OK folks,
in the interest of not giving the authorities any further ammo for kite bans,
anyone interested in spreading the word and coming up with a "standard" for labelling your gear ?
I write my name and phone number inside the leading edge near the inflate valve, and on the top of my boards.
I guess this goes for poley's as well, as I recently saw a post form a guy who lost his whole rig at Margies main break just recently ?
Maybe AKSA members, and kite shops, instructors, can spread the word (if you don't already) and if we can agree on a "standard" we can advise the sea rescue etc. of where to look if they find any loose gear ???
i love how only 1 of those incedents actually is related directly to kite surfers???
i dont know of any kite surfers with flares or remote becons???
again well done media for sh$ting all over something thats not to blame,
Clearly not winning like mr Sheen.
I thought the same, 1 thing about a kite and it got called off after 2 hours... The rest were about day long searches for beacons and people letting off flares. **** you media. I can guarantee with pretty good certainty that there is some prick at the paper that doesn't like kiters for whatever reason, otherwise it would have been a story about idiots/ bogans letting off flares and beacons.
Not to mention the guy scuba diving out of a kayak, which slipped anchor and washed ashore with the dive flag still up a while back.
That sparked a search and didn't get a mention !
Also, interesting that the journo doesn't bother to mention what autorities, or list any contact numbers that might have been useful in a balanced / unbiased article ?
with the recent rain, im supprised the media hasnt jumped onto rear wheel drive heros on the road, they are more of a threat then kites!
What newspaper is this? Linda Cann should be canned immediately!
WAKSA needs to investigate. The reporting is totally misleading and malicious towards the kite surfing community. How dare this reporter get away with such an article, she should be fired and the newspaper brought to publicly apologize to the kite boarding community.
I think writing your name and number on your gear is a good idea and it is your duty to report run away kite!..........this is the number to call in and around Perth Metro. 9335 1332.
Bloody kiters leaving their sails floating around in the Bay, stealing flares and EPIRBs and setting them off.
someone over there needs to give Linda Cann a polite phone call and ask her how the flares relate to kite surfers....
what paper is the clipping from?
I think this explains it, some old dear nearing the end of her career in tabloids.
Can't find her email address.
Cheers
Rich
Good idea au_rick however I remember this one and I'm guessing it may have been a Teuro, so it's always going to be difficult to spread the word to them as there is a new batch every year,(yeah I could be wrong and shouldn't assume.....but....).
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/Lost-Found/Lost-RRD-Kite-at-Leighton-WA/
Write to the below and complain and tell him you will never buy this paper again and tell all your friends.
Sam Weir (Editor)
The Sunday Times
34 Stirling St.
Perth 6000
Or you can call the Newspaper and make a complaint over the phone.
Sam Weir T: (08) 9326 9476
And Supersane.........best to keep me far far away from this bird.
I love some of the attitudes when anyone dares have a problem with Kitesurfing.It's this head in the sand bullsh!t that is going to f**k kiting in Perth. Someone sticks their hand up to say they have an issue with Kitesurfing and they get called every name under the sun, get told they're idiots, they have no idea what they're talking about and there actually isn't a problem anyway.. real bunch of Rocket Surgeons..
Hey RS, I think you are out of line. Everyone has a right to have an "issue" with some entity's behaviour..........however, there is a difference between giving a fair level headed response and what we have witnessed in the press, especially this past Sunday.
The press and polies love the word "ALARM," makes them feel important and gives them something to write about and make laws......................now get your head out of the sand RS.
do it gruezi.. go get your grey wings!
oh and in regards to reporting stuff going missing, this reminds me of core jam last year. Sam Light pinged his kite at sunset and no one could retrieve it, once he got to the beach we called the water police and let them know there's a stray naish kite and gave all details to its appearance floating north from woodmans point and if it is seen not to be alarmed etc.
later that night at the party toby B gets a call from local police and they have a dig at him about some kites washing up at cott and not being reported etc. we had to inform them that we contacted the water police and they were fully aware of it. shows the epic fail in communication between relevant authorities.
What justifies the head line ....KITE SURFERS SPARK ALARM!!!
the article is about stealing epirbs setting them off, the inserts are all about setting off flares, kite surfers are a minority in regards to water police action.
We just get the bad rap .....again, just about every time. some one should step on her toes for this typical Sunday times bullsh!t article.
Couple of months down the track some disgruntled beach user is going to use this trash and it will be regarded as fact, cause it was in the papers
The Sunday times can be a useful paper. I once bought the paper to use as an umbrella to get home after it started raining outside the local deli.
It's been used for cheap packing filler inside boxes when sending off ebay items and also used to start the fire for the Sunday lunchtime BBQ.
Reading it is outside the scope of its usefulness.
Guys you are probably best letting a representative from WAKSA speak to the relevant persons.
you could term the heading as slightly slanderous but more being unfair finger pointing seeing as the stats they show are actually 2 out of 10 calls for kites.
i always state to my students when teaching that using the final release is a last resort and should only be used if a pack down is not a viable option.
yes sometimes stuff happens with releases especially with handle passes.
i also state to my students that if they have released their kite that they must immediately report it to the relevant authorities to ensure they do not put out a full scale rescue.
back home if this is the case and you have failed to report the incident that search and rescue bill will land on your doorstep.
as much as there is an issue of writing you name and addy on the kite it wont stop them putting on a full scale search.
teaching people the right procedure is the best cause of action.
Alot of these guys have regular full time jobs too.
once this guy walked into a kite shop and asked if someone had handed his kite in as he lost it out to sea the night before, the guy was met with a killer right hook cos the guy he was asking was called out to rescue said kite and it's possible owner they were out for over 8 hours in huge swell with a heli looking for him.
just deserts if you ask me.
Well I learnt one thing from this thread, Rockstar is either a troll or a****** moron... one of the two.
haha sounds like it, hes jumping up the wrong tree. I sent off a polite email asking for an explanation. May write up an article for another news paper about the matter