Chris 249 said...
That's cool and good on you for doing something, but my post was in reply to AUS126's and I was pointing out that the change is not as simple as getting a different board. Kids will also have to move clubs, often spend a long time driving instead of going to a local club, etc. I know there's not many Sydney kids racing boards, but we actually ended up with a hot bunch of kids who did boats and boards. Half of the kids in the top 12 of the 100+ boats in the Flying 11 states are also Windsurfer One Design/Techno racers, for example; they have won states or nationals in the 11s, the Manly Juniors, the Mirrors, etc. They windsurfed at home or at their dinghy clubs, but they cannot do that with kites.
I was wrong for saying that there were no rescue boats and I apologise for that, but the point is that there's not much of the infrastructure that parents and kids seem to like. Nor does the area have as many junior dinghy sailors as other areas, so there's fewer kids who could easily switch.
No worries Chris, kiting is a completely different form of sailing to dinghys and sailboards, and its going to take some more time for people already in sailing, in those activities, to get their heads around it.
I reckon many will not even bother to understand, but hopefully they will not get nasty and discriminate against those that do want to kite race/sail.
I agree kiting is not as accessible.
Chris 249 said...
Clubs that concentrate on one aspect of a sport do pretty well, so they don't necessarily lose out by banning kites. Take the biggest two small-boat clubs in NSW (Belmont and Manly) - they have very restrictive rules about what classes they allow in. It's a bit like footy - if you had a club that allowed soccer AND league AND gridiron AND union AND touch AND gaelic then it would be a mess.
Yeah thats understandable considering the number of classes and the clubs particular history, preferences, geography, etc.
All I meant is that kiting is not banned, excluded maybe? And I'm sure many clubs will not want or even be able to cater to kiting (as there is nowhere near the clubs location that is suitable to kite)
Chris 249 said...Kiting has co-existed down here with sailing, windsurfing, fishermen and motor boats for well over a decade with very little conflict.
Sure, but Botany Bay is about 4.5km wide at its narrowest point and 8km long, so you can't compare it to where I sail which is 140m wide at its narrowest, 1.5km long, and has a similar number of sailing craft!
Yep some places you just cannot and would not kite. Same could be said for any sailing sport too, although with kiting there are more specific needs.
Chris 249 said...
If limited kite racing can exist that's cool. Problem is, kites are specifically banned in the current Marine Safety Regs (see below) on all of Sydney Harbour.
My bad Chris, when I was involved in talks with NSW Maritime in 2002/03, the restrictions were voluntary, now I can see that they have been made law, thanks for pointing this out.
Chris 249 said...
Irrespective of the (huge) legal issues, do you see it happening at;
Middle Harbour, either The Spit or Balmoral, in almost all wind strengths and angles? How do you get a kiteboard off Balmoral, through the moorings and the dead-wind zones in many winds?
Iron Cove, off Parramatta River (that's where it's 140m wide in parts)? By the way, the rigging space is so limited that we have to shuffle boats around to get the dinghies past, so where would a kite fleet fit?
Manly?
Similar places?
Not just when the breeze is from the right place at the right strength, but at the time when kids can sail and want to sail?
No Chris, as I've said there are so many places in the harbor where you could not and would not want to kite. There are some places where kiting would be possible. Balmoral, Rose Bay, Neilsen Park, are a few I know work ok.
Chris 249 said...
There's a limited number of athletes and medals for sailing, if kiting came in some other event had to go out.
That's partly windsurfing's own fault because we've been ignoring the lessons of other Olympic sports and failing to make competition accessible, IMHO, but it is a fact that there is a limited number of events and there are many, many, many more boat racers than board racers so they deserve to stay in.
Something had to go, but the decision to select windsurfing to be excluded had nothing to do with the people lobbying for kiting to be included, thats all I meant.
Anything that keeps kids interested in a healthy outdoor activity has to be good, windsurfing ticks all the boxes as a conduit to a lifelong interest in sailing. I think kiting does and I think lots of people in sailing see that now too.
Steve McCormack - (Kitepower Australia owner)
