I'm really not sure where this belongs, or what to call it. Today I spent the day at Southwick Beach, (L. Ontario, NY) and due to the S wind, I was flying static. I looked to the north, and was surprised to see a Flexifoil LEI repeatedly being launched, and crashing in waist deep water, in the middle of a crowd! The guy launching had 2 'helpers' who would then pick up the kite and toss it into the air to relaunch! It was quickly backing back down, TE first, then would dive to the side, often folding in the middle of the LE. The surrounding bathers seemed oblivious to the danger they were being exposed to, and the kiters obviously had never done this before. I walked down to see if I could give any assistance, to find the kiter had no harness on, and was trying to fly with the bar pulled in, all the time! I told him the kite was designed to be flown with a harness, and he wouldn't have much luck, and quite possible would hurt himself, or someone else, and the guy pointed to one of the 'helpers' and said "I don't have a harness, and it's his kite." I told him I was flying about 1/4 mi. to the south, and if they wanted to get some advice, to come on down, it would be much safer for everyone, as I was in a deserted section of the beach. He looked at me like I was just a crazy old man,(53) then turned back to his friends(all in their 20's), shrugged his shoulders, and beckoned to his friends to toss it up again. I tried to explain that if a non-kiter were to get hurt by them, the park would likely ban all kiters, and that wouldn't be cool, and got no response whatsoever. Didn't know what else to do, so I walked back to my spot. Thankfully they left in a while, having no luck in launching their kite.

well done Bob............you did all you could have done...................what a black eye for the community and these guys will probably never go out again (we can only hope so)......................

If that would have happened here that kite would have been deflated.................................

ouch!!! I commend you for attempting to correct the situation Its obvious that they had no clue what to be doing. Hopefully they do some research, and realize just how much you were trying to help them.

Thanks, Tri, if there had been more than one of me to their three, that just might have happened. I didn't much care if they hurt themselves, it was the other people I was worried about. I think their kite was self deflating(leak somewhere) though I don't have any tubes myself, I've seen plenty at the Tug Hill snowkite fest, and none that I've seen seemed to fold in half as easily as that one was. I actually asked if he got it new, that's when he pointed at his buddy, and said something about e-bay. I told him it might be leaking, and he just shrugged again. When I was leaving, they were in the picnic area, throwing cheese puffs to the seagulls, then trying to catch the gulls! The guy I spoke with said to the others "That's the guy, that's the guy!" and they all started laughing. I kept walking, hoping the park staff would catch them at their antics.

you handled the situation correctly...............causing a verbal comotion in front of non kiters will never work in our favor......appears no damage was done and your spot should be fine........thank goodness they didnt know that depowering the kite would have allowed them to actually fly the kite and good on you for not offering that info up..............................:duh:

Dang dude I wouldn't been pissed if I was there. Bob you are an awesome dude and I'm so annoyed that somebody would treat you like that. Bob you are so rad, thanks for trying to help out anyway.

I suppose there's not a lot that one can do within reason in a situation like that. I think you handled it as well as you could without threatening them. It's hard to get 20 somethings to listen to anything it seems and even harder when theres a big age difference between you and them.

In hindsight I think I would have asked them if YOU could try it. Once they see that YOU have the ability to make it work and have the skill set and knowledge base then you become more interesting to them. And while you have in your posession you could just sorta work it down the beach while explaining to them that the wind is better and the crowds are less. Doesn't matter if the wind is better or not they don't know squat so they would likely go with it. Good call on not explaining the trimmed/unhooked thing.

Later you could give them the spiel about how everyone's actions define us as a user group etc. I don't think that these guys who buy kites on the Bay and just think they are going to go out and do it are malicious, they just don't know and won't know if someone doesn't take 'em by the hand once in a while.

I've found this kind of tactic to work well in a lot of those wierd situations. Unless it was like the Slingshot idiots at Kitestorm last winter. They were supposed to be the experts representing the line and they were a PITA. I was losing my patience with those dubs.

Okay so yes there are some beaters out there.

Good job all the same Bob with trying to diffuse a situation. Glad the general public didn't get hurt. They'll probably get frustrated with it and give up soon and it will be a non-issue.

Nice reminder that there are times when its best to not teach someone.

Ebay!

At fault here is the person selling on Ebay to potentially someone who has no experience.

I had the same experience a few months back. Three guys flying a huge ancient Cabrinha Black Tip upwind and very close to a busy road. Again riding unhooked and letting go when they could no longer hold the power.

Alright! Everybody out of the gene pool! :alien:

Do I have to say it again?
Eliminate warning signs,
Promote natural sellection.

But write on to you Bob. Best not to rial up knot heads. Plus they know way more about it than you do

I think you handled that very well. I find it hard to emotionally detach myself from the situation when witness to that level of foolishness.

Philip

That being shut out and looked at as a foolish old man is the thing that stinks.

I grew up in a world that we respected our elders and am moving into one where we are .... NOT !

AND no jet pack ! :ticking:

Good effort anyway. Did you really feel part of their attitude was because your age? Morons are all ages. But if your senses are good.... you're likely right about the age 'discrimination'. Young folks(teens and twenties) HATE authority.... especially serious authority. Humor helps...along with a friendly tone. I like the suggestion of showing how to properly use the kite with your own harness. But when your audience fail to drop their passively disrespectful and indifference after a certain bit of time...It's then time to walk away and not waste your time.

Maybe you could have( if they stayed much longer) told any local constable on the beach area( like their might be a one on the beach...NOT!)...That they were a threat to public safety and got rid of them...before an accident and ALL kiters get banned.

When Schools focus more on courses of ethics, charity, respect and compassion.....instead of just 'Career focused' courses.....

When parents stop spoiling their kids and telling them they are the center of the universe....

Uhh...forget it. It's only gonna get worse each year, decade you age.

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"Youth is wasted on the young"

In the words of Ron White..."You can't fix stupid!"Good try Bob,but I have a feeling they are exactly the kind to tether themselves to a tree and............ well you know.:Ange09:

I read this a few hours ago and I'm still mad. I have lots of respect for you and your knowledge of kites and flying them, so to have someone that knows nothing dismiss your warranted advice makes me want to deflate the kite in a permanent way. Reason would take over before I did such a thing but I might have gone with tridude's method of just popping the valve to at least slow their progress or make them stop flying at least for awhile.

I think Feyd's advice was quite good, and I wish I had thought of it at the time. I would much rather have been able to help them than not, but I didn't think of using that tactic. I guess I was kind of offended thinking that they must have seen my kite in the air (7M NPW9, green, red, yellow) so why just dismiss me, but maybe they were so intent on trying to fly theirs, they didn't notice mine, or thought it was too different from theirs, that I couldn't know what I was talking about. I started on the snow, and would not have thought I could do this without instruction, but I was 50 then, wise enough to know I'd surely need some. In my 20's, if I had seen a video of someone like Hadlow, or Len10, I might have thought 'I can do that, I know how to waterski', (especially if I saw that photo of Branson with the nekkid model on his back ) or some such foolishness. But, heck, there was no e-bay or youtube way back then! If I ever see them again, I think I'll try to have a little more patience, but more than likely that opportunity is lost. Next time I'll try a little harder, and maybe even direct them here, where they can learn from all our experiences.

Quote:

Originally posted by rocfighter Do I have to say it again? Eliminate warning signs, Promote natural sellection. But write on to you Bob. Best not to rial up knot heads. Plus they know way more about it than you do

This quote is about as spot on as you can get. Thanks to Bob for trying....you did a good thing as well or better than anyone could ask for. Good on you

Quote:

Originally posted by BeamerBob I read this a few hours ago and I'm still mad. I have lots of respect for you and your knowledge of kites and flying them, so to have someone that knows nothing dismiss your warranted advice makes me want to deflate the kite in a permanent way. Reason would take over before I did such a thing but I might have gone with tridude's method of just popping the valve to at least slow their progress or make them stop flying at least for awhile.

In my defense, there was a safety issue and the spot was on thin ice at the time................

Maybe with this issue is to give out DARWIN AWARDS

for newbie kiters to expand their gene pool

Ok so the guys were idiots. I have seen this myself but go easy on the 20somethings out there. I am one of them and I kind of like to think i know what im doing. jking. I have seen some similar stuff. I had a 14m frenzy stolen and some guys dound it in therw truck and startwd flying it in the school across the street from my house. It was obvious they didnt know what they were doing. I took my kite back and offered to take them out and show them how to fly in an area tgar wasnt riddled with houses trees and powerlines.

Lol? Even if you knew nothing about kites, it's human nature to try different methods and process of elimination to get something to work. All he would've had to do is let out the trim it seems... plus the bloke had his kite underinflated, if it wasn't leaking. Wow. You did great, Bob. If I were in your position, I would have done the same thing. In fact, it would have been really funny if a 17 year old (20 somethings hate teenagers) like yours truly walked over to them, said "gimme that", got it on the first try and made them feel really stupid. :D However, their idiocy and disrespect is sickening, and while you guys immediately see that they make the kiting community look bad... they're also making the youth look even worse I hate being lumped in with groups like that.

Sean although you are young you have respect for others and yourself......................good parenting as it see it...........your parents raised you well and should be very proud............make sure you pass the torch to your kids.......

Thanks Don That really means a lot. I try my best... especially when it comes to kites... last Spring was almost completely devoted to teaching people in my town to safely fly kites, and showing them how fun it can be. I'd rather be flying a kite than doing what's expected of me at this age (something illegal) anyway.

I have to agree with you tri. I didnt get to where i am today in kiteing or life without my elders. koodos to the parents for pushing and nagging me in the right direction. I have to say if it werent for the old guys out at my field i would have given up on kiting long ago.