Had a great day up there today good winds and a small swell.
I have to say 99% of the wave sailers get on with us kiters quite well.
But there is allway one that hates us.This guy would take the cake,drops in on me and then trys to take me out by cuting back into me no less than 3 times wtf then takes my lines out with the top of his pole. He then sail back out past me and gives the bird!!!
It must have been all all my fault
Yep it was a great day wasn't it spot1.
I gotta agree there was a lot of pollies out but nearly all of them were great.
About three of my best waves were ones that I had lined up early out deep and was first on and this one pollie turned inside me and looked like he was going to snake me but each time when he saw that I was definitely on the wave and in a good position he would pull out and give me the nod, I called him onto a few as well, we seemed to have a great understanding and were happy to share and keep out of each others way.
Most of my drop ins were actually from other kiters (TTer's) but there was one pollie that seemed to deliberately drop in a couple of times and delight in getting in the way.
It just proved to me that there is good and bad in both camps.
I didn't see the pole in the lines incident it must have been when I headed South, when I came back I was the only Kiter out for another hour and had absolutely no drama's with the dozen or so windsurfers.
Yeh the poleys were great last week also. I counted 18 of them before I Kited out and was the only kiter. Only had one guy droped in on the same wave, he pulled out after I called him. Did not push my luck on wave choice as was very out numbered. When we drop off the plane it is more than manageable, so I just waited my turn every time we came into the break. You have to be aware though, the Poleys have this rule that the guy coming out through the break has right of way. So had a couple of times guys just charging out through the break looking to get a jump, one tack no compromise. Are you sure you did not get in the bald blokes way? Different to our rules and I think that if we are going to mix it with the poleys we need to respect their rules.
Yeh I first had trouble working out what the polies were doing when i was up there. In the end I sorted it and afterwards I realised that they also sail in a very different way due to the basic mechanism of the gear. They have far less ability to quickly change direction/kill speed etc, they also come in the the lineup on a much steeper angle referenced the shore. Also you have to allow when their rigs stall but beware when they gain apparent wind they will rocket (this probably confused me the most - and gives me the sh1ts the most). You are not sure sometimes where they are at in terms of the lineup/speed etc.
But if you take into consideration these differences it seems to work out okay. But I take your point, it is not just kiters who do the wrong thing, it's the rider.
For some reason I tend to give way to the polies whenever I can - maybe its a respect for elderley thing - ha ha, but I do. Seems to work out.
I was out there again yesterday for a few hours and had no problems with anyone deliberatly dropping in.
One thing that does get a bit frustrating is when heading out I was usually a heap further up wind and when turning for a wave that had no one on it I often found that a poley would then turn for the same wave that I was already on.
I honestly think they were that far downwind they hadn't usually seen me at the time and by the time they do they think that it is there wave because they had been on it for a while, I usually just let them have it because it is so easy to gybe and grab the next one. (and I feel sorry for them )
However often there is already someone on the next one so you end up hanging around waiting for a while for one without anyone on it.
Also I did have to straighten out or hold back a top turn occasionally when on a wave to dodge the odd poley jumping on the way out, I can live with this (haven't got much choice when you are the only kiter with a dozen poley's), but I believe it is a dangerous practice and can't help wondering if it would happen as much if I was on a pole board.
I personally believe at a spot like that anyone on a wave should have right of way.
