Noticed this year (so far this season anyway) there has been a few kiters down near the groyne at Dutchies.

The last couple of seasons there has been this voluntary segregation whereby kiters stay about 200m plus north of the groyne and never venture down south near the groyne / area in front of the playground.
Obviously the odd downwinder comes thru but that is no biggie.

In my last 3 sessions I have seen guys actually launching at the bottom of the stairs from the playground (as in, 30m from the groyne) and staying there all afternoon.

The area the kiters were in (and where most still stay) at the north end was suitable as the reef is a bit shallow for polies in some bits so life was just grand.

So-

was there ever a formal agreement about segregation?
will the kiters have a word to the ones who persist in kiting in the middle of the polies, when 20 other kiters are obviously in a different area?
Do we need a proper agreement like Safety Bay?

Ideas?

I am of the live and let live school...

Provided numbers are up above five or so windsurfers, I think we annoy them more than they annoy us, and so they tend to p$ss off down wind?

I usually just hold my line regardless, and let them manoevre about.

'A kitesurfers life is a drag.....'

I think the annoyance runs both ways but they take up more space and are a pain to overtake, plus the noobs really ruin the break as they do 50m runs thru it.
It also makes your inside gybe hard if you are upwind of the groyne and have to gybe in a certain spot but there is a couple of them in the way

Interesting there are more replies in the kite forum so maybe the polies actually don't care?

i reckon the ocean should be free for all

However last season - windsurfing at brighton i was hit by lines on 3 occasions , hit a twin tip drifting in the surf (damaging my fin) and had countless waves ruined by kites down in the break and drifting through.

I am just one of about 30 regular windsurfers there and they all have similar stories to tell - some better - some worse.

The windsurfers at Brighton get squeezed between the kiters - who have inevitably crept south - and the clubbies immediately to the North -so we effectively have a 150m stretch of beach to use.

to be fair:

other windsurfers also get in the way - and i have been in the way of other windsurfers and kiters too at times

I actually like riding with the competent riders there - like Niall, Mike B and Ryland - and get some stoke out of watching them throw spray- but there is definitely some collateral damage that comes with numbers in the water.

Probably the worst is the beginner doing 30m poostance runs back and forth right in the windsurfer zon

I think the only thing worse than over crowding is over regulation. I cant see any enforceable solution to the problem. Spending more time in the water during winter is a great way to avoid the crowds.

Easy solution - two voluntary areas. Works great at Safety Bay.
However it is not working at Dutchies as new kiters use the windsurf area and I suggest the old and wise kiters have a word to them and tell them to move. Thus my thread in Kiting forum also

I never see a windsurfer rig up and go out in their area (and if they did most windsurfers would inform them and all would be sweet)

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Reflex Films said...

i reckon the ocean should be free for all

I vote this the worst ever comment on any Seabreeze forum thread

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doggie said...

Reflex Films said...

i reckon the ocean should be free for all

I vote this the worst ever comment on any Seabreeze forum thread

it says "free for all" not "a free for all".

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doggie said...

Reflex Films said...

i reckon the ocean should be free for all

I vote this the worst ever comment on any Seabreeze forum thread

Please explain?

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saltiest1 said...

doggie said...

Reflex Films said...

i reckon the ocean should be free for all

I vote this the worst ever comment on any Seabreeze forum thread

it says "free for all" not "a free for all".

Oops, sorry didnt read that rite Im only a dog after all

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Mark _australia said...

Easy solution - two voluntary areas. Works great at Safety Bay.
However it is not working at Dutchies as new kiters use the windsurf area and I suggest the old and wise kiters have a word to them and tell them to move. Thus my thread in Kiting forum also

I never see a windsurfer rig up and go out in their area (and if they did most windsurfers would inform them and all would be sweet)

For the first few seasons when KIters first appeared I'd desperately try & get out of the way of a Kite, now I've figured, they have more to lose in a collision. Especially when you are 2kms out to sea. Integration is never going to work, seperate areas FTW.

Had one kiter on Friday at Dutchies decide he was better than everyone else and stayed kiting in the windsurfing area...

The other 15 kiters were all fine, having fun downwind or well upwind. It's always the one idjit that spoils it for everyone.

Like Zed I've overcome my fear of strings now, they're more of a nuisance than anything else.

(I wish I wasn't an admin on here, then I could offer a solution [}:)])