A moan......

[Jared1199]

Hi all,

I'm afraid that this post is me moaning... I can't think of a better way to get it off my chest - after all, a problem shared is a problem halved;)

I went down to Aberavon today and who were down there.....? loads of people walking their dogs despite clearly placed signs that stated no dogs on the beach. It is getting really blo*dy annoying when my board goes through the umpteenth pile of dog mess that the 'responsible' dog owners haven't even bothered picking up whilst they've been on the beach despite not being allowed on the beach!!! Then to top things off, despite the tide being at it's lowest point and miles of beach they have the audacity to walk right underneath my kite with their dogs that aren't on a leash yapping at my heels and, if the kite is down, trying to bite it.

From a health and safety point of view, dogs mess can be dangerous. If the owner isn't reponsible (and in my line of work, I can categorically confirm that alot aren't, especially in Port Talbot) then the dogs mess can contain parasites that can blind you if you accidently get some in your eyes/mouth. When I was younger, one of my schoolfriends became blinded by the parasites - known as toxicara.

Every other kiter I have met takes responsibility for themselves and the safety of others, shame other people don't.

I welcome any comments, I hope people know where I am coming from on this, I just had to vent my spleen.

If anyone's going up the the Extreme Kite Festival, I'll see you there (pm me for my mob no if you wanna meet up there)

Safe flying,

Jared

[crut]

Agreed. Some how kite flyers are generally deemed second rate citizens! It also frustrates me that people are happy to walk closely to where you are even though it should be clear that they shouldn't!

 

See you at the weekend! [We should have name badges with our forum names]

[RB]

I know 100% about 2 weeks ago I had wsm beach (fly zone) all to myself! The rest of wsm was empty too…. Happily flying about, until the bloody dog walkers arrived, about 20 different sets of them over 3 hours… and they all came into the zone, one even stopped, read the warning notice and still walked traight over and under my kite……….. Gimp, he soon moved after I pretended to loose control perhaps I should not have shouted "run fatty, run"

[crut]

perhaps I should not have shouted "run fatty, run"

 

Shouldn't have but a good retort

[Jared1199]

it's good to know that I'm not alone! Thanks for the comments so far guys,

@CRUT - see you there!

@RB - LOLOLOL! Nice 1!

[RB]

I don’t think I peed him off, but perhaps his wife laughing at him did

[Junior]

just try run dogs over, the owner will soon move, i di this with a remote controled car once, bloody thing wo ******* me off, so i ran it over. havent seen the guy again since.

 

see u at EKS

[Jared1199]

RB - Lol nothing like a bit of humiliation to get rid of 'em!!!!

*Nice idea junior!!!

How about some more hints and tips on how to get rid of these people!!!

Cheers

Jared

[RB]

One that always works for me

 

Launch, scream "what the @f!k am I doing, trip over on purpose and watch em run!

[crash bandikite]

RB - Lol nothing like a bit of humiliation to get rid of 'em!!!!

*Nice idea junior!!!

How about some more hints and tips on how to get rid of these people!!!

Cheers

Jared

 

One I used was after some divot walked right up to me and said "Wow THAT looks dangerous" to which I replied "Only if you're standing where you are!!!!"

 

Totally agree with you though, I buggy on Old Hunny Beach and the number of kiters there is great, buggies, boards, surfers and scudders always there, always in the same area. And yet you get 'em with their mangy mongrels bibbling about under your kite or letting them run amok amongst your lines. The other week I'd just laid my kite out, sanded the trailing edge, walked back to my handles and was having a word with Mrs BC when this couple of right numpties walked with their German Shepherd into my lines!!! The dog had a leaping fit wrapping itself in 10 meters of dyneema, I had a vision of it garroting itself, before it miraculously leapt free and tazzed of at warp speed up the beach before doing an about turn and attacking the kite! Mr & Mrs Dog breath watched all this, looked at the dog, looked at my kite and said "Well serves 'em right, shouldn't be on here"

 

But in the interest of keeping the sport squeaky clean you have to bite your tongue, not so Mrs BC though - after watching me waiting patiently with kite at the zenith and @rse hovering over buggy ready to go, one of a group of four nudged her mate and said " I think we're in someones way", to which she got the reply "Huh they're a bloody menace". Mrs BC looked across at me and said a bit too loudly "They're only p****d off 'cos they're so fat and ugly they had to marry their cousins"..........on reflection you know, she might have hit the nail on the head!!

 

Keep smiling guys and gals, even if it is through gritted teeth.

[KermitStu]

Gimp, he soon moved after I pretended to loose control perhaps I should not have shouted "run fatty, run"

 

pmsl oh best thing i have heard all week:D

[.Joel1599968690]

It's not the dogs that are stupid, it's the humans.....

 

I had my BIV 4.9 parked on the ground last weekend, it was blowing a good 20 - 28 mph. Fluctuating and gusting a bit. Now this place is huge, i'm talking 6 football field size, but not ovals, it's all just vacant with a couple of hills for some added fun.

 

I'm looking down adjusting my harness, I look up, low and behold there's a guy about to walk over my lines. Where the hell he came from, he has the whole place to walk, but somehow in this whole vacant block with me in it he decided he wanted to cross the 25m area my lines occupy.

 

He looks at me, i look at him and go "I wouldn't be doing that mate." He looks and smiles back, I then say to him "You're tempting fate there..." as he steps over my lines. He just got the second foot into the middle when whoosh kite bounced up a bit, past his ear and ripped his beanie off his head. It was the only thing that prevented him from lossing an ear.

 

I get control of the kite, he steps out, looks at me, smiles and walks off. I'm like what a twat. Idiot left his beanie behind on the ground, don't think he was brave enough to cross my lines again to get to it

 

Regards,

 

Joel

[LoKi_79]

if you have got your kite down, stake the dog to the ground using a big corkscrew stake (literally by the collar, to the ground). then when the owner finally comes over, say "here you go, i have controlled your dog for you." and depending how much you want to antagonise them you can also suggest that perhaps they should invest in a lead

[RB]

Some people just look for the argument with kiters me thinks…. I had the whole of the downs to myself once, yes the whole damn lot, it was -5 and damn cold….. Me and one other walker, 3 huge fields, he made it his point to follow me everywhere I went stopped under my landing zone, I walked off to another spot, he ran over and stood there…. Eventually I said "excuse me you uder my kite and I need to land it" he just replied " your not allowed to fly here", I poointed out that static flying was allowed and he said he did not care…….. Nice bloke, must invite him round on xmas day for some arsenic

[LoKi_79]

Some people just look for the argument with kiters me thinks…. I had the whole of the downs to myself once, yes the whole damn lot, it was -5 and damn cold….. Me and one other walker, 3 huge fields, he made it his point to follow me everywhere I went stopped under my landing zone, I walked off to another spot, he ran over and stood there…. Eventually I said "excuse me you uder my kite and I need to land it" he just replied " your not allowed to fly here", I poointed out that static flying was allowed and he said he did not care…….. Nice bloke, must invite him round on xmas day for some arsenic

 

lol, that is the sort of person who will get you arrested for gbh. definitely worth it though! either that or see what happens when you fly powered up across the window.

[crash bandikite]

Some people just look for the argument with kiters me thinks…. I had the whole of the downs to myself once, yes the whole damn lot, it was -5 and damn cold….. Me and one other walker, 3 huge fields, he made it his point to follow me everywhere I went stopped under my landing zone, I walked off to another spot, he ran over and stood there…. Eventually I said "excuse me you uder my kite and I need to land it" he just replied " your not allowed to fly here", I poointed out that static flying was allowed and he said he did not care…….. Nice bloke, must invite him round on xmas day for some arsenic

 

Yep, have to agree with you RB, some really do look to deliberately antagonise you, that's why you have to hold back from giving them a load of abuse (or worse), that's all the excuse they'll need to go running to the Council to make a complete meal out of something they've initiated and then we'll have lost another site. I'm actually looking into buying/letting a field just to have for kiters and b*ll*cks to the doggy crowd and associated muppets!!!!!!!!!!!

[SonnyRider]

he sounds like he was looking to make some good compensation from you RB

[RB]

The one at Bristol was just a complete jockey... he didnt know better!

[Mouthwash]

I was constantly being chased by a dog on Redcar once. I shouted to the owner to get it under control but he just didn't care. Eventually it came too close and I flattened it with my back axle, it went round a couple of times and flew out the back....

 

And then got up and ran away howling......

 

And the owner still didn't give a flying fcuk.............

[Jared1199]

Lol at all your comments guys (and gals!) That's what really pi**es me off is the sheer arrogance, stupidity and their misconceived 'right' to be there. I, like you all, bite my tongue as I don't want us kiters portrayed in any sort of bad light. It's ironic of course that should 'something happen' then the 'anti-kite brigade' come out. funny how no one says anything to the 'responsible dog owners' when they are blatantly breaking the rules. Grrrrr!

Jared

[Bertie]

next time the walkers get in the way, why not jump them? make sure you do some sketchy trick at the same time though!

[PieGuy]

Argh i frikkin hate dog walkers, love dogs... just hate the walkers. For a start its blatently obvious that a piece of 6 meter fabric, roaring around above your head is going to hurt if it comes into contact with you or your mutt.. Its as if they are totally oblivious to the fact that you are there, they could at least have the decency to keep their dogs from yapping around my flyer, e.g, keeping on a lead but no, they take NO notice... and as if that isnt enough I stepped in a nice ripe turd yesterday

[Crob203]

Yeh can only agree, was out once and a dad, his kid, and his dog parked up to see what I was doing, however I was having a rough time of it because the wind had switched round on a gust and was throwing me all over, I managed to get the kite up to the zenith and was considering just pulling the chicken loop and grounding the kite and packing up for the day, but no the observers were just stood directly under where the kite would land, so I had to fight my way up wind then drop it. The dad then asked if he could poss have a go, I politely said NO.

 

On another occasion had just set up my old blade ready to launch when a dog comes over and starts ******* on it! I launched the kite as it wasnt standing over the lines, the trailing edge must have caught it in its privates as ive never seen a dog yelp so loudly and run so fast!!

 

Think what is needed is some way of telling the public what we are doing, why, why we arent bad people, and how to stay out of the dangerous areas!

 

Chris

[Miaspa]

Fortunately where I usually fly dogs are banned during the summer..so incidents of going through doggie do, kites eaten, and equipment covered in dog wee has been forgotten over the last six months.

 

Unfortunately there allowed back from the 1st Oct…..so I'll be joining you in ranting in 11 days time.

[monkeytrouble]

Dogs are also banned during the summer where I fly too. Unfortuntaley no one seems to take a blind bit of notice to this and there are dog walkers everywhere!!