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Old 03-19-2008, 07:49 PM
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jaco jaco is offline
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Exclamation ATTENTION KITESURFERS-Warning from Pinellas County Surfers

Found this on the GULFSTER.com website for surfers on the West Coast near Pinellas. Sounds like they're not to happy with the kiters. Probably something to tend to.

"ATTENTION KITESURFERS: Today I witnessed a few kitesurfers come dangerously close to literally landing on some surfers. I may not be the brightest guy in the world but then again it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that should a serious or fatal accident occur it could potentially invite a legislative response in the form of restrictions or outright prohibitions that would adversely affect not only kitesurfers but possibly surfers as well. So having said that please give the surfers in the water a little more room. After all, you have an entire coastline to play with, whereas surfers just have a few isolated spots to do their thing."

gulfster.com
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Old 03-19-2008, 08:17 PM
Chad085 Chad085 is offline
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just get ready for beach closures and restrictions. Regardless of the efforts made by all of us who care, some a@@holes are still gonna ruin it for everyone. Hopefully they will only injure themselves and not innocent bystanders. We were just starting to gain some respect from gulfster, they were posting a lot of pics and giving us a lot of credit. Smooth move, whoever it was. Ignorance should be painful
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Old 03-19-2008, 08:52 PM
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Kiters should pass on the downwind side of surfers or well to windward with kite high, not threatening to closeline them. I would make sure there are no surfers ideally within a couple of line lengths downwind when jumping. Some of those jumps really get stretched out particularly on flat kites. I was amazed at how far downwind I went in a session today. Landing jumps near surfers or bathers is idiotic in the extreme and inexcusable. Always look around before you launch a jump. I would not ride routinely through the lineup either. People who do it are offering up their life's earnings and more as potential compensation to the avoidably injured parties. Believe it.

Who has greater numbers, surfers or kiteboarders and who has been around longer? Taking on surfers is also stupid in the extreme and highly unnecessary. We have vastly greater mobility and riding options. Crowding surfers is not smart or advisable and will likely lead to trouble.

Talk to the problem kiters, if they persist get some good video and put it up letting the clip do the talking. Kent might even give you some swag.
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Last edited by ricki; 03-19-2008 at 09:36 PM.
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Old 03-19-2008, 09:39 PM
Tom Stock
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Ok, fess up... who was it? You know who you are.

Having been one of those surfers almost run down by a kiter 3 years ago I can imagine how pissed of the surfers were. I sure was.
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Old 03-19-2008, 09:59 PM
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surfers dont even give each other enouph room.
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Old 03-19-2008, 10:14 PM
Skyway Scott
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They don't fall from the sky on one another and can't go 30 knots, either.
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Old 03-20-2008, 07:44 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RickI View Post
Who has greater numbers, surfers or kiteboarders and who has been around longer?

As for numbers in Pinellas I'd have to say Kiteboarders Rick. The west coast isn't anything like the east coast for waves...

The surfers in this area are pretty cool with us for the most part though. I am sure something seriously kooky must have been done to upset them.

I hate to sound like a broken record but we may want to revisit the skills testing, rider level tagging, and putting up signs idea at our local launches.

This thread was NEVER responded to on Bobo's last post:

http://www.fksa.org/showthread.php?t=5997&page=9

If not that system, something needs to be put into place or the riding here is just gonna get kookier...
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Old 03-20-2008, 08:03 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by toby wilson View Post
As for numbers in Pinellas I'd have to say Kiteboarders Rick. The west coast isn't anything like the east coast for waves...

not sure about that toby, i used to surf, and on an epic day, ie when a hurricane goes north through the gulf and sends overhead clean waves.... you literaly have to take turns on waves, there was a surfer every 5ft for a few hundred yards... hard to believe but true, im sure tom would concur....
there easily a couple hundred surfers in our area..... if not more...
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Old 03-20-2008, 08:10 AM
Woodson Woodson is offline
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Friday night Bennigan's at Channelside... Tampa Surfer Meeting... FWIW...
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Old 03-20-2008, 08:13 AM
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As a side note, this was very similar to what almost caused the effective banning of both kiteboarding and windsurfing in Hawaii recently. Small dumb acts can have large consequences.

Show reasonable respect and common sense or open the doors to having others do it for us. People that have no reason to give much of a damn about kiting, how and where we like to do it or anything else.

I heard a story about someone landing on a surfboard on the east coast recently. Fortunately, the surfer saw it coming and slid out of the way just before contact. Amazing stupidity on the part of the kiteboarder.
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