KITING RIGHT OF WAY !!!!

[jason morton]

We have had alot of tangled lines lately. My race day ended early because of a tangle that broke a line. I was bummed, but I'm glad noone got hurt. I have noticed that people don't look before they turn. Please look behind before you turn.

1. Right hand forward on the bar (starboard) has the right of way. This means that the kiter needs to continue on their course. This doesn't mean that you can just go nuts everywhere and the kiters coming the opposite way have to steer clear.
2. People downwind have right of way over people up wind. When passing going opposite directions the upwind kite flies high and the downwind kite flies low. Be careful when overtaking someone going the same direction.
3. People launching have right of way over people landing. Let people get safely off the beach.
4. Look before you jibe(or turn). Many of our kiters weren't windsurfers and may not know this. This is very important. Just give a quick glance over you shoulder before you throw that massive spray and displace buckets.
5. Jumping. Not sure how to address this one other than use common sense. Before you jump anticipate you trajectory keeping in mind where other kiters are and how it will affect them. We don't need to be landing on someone, or in front of someone for that matter.
6. Kenny will be watching

[btjsfca]

Try this:

http://www.kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewtopi ... f1fcaa5dc5

Maritime rules adjusted for kiters.

-J

[tjacques]

i just want to thank all the good kite friends i have met in the past few months kiting. the safety culture here is encouraging and keeps me wanting to kite more. jason you must have walked 10 kiters out into the water to launch them sunday at lincoln in big wind, after daves kitemare this really helped me go out. thanks to you and all the others that have and continue to help. cheers and lets all live these rules.

[MikE mAy]

i'd also like to thank kenny, marty, steve m, and jason as well. with all the injuries that have happened here (all before my time on water), i think that we need to be ever vigalant about safety. i bought a helmet and have worn it maybe three times. i need to do it more for sure. i should have been wearing it saturday at deer creek.
i'm always a bit sketched out about safety and i'd like to thank you veterans for helping voice your opinions about conditions on any given day. saturday it was nice to hear jason and marty both say how sketched out they felt about deer creek. i was worried for all the same reasons. i still went out and rode, but i thought twice about it and also thought twice about the people that were already out riding. i, for one, judge a lot of my riding what other people are doing- i.e. so and so is out on a 16, i know about how much he weighs and what style he rides. i shoudl be out on a 14. i think the same should go for safety- so and so is out with a helmet and impact vest and i probably should be wearing the same. some of our launches have a bit more risk factor and as such, i think more of us shoudl pony up and wear the proper safety gear. i will do my best to do that in the future.

thanks again vets!

one more note to waroo users. what safety do you guys use? i like to clip into my chicken loop, but that dosent' seem to give you 100% depower if shit hits the fan. i had a close call at yuba a while ago and was only clipped to my chicken loop. i released the loop, but the kite still looped a few times. it looked like it was ready to relaunch, so i had to haul my loop back in and unclip it and grab an o shit ring. i also found out then that if you grab the o shit ring, and still have your leash attached to your chicken loop, the kite still won't depower just go into a death spiral. i let go and re did the procedure corectly. i like the chicken loop safety because i can perform downloops on transitions, which i dont' think i could do if i was leashed into the o shit ring.

what are your safety procedures? clip into o shit when launching and landing and then transfer to your chicken loop when riding?

[Chris Hedquist]

I usually don't clip in at all until the kite is in the air. most kitemares seem to happen on launch because of one small detail over looked. i leave it clipped in landing only cause I'm lazy but should probably unclip then too.
on the new waroo bar you can clip to the actual ring for your leash on the end of the rope. I don't like to because if you do let go it pulls the rope all the way through and I once got it all tangled way out at Lincoln. However, it will definitely depower all the way using this method.
I usually clip in right above the chicken loop around the two ropes. That way if I let go it depowers the length of the bar but doesn't get tangled. Clipping to the OSR works great to dump the kite but gets in your way and crashes your kite guaranteed.
ps. if your still beginning dont use a leash, even though it comes with a bar!! (not directed to you mike) you need to be able to release completey and quickly.


Chris

[kenonstott]

Just a note that windsurfers love to watch you jump but only when you are well away from them. We don't see you having a lot of control while in the air and those long lines make us very leery of being too close. Kiters in the Gorge seem to like to get right on top of windsurfers before jumping and this has cost them a lot of support in that area. I haven't had that problem with Utah kiters; you guys have been great. It always helps to see a thing from other’s perspective.