Weekend wind inc Columbia Beach?

[C36]

Columbia was awesome yesterday! Had to rig down shortly in the session as the 12m was just too much! Got out on the 9m and it was a great time!

Rode Roughly 11am - 4pm with a re-rig break in-between. Was a very full and punchy wind, felt much stronger than the speeds said it was.

The brosendersons were in full force (Myself, Loren and Matt) Excellent boosting wind, with great ramps all around to launch off of!

I don't think I have kited around so many windsurfers before! Looked like they were having a great time. Saw 2x very skilled pole dancers!! Trying Backrolls and good wave hit airs! Nice work guys!

Unfortunately, I got yelled at by one female windsurfer who seemed quite un-impressed that we were riding on the water in the same area as them. Which was a little disappointing to me, as I watched our whole crew always give way to them when approaching on a similar tack, or fully give way if they were riding a wave. I felt we were being extremely respectful to them. But hey! you cant please everyone! And no one owns the water, so lets all just calm down and have a good safe time out there!

Not sure if you caught some of the responses over on the island, but seems like some of the kiters from the mainland made quite an impression on the locals.

Here is a selection from the http://www.bigwavedave.ca message board, just in case you missed them:

Kus: Millions of kiters, one guy drifting to comox already - Sunday September 30, 11:31AM

Kus: ...and that beautiful sandy kite beach of San Pariel is deserted lol - Sunday September 30, 12:15PM

Winddude: too many kites on CBTV - Sunday September 30, 2:37PM

Kus: Good thing it's not windy... - Sunday September 30, 3:45PM

Atomic-Chomik: Gotta say, whoever those kite clowns were yesterday at CB should go away and not come back lol. I was watching on CBTV and was glad i wasn't there. - Monday October 01, 9:23PM

Nanmoo: Two truck loads from Squamish. They said you invited them? - Monday October 01, 11:05PM

Tempy: informed sailors always check the wiki first - Tuesday October 02, 8:04AM

BWD CB sailing guide

Thankgodiatepastafobreaky: funny I don't hear kiters bashing windsurfing all the time. - Tuesday October 02, 8:46AM

Juandesooka: The kiter vs windsurfer thread got tired around 2012, but still seems to endlessly drag on. - Tuesday October 02, 10:29AM

Juandesooka: Yawn - Tuesday October 02, 10:30AM

Tempy: I agree it would be more useful to call out the yahoos on the reckless bahaviour, rather than their chosen sport. For example, any person heading out who does not give way to the person on the wave. In this case, any person who jumps in a way is reckless and doesn't take into consideration the potential swathe of carnage. I.E. doesn't even look who is coming / going in their path; or does so in a high traffic area. There seemed to be a fair bit of that on Sunday, even for the short time I was there. - Tuesday October 02, 11:00AM

Nanmoo: It's quite likely that in 2012 the offenders from Sunday weren't even kiting. So there's no option but to continue the thread. - Tuesday October 02, 11:50AM

Kus: Breaky/John, seems pretty balanced bashing approach actually, in fact more primarily kiting folks ...it's a matter of local knowledge and respect, not sport type...lots of skill there - Tuesday October 02, 2:04PM

Atomic-Chomik: Kinda funny since I am the guy who kinda called the Kite-clowns out, and I'm a kiter lol! Those misdirected goofs still need to go away, regardless of political correctness -danger, danger! Usually its Wind-Dude firing stuff up but he has been kinda quite lately so i figured id better keep it going. - Tuesday October 02, 9:48PM

And a few from the sailing logs.

early start to show up and no winds.. breakfast then Columbia! many people standing around.. only one windsurfer.. windline out a ways and side off seemed sketchy.. but once out it was beauty and pretty steady.. powered up good on the 12 so had to switch midday to the 9.5 which was powered up to overpowered at the end! glad the locals weren't barking much cause of the kook mainlanders getting in the way with no idea what wave sailing areas are about.. following me in way too close then completely in the way of wave faces.. so I drift and drift and they wonder what I was doing.... idiots!

Lots of bugs out still, thought summer over. Wind Swiss cheesy, sm waves, I found 1 Rolling Eyes lame that people need to boost near the beach, good there was no lineup. Don't bother yelling help when u blow a landing & bust legs/feet/head on those rocks in 6" of water, I got sailing to do Mad mind you watching a windsurfer careen straight into/thru a group of people out of control wasn't too cool either...get a grip, children. Shadowed Udder, avoided Ozy, fun seeing Jelly rip
Sail 6 wave 5 jump 4!

It was warm, and there was enough wind. I took the first windsurfing hour and had to leave before the back up arrived. Tons of kiters, and I avoided them by staying high. I think my impact vest harness has shrunk .... bruised ribs now. Can't complain -a mellow session and some pics - thanks Jessie M!

Powered 7m until dark. Squamish idiots jumping all over the wave zone - go to SP or up wind or downwind morons. 13C air temp seemed a bit like November not September. Fun as.

Glad to wear a helmet. Had to change course a couple of times to avoid having a boosting kiter land on me...Rolling Eyes Enjoyed some nice waves upwind at high tide. Hard time lining up ramps. Still fun blasting back and forth.

The message from the locals is clear: Don't boost in the wave riding zone.

The problem is waves (even round wind swell at CB) is a highly sought after premium for WAVE RIDING, but there are thousands of acres of open water within comfortable sailing distance of the launch at CB to boost all you want, so why do it in the break?

I opted not to sail at sail CB that day, but did tune into CBTV to see what I was missing and could hardly believe what I saw. One sailor launched their boost on the right side of the screen (windward edge of the parking lot) drifted whistled downwind to land right on the peak of the break over the reef (a measured distance over 100 m) only to loose control of their kite and have it swing within feet of the water on landing, bobble around some more and drift even further downwind before regaining control of their kite. So in one maneuver this sailor managed to sterilize the whole break (a total distance of about 200 m). Wow! Funny part is every time I tuned in throughout the day someone was launching a similar stunt with little regard for the break or downwind sailors.

I have seen this same selfish come dangerous boosting behavior in the ribbon of mid-tide waves at the edge of the second bank off 3rd on Boundary Bay. I have watched the bottom of twin tips come whistling down wind toward me and had to alter my course to avoid having boosters land on me or foregone wave rides because someone thought boosting an air over the break (and sterilizing 200 m of waves) was cool. Not cool! No way, no how. Being a buzz-kill is not cool, but putting someone else at risk is irresponsible.

At boundary Bay on mid-tide there is lots of room for boosting in the flats on the inside or the rolling swell on the outside.

When the WINDter SE's start to push again, please remember to take others into consideration and choose a safe and respectful place to boost, regardless of where you sail.

Rant over.

[Will]

I cannot speak for all the kiters out that day. But the crew I was out sending it with was a very experienced bunch. Who would not jump if there was any danger of hitting another person on the water downwind. Who also would not be "loosing control" of their kite.

I understand how a bunch of the windsurfers there took it quite sourly, from past experiences of kooks almost hitting them when trying to boost around them. However, I can guarantee that no one in our group is a kook.

In the future though, the locals would probably have much better luck trying to talk to newcomers in a civilized manner, instead of trying to yell angrily, make fun of, and call the newcomers kooks amongst themselves. And then later bitch on the message boards like they own the whole ocean

If anything, all the locals setting up their kites, running their lines straight upwind of their kite (the most dangerous way possible) should be called kooks! Someones dog or child is running on the beach and kicks that bar by accident? The kite would hot launch in the middle of the power zone and someone would be seriously injured! Islanders need to re-evaluate how they setup and launch their kites! I watched multiple locals launching their kites with the bar in almost all the way, standing way upwind of their kite, the launcher barely able to hold onto the kite! Talk about kooky...

[Faceplant]

#will #C36 pretty much summed up the rules of the spot. Best to not criticize any behaviour of those island folk. They are the real deal.