welcome Kareem to our group - he is a kiter and asked to join at a moment when I was stewing over the latest run-in with a kiter today... In order to forestall heavy-handed rulings by the authorities reacting to complaints from campers, we (a number of Isabella kite regulars plus myself) had last year considered the options and decided to try and promote voluntary segregation, where the Aux Dam Rec area would be kite-free (it being where all the recent complaints had come from) with kiters launching from downwind of the Old Isabella Road, and staying below this line. This would keep them away from the most heavily used camping areas, and would give those of us windsurfers a safe haven who have had bad experiences with kiters and do not care to repeat same. Most of this season, when I explained things to kiters pulling up at the AuxDam, they grumbled, but moved downwind. But then there are always folks like this fellow today, who launched well downwind of us, among campers, walked his kit up to the sandspit (with a dozen people in his strikezone), and sailed into our cove, with us in his strikezone. Disconcerting under the best of circumstances, but particularly unattractive in light of todays wind, which was not consistent. I must have watched him crash his kite a dozen times. Yet when I asked him to stay below us, and explained our trying to self-police to prevent the authorities from stepping in, he told me I was full of it, and that he was an instructor. That makes it all ok, then? There are many venues where for safetys sake, kiters are separated from other beach users. Should we not do the same here, to prevent accidents, and to make it more enjoyable for every beach user? Honestly, Roger, Max, Kareem - what should we do? If we do nothing, we may well all be run off when we have the first serious accident.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 05:09:11 +0000
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