84 replies to this topic

[Love2fly]

Had that been my kite he would have most likely been considered a statistic

[jsking]

The crowds in DC during our First Sunday Fly last week were off the hook. I've never personally seen so many people in DC. This was due to the ongoing National Cherry Blossom Festival, forecast peak blossoms, and gorgeous weather that day. But the winds were up and down. When they were up, we were in the air. When they were down, the kites were on the ground. Unfortunately, the multitudes had no clue and were constantly walking and tripping through, over, and among our lines. And un-schooled little kids had no compunction about laying hands on, picking up, and/or moving around the kites. In smaller numbers, these are all manageable things, but with the mass of humanity we were faced with on Sunday, we finally gave in and rolled up the Revs early-afternoon. Discretion is the better part of valor or something like that.

[Albroswift]

Wow, first time I have ever had a thread pinned. Woo hoo, look at me!
We were doing some street work, sidewalk closed signs, sidewalk closed please use other side signs, and guess what, obliviot moms that had no qualms about ignoring the signs and pushing their strollers or with their kids in tow right into a lane of traffic rather then crossing and using the sidewalk on the other side. Unbelievable.

[Kite Krusader]

guess what, obliviots that had no qualms about ignoring the signs.

Obliviot Signs

[Watty]

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[Albroswift]

And no camera...
Just set the power blast down for a second, little mexican girl comes out of nowhere and grabs one of the lines about mid point. Didn't want anyone to get hurt, so I held it grounded. Then, I assume it was her little brother, goes running out to the kite, grabs a corner, and starts flipping it up and down trying to get it to fly. Poor mamasita comes running, doesn't know what to do or which one to grab first, I was dying laughing, but, alas, no camera. Not sure if they qualify as obliviots or not, but would have been the Kodak moment of the trip!

[Love2fly]

And no camera...
Just set the power blast down for a second, little mexican girl comes out of nowhere and grabs one of the lines about mid point. Didn't want anyone to get hurt, so I held it grounded. Then, I assume it was her little brother, goes running out to the kite, grabs a corner, and starts flipping it up and down trying to get it to fly. Poor mamasita comes running, doesn't know what to do or which one to grab first, I was dying laughing, but, alas, no camera. Not sure if they qualify as obliviots or not, but would have been the Kodak moment of the trip!

Hi Albroswift...
That's funny stuff!
Here's one then:
We had the Lilberty Sport Kite Championship in Liberty State Park, NJ, this past July. There were a good number of Rev Flyers around. I go off to practice, close to the water and walkway when I see a father holding a Rev over his head, trying to toss it (to fly) and a little girl holding the handles upside down. I'm thinking that there's no way someone sold them a kite and didn't show them the basics, so I walk over and immediately realize who's kite it is. They had taken the kite that was staked down, walked a distance and decided to fly it. I told them how expensive they are, but that anyone would gladly give them a lesson; and that you just can't take someone's kite like that. The father said something about, but "it's a little girl and she likes it...." I took the kite back, got the stake it belonged with, and parked closer to the rest of us!!!
Is that an OBLIVIOT or what????

[Albroswift]

Hi Albroswift...
That's funny stuff!
Here's one then:
We had the Lilberty Sport Kite Championship in Liberty State Park, NJ, this past July. There were a good number of Rev Flyers around. I go off to practice, close to the water and walkway when I see a father holding a Rev over his head, trying to toss it (to fly) and a little girl holding the handles upside down. I'm thinking that there's no way someone sold them a kite and didn't show them the basics, so I walk over and immediately realize who's kite it is. They had taken the kite that was staked down, walked a distance and decided to fly it. I told them how expensive they are, but that anyone would gladly give them a lesson; and that you just can't take someone's kite like that. The father said something about, but "it's a little girl and she likes it...." I took the kite back, got the stake it belonged with, and parked closer to the rest of us!!!
Is that an OBLIVIOT or what????

Sounds like the obliviot breeding program is alive and doing well, at least in the Americas...

[Andy S.]

So you get 'em with Revs too!

I was flying my 4.9m Blade III on saturday and wound up attracting a veritable horde of sub-teen yoofs.....Most of them seemed fairly level headed and they asked all the usual questions and got me to demonstrate a few jumps and some scudding and so on. There was one daft little blighter though, who seemed hell-bent on experiencing decapitaton by 300Kg kite line, running directly into the line of flight whenever the kite was close to the deck. I recently got myself insured for third party 'incidents' so the urge to go ahead and 'nominate' him for a Darwin Award was tremendous, but in the end I opted against giving natural-selection a nudge and kept the kite high in the window until he lost interest. No doubt he'll be riding his pushbike the wrong way down the motorway before too long, so I've probably only delayed the inevitable!

All the best
Andy S.

[Watty]

... giving natural-selection a nudge...

rofl

[Scott_of_melnsct]

Andy,

That's hilarious.

Good on you for your amazing self control though, and welcome to the Rev world

[Andy S.]

Cheers for the warm welcome!

It's amazing the way non kiters sometimes seem to live in a world of their own, I noticed this comment earlier on in the thread:

I can understand not seeing the lines... how many folks are looking down when they walk; especially if it's a nice day at a park or beach.

To which I'd reply.....Usually just the one whose dog is peeing on your kitebag!

All the best
Andy S.

[kwmf]

My last complaint was a guy on the beach complaining that I had just launched this monster kite (apparently a mere Rage 3.5m is classed as huge) and that the shadow was flying over him and his girlfriend all the time.

I had been flying there for the past two and a half hours in the same location. I wanted to tell him that while there are many things I can do, that controlling the movement of the earth and sun to ensure his alotment of sun was not short changed was not one of them.

We were going for lunch shortly so I told him we'd be packing up in 10 minutes so he need not worry.

Disrupting his sun .... thats a new one. How grumpy and miserable does a person need to be to dislike kites when everyone else is is lining the pier railing to watch the show.

[fungus]

We have to think about our own responisibility when we have our kites out in public. Leaving kites staked and walking away is asking for trouble, they are a trip and cut hazard, let alone damage to the kite.
Single line fliers annoy me , we had lines cut at a festival recently and we were in the arena

listen to me being sensible

fungus

[Andy S.]

I find if you park a whacking great black German Shepherd of your own (or in my case my neighbours) by your gear, the Obliviots suddenly seem to wake up to its existence.....I've got most of the local dogs (and their owners) trained around my kites, but it seems that strangers are now travelling into the area specially, just so theirs can take a leak on my gear!

All the best
Andy S.

[kitefantex]

Try flying on Treasure Beach Flordia. Seems like almost every person walks looking down at the sand. Keep getting, "Sorry I didn't see the kite" ( which was flying about four foot off the ground right in front of them). Or watch the kite then walk between you and the kite. Like what is keeping the kite in the air. Some times I ask them if they are wearing earrings. And tell them the kite lines like to cut off ears and I pick up the jewerly. And they keep on walking. Obliviotist. Or is that Oblividiotist.

[andelscott]

Try flying on Treasure Beach Flordia. Seems like almost every person walks looking down at the sand. Keep getting, "Sorry I didn't see the kite" ( which was flying about four foot off the ground right in front of them). Or watch the kite then walk between you and the kite. Like what is keeping the kite in the air. Some times I ask them if they are wearing earrings. And tell them the kite lines like to cut off ears and I pick up the jewerly. And they keep on walking. Obliviotist. Or is that Oblividiotist.

To be fair, LPG lines are quite well camoflaged against the sand/shell beach at TI.

[SynTaks]

What can be done with the Obliviots, walking through the lines, riding rented mopeds through the lines, etc? We go up into the driftwood to get off the main tracks, even set up sticks with caution tape flying in the breeze, but still some people, oblivious to the rest of the world, seem to work their rented moped over miles of sand intent on running through camp and the lines! (Maybe these are the same people crashing rented jetskis into each other in the summer time, I don't know...) I thought the caution tape was a good idea, even though it tends to tangle up with the lines from time to time, and the sticks poking up have their own inherent issues, but I don't know, like the old saying, "Nothing is foolproof cause fools are so ingenious!"
Well, not expecting any solutions, but thanks for letting me rant!
AL

I have been on a crusade to get the leash law enforced up here. (See posts about that)


Now I understand that my 50# lines are hard to see, but the ones who run into my NINE FOOT LONG RAINBOW COLORED KITE are the ones who really annoy me. How can you NOT see that thing sitting there???


--TaK

[MercFlyer]

Well I got to really fly my Rev for the first time today, about two hours totalB). First good winds and first Obliviot:kid_cussing:. His dog started chasing my kite and then his three year old started chasing the dog then the wind started dying along with my control so I was backing up towards the ocean while trying to watch my kite and a dog, a three year old and the father. It was a terrifying five minutes for me that ended up with me getting hit by a sneaker wave up to the knees and dropping my kite into the river and a bunch of seaweed:w00t:. I yelled repeatedly to him that it was unsafe for his child to be under my kite while trying to keep my kite away from them, his response when I told him that it if it was dangerous under the kite was that I shouldn't be on the beach, my response was that I was trying to land my kite so that I could leave the beach to him and his family but they kept following me and I didn't want to hit his kid or for his dog to bite my $200 kite. I was tired and hungry but I remembered how positive the attitude here is and tried to represent the Rev family as positively as possible. It was really hard.

On a more positive note, I had soo much fun with my EXP today and I can't wait to get around some people who know what they are doing. I think I need a Blast though because I still got out my dualy power kite when the wind picked up. I am so hooked.

[kwmf]

Learn to catch and throw with authority .... can get the kite out the air directly into your hands where you can keep it safe. If you can throw with some accuracy then you can back up them up with some screaming javelin throws