here as a preventative measure.

Looking at my recent experiences I have found the following. With good research and education you can learn to use the equipment properly. There is however almost know way of learning about local beaches with out some trial and error. If we had meetings the more experienced kiters could offer info to the new kiters to avoid any mishaps and prevent restrictions from being put in place. This could later be put into an information manual that may become part of a local training class/course. This would outline the acceptable launch areas, and weather conditions.

Anyone have any input ??

Good idea.

Sorry cat have dinner plans now.

Im down for beers and kite safety.

Dude, that's what this website is all about. Check out the Wiki and choose sailing spots for info about local beaches, or kiteboarding safety to learn from other's experiences. The forum is also a good place to ask questions about gear, or do a search and perhaps you'll find that your questions have already been answered in previous discussions.
Or here's an idea.... just come down to your local favorite kite beach any given windy day and get to know some of us. There's always plenty of "shop" talk and stoke to go around!

Ditto

Yeah you guys are right, people at the beaches have been super helpful and the forum/wiki is great too, obviously it is not all encompassing. What I did not clue into before is most of the wiki sailing info is geared towards windsurfers not kiters. The two do require different wind conditions and one may be good when the other is poor. It still would not hurt to get some sort of beach guidelines/organization in place voluntarily before it is forced upon us. Kus seems to keep pushing this idea too. Just a thought from a rookie.

RM

Beers at the beagle at 7 ....mmmmm "cold beer""

soooo, u r coming then hope to see others out too that I am sure have pretty distinct opinions on this issue. I will take notes.....and yes, I know you just want to drink beer AC

As a Maverick kiter I am very wary of the kitesurfing community adding signage or modifying Island view beach ... I choose to quietly keep an open trail from the field adjacent the gazebo to the beach below the high water mark & presumably out of the C.R.D. ruled park ... To start any sort of claim to an area (signage etc.) may lead to a 'path' of bureaucracy (liability / certification / licensing / a total ban etc.) that is not beneficial to us as a group ... A few well meaning kiters / windsurfers meeting in a pub is great but please don't change the way I pursue my hobby without it being 100% a necessity ... (such as a threat to reduce or exclude us from access to a site) Thank you for reading MY opinion . P.S. Here are some suggested guidelines from the 'WIKI': http://www.bigwavedave.ca/wiki/index.ph ... fety_guide & more recently from sky pilot : http://www.skypilotkiteboarding.com/mod ... ode=nested But wait there's more: http://kitesurfingschool.org/safety.htm

Thats perfect JL
we should leave it at that""

yup

JL, you know that you should be wearing a PFD out there right?:twisted:
Its a 200 dollar fine under the Contraventions REgulations under the SVR of the CSA( 2001).. SO if its an official kitesurfing park ( which we dont want) we could expect invreased regualtory procedures and involvement.
Unless its abolsutely needed, stay away from the Govy. They do weird shit

Don't forget your sound-signaling device...

Back in the mid 80's Cindy Lee was windsurfing @ China Creek when an RCMP Officer jumped out a patrol boat in about 2' of water & charged her with not wearing a life jacket ... @ Elk lake I used to clip my l-jacket to the tip of my mast .