Beware of beach kooks

[JakeFarley]

A couple of days ago I was coming in to the beach to change boards and a man came up to me asking questions about the sport, like how hard it was to learn, etc. I was at the waters edge with the kite at 45 and there were some children playing on the shore about 100 yards down wind of me. All of a sudden the man grabbed the right side of my bar and pulled it which caused the kite to power up and dive down (fortunately) toward the water. I yelled at him to let go and I hit his wrist to knock his hand off the bar (in retrospect I should have elbowed him in the face). I recovered before the kite hit the water and proceeded to yell at the man. I screamed at him that he could have killed me and the children that were down wind of me. I asked why he would do such a thing. He said he wanted to see how much the kite pulled. I told him to never, ever grab someone's bar and that it was extremely dangerous. It did not even seem to matter to him how he had endangered me. I should have had one of my friends on the beach call the local police as he could have been charged with assault or reckless endangerment.

From now on I will be very, very wary of anyone that approaches me and will tell them to keep at least 10 feet away, upwind of me. I am still pissed over this incident.

[matth]

Yup!! people suck. I've had a few people try to grab my bar. You have to be proactive and aggressive before they can grab the bar. I had to scream at the top of my lungs and make a scene on the beach last summer when some freak kept grapping my kite when trying to self launch.

[PullStrings]

Florida spring breaker kook perhaps....even a lady when drunk can be an extreme kook

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[TomW]

This scenario pops up regularly. If anyone on beach approaches me, I always keep myself 6-8 feet away from them. If they come closer, I tell them to keep their distance.

[FLandOBX]

"Lemme hold da kite....lemme hold da kite..."

I can still see that dude's glassy eyes. In my case, I got away without his grabbing my bar, but he was going after it with a crack-like determination.

[palmbeacher]

We are getting a lot of Chinese tourists in Palm Beach lately because of Trump. Many want to take photos; while posing with a guy he started pulling my bar, I had to punch has arm to let go.. Even if they come with the best intentions, it is wiser to tell people to ____ off for their own safety.

[BWD]

We are getting a lot of Chinese tourists in Palm Beach lately because of Trump. Many want to take photos; while posing with a guy he started pulling my bar, I had to punch has arm to let go.. Even if they come with the best intentions, it is wiser to tell people to ____ off for their own safety.

Keep hands on bar; kick em instead!

[Toby]

The people just have no clue!

Distance is your friend!

[Kamikuza]

One place I went to on holiday, the local kids were familiar with kites and thought it was a jolly jape to pull the bar as you walked past them on the beach. . . .

[plummet]

A couple of days ago I was coming in to the beach to change boards and a man came up to me asking questions about the sport, like how hard it was to learn, etc. I was at the waters edge with the kite at 45 and there were some children playing on the shore about 100 yards down wind of me. All of a sudden the man grabbed the right side of my bar and pulled it which caused the kite to power up and dive down (fortunately) toward the water. I yelled at him to let go and I hit his wrist to knock his hand off the bar (in retrospect I should have elbowed him in the face). I recovered before the kite hit the water and proceeded to yell at the man. I screamed at him that he could have killed me and the children that were down wind of me. I asked why he would do such a thing. He said he wanted to see how much the kite pulled. I told him to never, ever grab someone's bar and that it was extremely dangerous. It did not even seem to matter to him how he had endangered me. I should have had one of my friends on the beach call the local police as he could have been charged with assault or reckless endangerment.

From now on I will be very, very wary of anyone that approaches me and will tell them to keep at least 10 feet away, upwind of me. I am still pissed over this incident.

This is not the fault of the random beach goer. This is your fault for not recognizing a potentially dangerous situation and diffusing it before it could happen.

You must presume that any and all beach goers have no clue about kites until proven otherwise. In which case you need to prepare for the worse each time you have an interaction with random people. Choose to educate the uninformed and position yourself so you do not get into that situation again.

I remember a time I was about to solo drag launch in 35 knots. A entire family of mum dad and the kids walked up and stood smack down wind of my kite with big goofy smiles on their faces wanting to watch me launch. If the high wind solo launch had gone pear shaped they would have all been taken out. I had to politely suggest to them to move upwind to a safe spot to watch.