Kiting at the Hatchery?

[birch]

[tstar]

Sadly this issue will be resolved by a tragedy of some sort. You cannot have one close call after another and believe an "accident" will never happen. It's a fact that kiting, in spite of all the safety improvements, is a very high risk sport. The number of deaths and serious injuries is well known and cannot be ignored by those who decide to kite in crowded area's. The accident that is bound to happen will have a lasting impact on all kiters in the Gorge and this issue should not be ignored by the kiting community. It's one thing hurting or killing yourself. It's a totally different chain of events when you hurt or kill someone else. And skill level is not a defense. There are a lot of very skilled kiters that are dead. Those are the facts and saying you have the right to kite there is patently false as you cannot place others in danger having your fun.

[SlightlySalty]

Hate to say it but the kiters can use the hatch just like the windsurfers. Accidents happen between windsurfers too. An windsurfer can also be a very dangerous piece of equipment. This is really more of an issue with windsurfers getting pissed at the kiters and threating them. That really shouldn't happen.
But don't get me wrong, I've lost at least twice as many friends kiting than windsurfing. Kiting is easy but dangerous. Just keep that in mind while you're out having fun and trying not to get hurt.
I get a kick out of the Maui/Gorge turf war comparison. This is nothing like Maui.

[columbia]

Salty - I don't get it. When you say it's "nothing like Maui" what do you mean? The Gorge windsurfing speed at the Hatch is faster in a more confined space (the point and cover). It will take a serious accident for this to sink in - as others have previously posted. Sad but true.

I have nothing against kiters many of my friends kite and kite well - they don't head to the Hatch to kite on the big days because they understand the dangers and have indicated that mixing it up at the point and cove is a recipe for disaster.

[windfind]

Today I had a great full powered 3.7 day at 3 Mile. Large but not huge glassy swell. Made a jibe near the far side, gave a pump and then.... a sickening crack as the mast snapped. As you know the river is very wide at this point and I was sailing far away from everyone else. Sure I could slowly make the very long swim but I did not want to dump my rig and I would probably have had a long barefoot walk to the truck.

Finally a kiter came within hailing distance. I yelled "broken mast" when he was 50 feet away. He looked at me blankly then disappeared in the distance. (he probably thought I was threatening him)

Minutes later another kiter on a strapless surfboard came by. We chatted then I grabbed my back foot strap and his harness and he, with great skill, slowly dragged me across the entire river while having a great conversation. And he finally dropped me off near that little surf break at the point.

The point being that there are jerks and great people in every sport. And in more "extreme" sports like kiting and windsurfing the former are a tiny minority. You can easily recognize them on the water and on the forums.

The real problem at the Hatch is that humans have work out etiquette by talking person to person, sometimes politely sometimes with anger, right after a perceived mistake. And the Hatch has one huge problem with kiters. The great majority DO NOT launch at the Hatch for obvious reasons. So when one of them or one of us makes a bad decision they disappear and there is no way to confront the person on the beach so everyone learns from the experience.

So unfortunately most of this anonymous arguing on the forums will really not change anything.

Mike Godsey
weatherflow.com
iwindsurf.com
ikitesurf.com
sailflow.com
fishweather.com

[isobars]

[30knotwind]

[quote="isobars"]

[WMP]

[quote="30knotwind"]

[Gorgekiteboy]

For some odd reason the "Windsurfers" think they own certain spots on the river. Guess what? You don't. Everyone(well at least those of us who pay taxes and buy park passes ) owns a piece of the water and public lands. Kodak point is for everyone. Kiters like to have their photo taken as well as impress the girls/boys on the beach!

As a almost former "Windsurfer" I chose the Hatch as my preferred place to sail. As a "Kiter" I would chose to sail there for the same reason. Bear in mind that it is a much bigger committment for "Kiters" to sail at the Hatch than for Windsurfers. They make much more of an effort to find great conditiions. I'm sure that if it was safe to launch a kite from the Hatch, it would be overrun with many more "Kiters" making the usage about 50-50.

During my years of sailing at the Hatch, I have been hit 2x and suffered cracked ribs. I have had to avoid many near collissions by arrogant and clueless riders. In my 8 years of kiting I have had no injuries and only a few close encounters with others.

IT would be wise for anyone without the proper skills to avoid crowded areas like the Hatch.

[isobars]