3rd ave crowded day.

[vant20]

did i write that?

I am not sure what happened there... sorry for mis-quoting you.

[reyrivera]

Short tack means you change your direction quicker than the others who ride in your group in that specific rotation sequence. Sometimes you get in the way if its crowded and mess up the rotation, if there is a rotation going on during that session.

I think goosh is the one that you should quote about short tacking.

[turtle]

I've kited in many places around the world, and I have found that the most advanced riders and the ones that are the most dangerous.. beginners are dangerous to themselves.. that's the nature of things.. but advanced riders are willing to put others at risk in order to show off.. not cool in my book..

Hey Goosh you should rewrite your book or just burn it. It could be that you are on the wrong page?

[goosh]

I've kited in many places around the world, and I have found that the most advanced riders and the ones that are the most dangerous.. beginners are dangerous to themselves.. that's the nature of things.. but advanced riders are willing to put others at risk in order to show off.. not cool in my book..

Hey Goosh you should rewrite your book or just burn it. It could be that you are on the wrong page?

Uh? you think putting other people in danger for the sake of showing off is ok?

[grumpy]

What's not ok is whinning on the internet about your shortcomings. There is a golf course right next store to third that would love to have your business. Foooooooour!

[K. Cliff]

Is it next store? or next door? now I'm confused...

[Bulldog]

Short tacking is like making a U-Turn in the middle of a road in front of oncoming traffic without signalling.

Getting pissed at kiters who boost upwind of you after you short-tack is like getting pissed because all the drivers coming the other direction when you make this illegal U-Turn are driving too fast.

In several kitespots around the Bay, more advanced riders have simply decided to let beginners and newbies learn the hard way about the rules of the road. From your perspective (the U-Turn/shorttacker) those drivers behind you "almost killed you", but the reality is they know what they are doing and aren't going to hit you. But if you get scared because you aren't experienced enough to know that they aren't going to hit you when they boost, it's not their problem.

Long story short: Most of the time, it's not the advanced kiters who are creating the danger. In this particular case, it was you.

[gideonlow]

There are two general rules of kiteboarding that appear from this thread to be over-ridden at 3rd. In order of priority:

1.. A kiter jumping automatically loses the right of way (I.E. it is 100% the responsibility of the person jumping to make sure it doesn't cause any kind of risk to any other kiters).

2. Downwind kiter always has the right of way.

The oval line-up maximizes use of the flat-water take-off spot, so the courteous thing is to try and get with the program if you ride in that area, but I don't see any situation where it is OK to break the above rules. Chat with somebody once they are off the water if they don't understand the line-up.

I haven't been to 3rd in a while, but it has always been a place with zero BS and where everyone strives to kite responsibly (maybe more than anywhere else I've ridden). If the community has agreed to override these general rules, it should be posted very clearly as local newbies that research right-of-way rules and visitors could disturb the harmony.

Cheers,

Gideon

[vant20]

Short tacking is like making a U-Turn in the middle of a road in front of oncoming traffic without signalling.

Getting pissed at kiters who boost upwind of you after you short-tack is like getting pissed because all the drivers coming the other direction when you make this illegal U-Turn are driving too fast.

In several kitespots around the Bay, more advanced riders have simply decided to let beginners and newbies learn the hard way about the rules of the road. From your perspective (the U-Turn/shorttacker) those drivers behind you "almost killed you", but the reality is they know what they are doing and aren't going to hit you. But if you get scared because you aren't experienced enough to know that they aren't going to hit you when they boost, it's not their problem.

Long story short: Most of the time, it's not the advanced kiters who are creating the danger. In this particular case, it was you.

Let me ask another question - I am a total newbie, just in case this was not clear already. So if I just turn around instead of jumping I will go downwind a lot less than the people who jump. Doesn't this mean that I will still be going against the incoming traffic?

Based on this discussion it seems that I will be killed if I drop the kite in the flat water and spend 10 min relaunching. I guess I should really talk to Sony during my first trip at 3rd :axe:

[reyrivera]

If you really want to get out of the rotation, make sure you give the person behind you clear signal and point back to where you want to go, make sure the person behind you knows what you are about to do, and keep a safe distance, go downwind.

Maybe we should use the hand signals that air traffic controllers use when directing planes on the ground, works really well.