Whether you are on the sand or in the water, there will be chaos. On land the chaos for setting can be a variety of things. Beach goers, other kiters and wingers, boaters, obstacles.
If you have a chance to visit the Event Site in Hood River, there is a short period of time when the grass is open to kite setup. Middle of summer, on a weekend with good wind – stand back and watch the orchestra of organization perform! The locals and seasoned veterans pick a spot, rollout, pump up and get going. Hundreds of people in a small space, all working towards the same goal and there is very little entanglement of gear, people getting short, or angry. It just works.
The last few years have a seen a huge increase in wingers and their footprint is smaller than a kiters is, especially when the kiter needs rooms to run lines. Paying attention to other kiters and wingers makes a big different.
If you see an inflated kite and someone running lines to their kite, it’s not a good choice to set your wing board and wing in between the two. If you’re a kiter getting ready to inflate your kite, it’s not a good idea to setup in between two wingers especially if they are up and down wind of you.
It takes a bit of common courtesy and common sense to make navigating the beach and setup areas work.
On the water you have a complete different set of circumstances and situations, but again. Common sense, and common courtesy go a long way. So does knowing the sailing right of way rules.
Read about the IKO S.E.A (spot, evaluate, and Activity) Assessment. It’s one of the first lessons you should get from any instructor.
