Passers By

[Peety]

I do not know about other kiters out there but when I go out kiting, almost everytime I do there are people who watch, Now I have no problem with that but its the anoying people who when returning to the other side of the field, insist taking the path over my kite, over all the lines and everything I MEAN COME ON, they have the whole bloody field, and take the most anoying path.

[Chris1981]

LOL! Its not so much the walking over that bothers me! Its when they see you having fun and come over to watch and stand right under where you want the kite to be, and just gawp! Naturally you you stop what your doing and try not to crash it on them.

 

So either you just stand there, looking at them watching you, and doing nothing or you move away while getting evil looks for being grumpy and not wanting them to watch! Oh well what can ya do?

[jugglerjon]

@Chris 1981

 

If they are downwind of you in your flying area, keep the kite as stable as possible and walk slowly downwind. All of a sudden they will be next to you/upwind of you (prob still gawping)but in a safe position and one where they could to talk to you and ask questions. Usually works for me.

 

It used to really annoy me aswell , until someone pointed this out to me.

[The Geoff]

Have a friendly chat - explain that whilst you're in control and have safety systems etc that you don't control the wind (they'll understand that) and that upwind of you is the best place to be. I often have a 1.2 Sting in the bag for them to play with if the wind's OK, it gives them an idea of how kites behave, and they usually have a whale of a time.

 

If there's any future problems with access it's always good to have a bunch of locals saying "The guys with the kites? They're cool" rather than "The guys with the kites who always tell us to get out of the way...".

[crabman]

Normally communication is the key to solving these little "incidents". In most cases you'll find that people just don't understand the potential danger of standing straight downwind of someone with a big kite. All it takes is to approach them and let them know in a friendly manner that you're more than happy for them to watch but for the sake of their own safety they should move to a different position. People will normally ask questions about your kit - after all they are just curious which is why they're standing there gawping in the first place.

I had one of these situations this afternoon with a young family and it ended with the dad going "So where can I get one of those kites then?"

Friendliness goes a long way here and helps give us a good image in these days with bans coming in left, right and centre.

We have to accept the fact that the public were there before us and have just as much right to use the beaches/parks as we do, and that shouting angrily at people or dive bombing them with 10m kites is going to solve diddly squat...

[Anne1599968726]

Have a friendly word, explain that it would be a good idea to be careful of your lines for their own safety.

Or you could set the kite up somewhere else.

 

We have the same problem on the beach, we set up the kites near the dunes where the sand is too soft for wheels, so we get a lot of pedestrians walking through lines as they stay out of the way of buggies and boards.

The traditional call of "mind the lines" has prevented many complaints from people who don't look where they're going.

[Mini Michael]

I have found that people like to just stand there and rarely get in that way. What annoys me the most though is little snobby rugby kids who run behind or downwind. After asking politely to go back to their parents they carry on like before. Thats when it p!sses me off that they think they know it all but they really don't!

[-james-]

yeah peety, what about those yobs shouting abuse at us? what do we do about them if they confont us? let them have a go with your twister in 30mph winds?

[The Geoff]

Tempting, but I'm not sure it's allowed

 

I did hear a horror story about a guy who'd staked out a big foil, turned his back, and when he turned round a guy had strapped the kite killers to his 8 year old's ankles and was handing him the handles and telling him to hold on tight.

 

There was much shouting, more out of panic than anger, and the kid was saved before he could launch. Keep an eye on people, defensive flying!