The Skyway, aka the Highway to Hell

[A-Bomb]

The light wind always seems to get the best of me too. A couple days ago I went out and cut my foot out there while screwing around in wind that I couldn't even stay up wind in.

Interesting posts... I wasn't able to get into the sign issue recently due to a new baby. I try to keep my kiteboarding as politics free as possible anyway. Sign or not, I do get the feeling that some good may come of all the talk about the Skyway riding spot. It seems like there's a new level awareness, at least when it comes to newbies anyway, that will hopefully keep all our spots a little safer. I've always told, and will continue to tell, people to never ride at the Skyway until you are consistent at going up wind. At least when experienced riders do stupid stuff, they can usually save themselves.

Problem is, the beginners usually emulate what the experienced riders are doing.

[A-Bomb]

True, good point. Yet another reason for us not to get too stupid out there. My first year or two of kiteboarding, before we had crowding issues, I would occasionally jump near shore. After learning my lesson the hard way, more times than I should have, I finally beat it into my head, and my holy wetsuit, that jumping near shore is generally not a good idea.

[stormatzio]

So this is about my second post ever but I actually have my two cents to add. I went to the Skyway on Thursday and saw a whole bunch of people I have never seen before trying to ride in 10-12Kts of winds. There were a lot of fluttering kites hanging straight in the air. Probably 2 or 3 guys barely staying up wind. It was just looking ugly. I decided not to tempt fate and I guess I missed a pretty good late session.

So here it is.... The moment we have all dreaded...... People, lots and lots of people. The wind sucked the other day and the beach was packed. Gone are the days of hanging out and knowing everyone in the water and how they ride. Who you should stay away from and who is a good rider.

I see all of these posts about the skyway not being a beginner launch. My take is that the skyway is about the safest launch around. East Beach - slippery as hell most of the time, full of sightseers, palm trees, and road signs. Sure the water is shallow, but there is no really good bailout point other then the beach. Remember the guy who was dragged into the minivan last year...... Gulf - Newbies riding surf with a beach full of tourist and gusty conditions... I can't wait to read the post about that. Westside of Skyway - Oyster bars, boat channel, ankle deep water at low tide, big submerged pipe we have all dinged our boards on, slippery as hell muddy bottom, launch about the size of a postage stamp. How many people are we going to be cleaning out of the trees this year? I could go on and on, Southside of Skyway, Lassen, etc. We all learned in these spots when there were 20 of us total, Dakota was a puppy, and the one pump was the trickest thing on the market.

I haven't thought of an answer to this problem. I know it's not going to get any better with crowds and people are not going to stop wanting to learn. The summer is almost over and the wind is only a few weeks away, no matter what happens, I can't wait for the season to get going.

I have one word to describe it: carnage

It's going to be an interesting season!

[RKITEKT]

I'm sorry, I can't help but laugh... "one word: carnage"

Originally Posted by kite-4-life

I hate to be the one to ask, but what happened to everyone working together to create a sign/banding system to try to manage the rapid growth?

I think reality happened and many of us witnessed it.

[Danimal8199]

Originally Posted by stormatzio

So this is about my second post ever...

I have nothing to say about this topic so I will just say that stormatzios profile actually says he has posted 4 times. Now his credibility is in question!