One thing I always tell students is that their biggest obstacle on the beach will be people. As a weekend warrior kiteboarder, I never appreciated how much of an impact these bystanders can have. After becoming an instructor, my daily exposure to the beach has shown me what potential problems can arise, especially as the summer season brings more and more people out to the beach.
“Um, can you move please?” We have all had that guy or that family unknowingly get in the way of the kite. More often than not, if your kite crashes near the beach and you need to re-launch, there will be someone standing downwind of the kite. Rather than keep walking or move out of the way, they stand there to watch you re-launch. What do you usually do in these situations? Do you try to ask them to move? Do you just walk backwards until you are far enough away from them or do you just re-launch and hope you don’t hit the mother holding a newborn baby?
Fishermen. Although they are most often the headache reserved for beginners drifting back to the beach, even the most seasoned kiteboarder has likely gotten caught or hooked into fishing line. Hopefully you have a hook knife and can easily free yourself of the situation, but sometimes this isn’t the case. How have you been reacting? Was the fisherman understanding or did he simply cast the line out towards you to prove a point?
“That looks easy! Can I try!” Worst and most dangerous of all is people trying to grab the bar or the kite itself. This happens more often than you think. A young student of ours was approached by a woman a few days ago who asked about the tension on the bar. When he told the woman there was little tension, she grabbed the bar to see for herself, turning the kite abruptly. Similarly, coming in from a leg injury, a bystander tried grabbing both me and the kite in a desire to help. In 30 mph winds, this person caused the kite to go into a downward loop on the beach, dragging both me and him. Luckily, I gained control of the kite. In both of these situations, a non-kiteboarder grabbed the bar. Looking at the situation, you would assume that the kiteboarder would very sternly tell that person to not touch the bar. The simple matter is that most of us don’t expect that to happen. We don’t expect anyone to assume they can touch any part of the kite. The reality is that people will do this and if you aren’t ready for that possibility, it can endanger you and everyone around you.
Unfortunately, in all of these situations, the main problem is ignorance. People simply don’t understand what is happening and they don’t have respect for the power of the kite. While many of us would love for it to be a relationship of mutual understanding, this is perhaps too much to expect from the average tourist scouring the beach for the next cool seashell. By participating in the sport, we have a responsibility to keep the beach safe for everyone. If that means waiting longer than we want for people to pass by, not coming as close to the shoreline or just being nice to the fishermen, then that is what we need to do. As the sport grows, so will public knowledge of the sport. For now, it is our responsibility to keep ourselves, and the general public, as safe as possible
