Hard to know what goes on in those idiots minds but I suspect it runs along the lines of "Me me me me me me.. more of me me me me".
Bottom line....rego = regulation...= fines and other shizen..... nup from Stabberzone.
After seeing another kiter getting blown from woodies toward rotto in obvious trouble while others pack up on the beach leaving him to get picked up several hours after dark by the Police helicopter and boat I have to wonder...WTF!
We have to band together and help each other to "do the right thing" and to kite smart or we will be shut down. Banned. That is the easiest and cheapest thing for councils to enforce so that is what yhey will do. Kiting and kiters dont have a good reputation with fellow beach goers and it only seems to be getting worse. We need to turn this around.
Get active and vocal and help out your fellow kiter. If they are doing the wrong thing tell them and teach them!
And yes to minimum teaching standards (juddy's points1-3)
Righto - settle down.
Too often I see Teuros being blamed for most of the sins and in my experiance that is a total con. It is mainly selfish thick headed locals who should know better.. and probably do, but ride like they own the ocean.
My 7 yrs may be less than Juicy's but that the way I see things on the regular downwinders.
A lot of people are against too many rule and regulations, unfortunately people cannot have their cake and eat it too – thus with the increasing number of kiters (overseas visitors as Perth, WA becoming more renowned as K-Surf Mecca) to WA during our summer months it has become an issue. As you and so many have pointed out.
On Saturday I went to Woodies to kite and was blown away by the naivety and ignorance of so many people on the beach. Learners kiting on a direct onshore, kids playing amongst kites etc. I was twice almost taken out by crashing kites on the beach, once having to take extreme evasive action and then proceeded to rescue the guys kite from the dunes afterwards, with a simple sheepish “thanks” from the bloke who was obviously not from Perth. I also spoke to a friend who was down at Cott on Saturday and she saw a kiter come within 5-10m of swimmers on the beach, obviously within exclusion zones. Now I do not want you to feel I'm venting or making my problems yours, I'm purely stating I feel your pain! I have some suggestions (and bastardised ones from other forum members) that you may find useful.
1) Introduce compulsory WAKSA membership & induction for certain Perth (all metro?) beaches. To gain this membership one must complete an online/classroom induction (delivered in multiple languages to accommodate visitors) which will cover off on all the rules and reg's of kiting in WA and general kiting etiquette.
Make it compulsory for travellers to undertake as well, but charge them a lesser fee, such as 3 month membership over summer months. They must possess their WAKSA card/ tag at all times while kiting and if anyone found to not be a member face disciplinary action by ranger/council/WAKSA (what form this action takes is a question of jurisdiction and legal rights)
However I feel this would present a major uproar by a lot of kiters who are on a strict budget or have a strong opinion about certain freedom's they are 'entitled' too! Unfortunately if any accidents occur at one of the more favoured sports it will get plenty of media coverage and scrutiny via pubic forcing councils to act. If we had the backing of forced membership at certain beaches you would hopefully have lesser chance of accidents and council would see a proactive approach by WAKSA to ensure accidents are prevented, this would hopefully have the desired effect of keeping beaches open. How to make an induction compulsory would be beyond WAKSA's control but not if the councils start introducing these types of things first. I feel if WAKSA start to be more regulated you may find the councils won't step in as much.
2) Signage – I'm not familiar with public liability insurance (claims) but if we apply the same logic to our kiting beaches as shops do when there's a wet floor around and they put big yellow cones up as warning, why not the same big yellow (or whatever colour) signs on the beach. This may have little purpose but to illustrate to councils we're (WAKSA) trying to be proactive and ensure the safety of fellow beach users and the survival of kiting at that beach. I think it will definitely create more awareness to the hazards of kiting and hopefully kiters will take greater care if they see signs up as it reminds them of certain dangers. I think signs should also have exclusion zone illustrated and maybe a WAKSA public hotline number too if any incident occurs. Even if it's just a message bank for a WAKSA committee member to listen to and perhaps investigate further if need be.
3) Safety Awareness policing/patrols by WAKSA registered members. I'm pretty open to this as I'm sure other concerned members would be about taking the proactive approach to self regulation and perhaps identifying themselves as WAKSA patrol volunteers wearing bright yellow rashies for example. I think a visible presence will ensure people take a more measured approach when they decide to act irresponsibly on the beach and if they do act irresponsibly then that WAKSA member may have a word to them. I realise this may seem naïve to some but I think 9/10 times the reaction from certain individuals will be of a positive nature, yes there are d*ckheads out there who will react negatively. If this happens then a possible approach by WAKSA should be devised such as contacting the cops if its criminal behaviour or Ranger if dangerous to fellow kiters, beach users and the kiter themself. If we have a strong relationship with the councils etc and WAKSA remains focused on keeping the best interests of kiters in Perth and the wider WA community at heart there should be no issues here.
4) Standardised Instruction provided by kite schools. This is self explanatory.
No doubt this will create angst amongst members who believe kiting should be left alone (like surfing for instance) but unfortunately kiting is different and a lot more can go wrong. If kiting is not self regulated and policed by our own unfortunately it will be by external non-kiting fraternities such as councils and the like. This will obviously be bad for us as kiters and those “free spirit kiters” who regard it as their God given right to do as they please! We don't have to make a big song and dance about this people, you just need to pull your head out of the sand and see the bigger picture, if we do not act we will be kiting in Lancelin/Dongara etc a whole lot more and unfortunately that won't make the problems go away.
Tolerance is needed and you also need to understand WAKSA has the kiters best interest at heart with their decision making processes…after all they are kiters themselves!
I cant see registration working until kiting has been banned from enough beaches first. Then there might be the willingness to have regulations to try to get some access back.
The public is the big dawg and kiters are the tiny little dawg. When the big dawg gets annoyed enough it takes what it wants.
The key thing is to avoid annoying the public, which usually means just staying away from them.
Who needs bans from government when Waksa does it for us?
Waska CLEAR
Don't kite here
Don't kite there
Don't kite like this
Don't kite near this
Don't kite near that
soon it will become just don't kite period
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