Maybe this has been approached before, but I will throw it out there again.

Would it be a good thing to start a Kiter Safety sub section somewhere on the front page. I know that safety can be very subjective, but for the most part could be very useful to noobs or even experienced kiters! We were talking about this right after the WBB. Being our event is getting so big, the safety issue has become a front runner in our daily conversations.

Things like riding on a beach which kite should be where when passing an oncoming rider, which settings you should have your bindings on your ATB set at while still learning. Safety gear suggestions etc.

I don't think it should be a place where people should argue whether or not to wear kite killers, but make suggestions for those new kiters that could help them from being injured and getting out of the sport as fast as they came into it.

Just my thoughts, and it seems like issues like this get lost in the regular subject post.

Thanks
Rich

gets my vote ... great idea Rich ....this coming from a noob who recently had a pretty good feed of grass behind a 4.5ace ...LOL

I am with you .......
,,,,, ...... I always read every post about safety ..... and yes ... I know I am opposite of that word ......

I know Sam will be first to find the lengthy discussion about this a year or 2 ago. The consensus was that it would do us more harm than good. Might save someone an injury or worse, or it could be ammunition against us for bans. When I had an access issue at Fort Clinch State Park in Florida, the Ranger used a few handpicked blurbs from the Extreme Kites site in Australia to justify his emphatic "no kite buggys on my beach" opinion. No brakes, over 70 mph around fishermen and children, you get the picture. The logic of the fish hooks and children didn't make any sense to him, or that usually my kids could outrun me on foot on the beach.

It's a topic worth discussing though.

Quote:

Originally posted by BeamerBob I know Sam will be first to find the lengthy discussion about this a year or 2 ago.



I am going to develop a complex... :sniff: :sniff:.



Quote:

Originally posted by BeamerBob The consensus was that it would do us more harm than good. Might save someone an injury or worse, or it could be ammunition against us for bans. When I had an access issue at Fort Clinch State Park in Florida, the Ranger used a few handpicked blurbs from the Extreme Kites site in Australia to justify his emphatic "no kite buggys on my beach" opinion. No brakes, over 70 mph around fishermen and children, you get the picture. The logic of the fish hooks and children didn't make any sense to him, or that usually my kids could outrun me on foot on the beach.



I think the issues discussed in the earlier thread might be moot for several reasons:



1. For anyone interested, there are x-ray pictures, questionable Youtube videos (typically used as cautionary tales), and threads with people flat out ignoring sane advice.
   
   
2. Anything can be taken out of context.
   
   
3. If someone is adamant about trying to keep buggies or traction kites off a parcel of land, they don't have to resort to trawling forums. There is more than enough "bad press" on YouTube.

A forum section serves our needs, but doesn't necessarily address the concerns of external organizations and is not necessarily the best way to disseminate information once discussion has played out.

What would help is if periodically the contents of the sub-section that had been discussed and lent themselves to it were distilled into pamphlet/booklet (PDF) format.

If the Traction Kiting Safety section had one sticky called something like "Safety Compendium" that was a series of links to these PDF documents. That would serve as a reference section so that people didn't have to rehash questions and could point to a single post.

I have a preference for the PDF format because it lends itself to being emailed or printed out for external organizations when they have concerns.

When DCR was thinking of pulling the buggy plug at Nahant this was what was sent to them:
Kite Traction Safety Guidelines.

I need to update it to correct some links, add some forums, and kick it out from 6 Panels (Letter Size/Tri-Fold) to 8 Panels (Legal Size/Double Bi-Fold), so the Right of Ways Rules can include diagrams which would make them clearer.

ATB,
Sam

Maybe more than just safety post, but more like a place where you can go and ask a question and get several responses and then make a somewhat informed decision is more what I was thinking about. For beginners that come to the site and ask the same questions because they cant find a thread, it would be easier to just click on the safety part and read an already answered question.

Just thinking out loud.

Here in the UK we had a fatality a few months back. It really made the national news in a big way because this is a small island and the accident was spectacular. One of the National newspapers browsed a popular kite forum, found the thread where the accident was discussed and published some of the "facts" they found there. Fortunately, there was not any truly damaging stuff there, but we were lucky that the reporter didn't know how to do a proper search. That experience taught me that every word in a kite forum has the potential to be read and twisted if need be by the media.

The real damage was done when a national radio talk show (think Rush Limbaugh but about current events) had a call in debate about the dangerous sport of power kiting. This is the kind of show that is usually on in government offices and other places were bans are born and nurtured. Mostly this show consisted of idiot after idiot calling in with stories of flying a power kite in a gale and getting dragged around and injured on their first and only flight. It was not a good day for the sport.