Hello guys... I wanted to ask who should we call when we see a safety risk related to people doing something wrong (kitesurfing that is...)?
Yesterday I went for a run down the beach and around 540pm there were 3 guys at Seacliff trying to launch a Cabrinha Kite with the struts deflated :S of course they couldn't and it was crashing all the time. I was going to approach them and ask them if they knew what they were doing, but they were three and they looked kind of drunk so I avoided confrontation (one of them was even smoking next to the kite). After a while they figured it out and inflated the struts and tried again, the kite almost crash on beachgoers. There was a group of kids swimming, people enjoying the beach, etc...
I don't have issues with rookies (how could I? I'm one of them :D), but this group of people clearly didn't know what they were doing and were endangering people around them...
I would've called the cops but I didn't have my mobile.
Could anyone advise the proper way of dealing with a situation like that one?
Cheers,
Guillermo (Billy)
Hey mate,
I think you made the right decision in not approaching them even as it sounds like they may have turned aggressive even if you had the right intentions.
Unfortunatley there are a few of them out there with a bit of kitesurfing gear and no sense in how to use it. They really don't understand how dangerous that combination can be not only to themselves but more importantly to other beach go'ers.
I can't tell you who would be the right people to call, but even completely eliminating the fact they had a kite, the cops may have been the right go if they were becoming a public nuisance/danger.
If it is someone learning, the best thing to do would be to go and hep them by stopping what they are doing, giving them a little advice on the saftey aspects of the sport and then pointing them in the right direction of getting some lessons. The first 2 lessons which are kite rigging, saftey and lying the kite are as cheap as $250 from Windsup. This will get you flying a kite safely and take place over a couple of afternoons.
I suppose each situation is different and although the best outcome would be for someone exerienced to politely ask them to cease their dangerous activity, I would back you up in saying that 3 guys who seem a bit drunk with a kite is not worth intervening if you are by yourself.
Also on this, last night myself and a mate went out at Semaphore around 4pm. We were out on the water for a while, couple of kites down from us and then three people started setting up on the beach. They proceeded to launch and start kiting with us.
The only thing I have a problem with is, that when we were out there a SLSC must have had a training as there were probably about thirty people with their boards paddling etc out and around buoys. These three guys were just kiting through all of the people on the boards, like I dont mean waiting for them to get out, they would literally kite between em.
The area they were going to use was marked out with buoys and it was clear what their intentions were. Im not posting to have a go at anyone or the people involved, but maybe people should just remember about beach goers and other activities that happen at local beaches, there was plenty of are downwind! 
just saw these 3 down at henley near the outlet an hour ago I be guessing they are the same 3 stumbling around trying to launch in a marginal off shore wind :/
