Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2002 11:14 am
I've just been to Silvaplana for the last 4 days, and we had wind on the weekend.
Since it is one of the best spots for Swiss kiters and people from Munich and Austria (west), it gets very crowded. And as to be expected, what happens on the beach is quite shocking.
People on the beach fly the extremely close to eachother. Beginners are being told to keep their 2 liners in zenith, resulting in stalling kites at times. It then crashes at full force into the crowded beach. On another incident, one of these kits took out three more.
A footpath leads through the area, with lots of bystanders who don't have a clue how dangerous this all is. Twice, I have seen bikers being taken out by crashing kites. On another occasion, a family with a little baby carriage was hit. Fortunately, nobody got hurt.
Later the same day, I was helping my girlfriend to get in the water. Everything was clear, since she waited until fewer people were on the water. All of a sudden, a kiter who overcorrected his kite whilst on the water and put it through the powerzone in the process got pulled along the rocks and crashed into her. Luckily, no death spiral or similar developed, the kites "only" crashed. The guy was very lucky, since he got pulled over the rocks and wasn't wearing a helmet. Luckily, nobody got hurt except for a few scratches. He was very sorry and said he had learnt a great deal from it.
It is only a matter of time until more people will get hurt. Although I am not aggressive, it makes me EXTREMELY angry how irresponsible people are on the beach and on the water (passing you super close up or downwind, jumping almost onto the beach, jumping close upwind to you,...).
The local school should take more responsibility and make sure that people don't act like idiots on the beach. And they shouldn't launch their pupils upwind of everybody, when there is enough space downwind.
...distance is your friend.
Cheers
Nico
PS: We sailed about 500 m upwind (a friend and I) and had lots of space to ourselves. But I guess it's not cool to sail there because no one can see you...
PPS: Some pros were there, and one of the Cabarete pros apperently landed a jump on the beach and broke his thigh...
Since it is one of the best spots for Swiss kiters and people from Munich and Austria (west), it gets very crowded. And as to be expected, what happens on the beach is quite shocking.
People on the beach fly the extremely close to eachother. Beginners are being told to keep their 2 liners in zenith, resulting in stalling kites at times. It then crashes at full force into the crowded beach. On another incident, one of these kits took out three more.
A footpath leads through the area, with lots of bystanders who don't have a clue how dangerous this all is. Twice, I have seen bikers being taken out by crashing kites. On another occasion, a family with a little baby carriage was hit. Fortunately, nobody got hurt.
Later the same day, I was helping my girlfriend to get in the water. Everything was clear, since she waited until fewer people were on the water. All of a sudden, a kiter who overcorrected his kite whilst on the water and put it through the powerzone in the process got pulled along the rocks and crashed into her. Luckily, no death spiral or similar developed, the kites "only" crashed. The guy was very lucky, since he got pulled over the rocks and wasn't wearing a helmet. Luckily, nobody got hurt except for a few scratches. He was very sorry and said he had learnt a great deal from it.
It is only a matter of time until more people will get hurt. Although I am not aggressive, it makes me EXTREMELY angry how irresponsible people are on the beach and on the water (passing you super close up or downwind, jumping almost onto the beach, jumping close upwind to you,...).
The local school should take more responsibility and make sure that people don't act like idiots on the beach. And they shouldn't launch their pupils upwind of everybody, when there is enough space downwind.
...distance is your friend.
Cheers
Nico
PS: We sailed about 500 m upwind (a friend and I) and had lots of space to ourselves. But I guess it's not cool to sail there because no one can see you...
PPS: Some pros were there, and one of the Cabarete pros apperently landed a jump on the beach and broke his thigh...