I was surfing a spot in Northern Monmouth County this afternoon with my daughters. A lot of kids in the water, and a very mellow, friendly vibe in the water. Then there were about half a dozen kite-boarders zipping through the line up. I don't care how good you are, seems pretty careless in a crowded line up. Felt like I was surfing with the neon Hells Angels.
Again... kiteboarding is one of those things where you can take advantage of offshore shoals or beaches that are otherwise inaccessible. Ripping through a lineup of surfers and kids is irresponsible and arrogant. And I'm a BIG fan of kiteboarding... I think it blows surfing away in terms of power and speed. After kiteboarding, surfing feels like riding a moped compared to a ninja.
You ride Ninjas?... gross, let's keep the strange fetishes off the forum plz. Seriously though, those kiters are always skipping off chop and doing uncontrolled airs off the backs of waves in the lineup and have no way to avoid a surfer, boogie, sup, bodysurfer, swimmer, whatever if a gust of wind hits them... they should know better.
This statement can be a little open.. For example, when I am out kiting I might cover 5 even 10 miles of beach in a run. Sorry if I happen to scare you as I blow by your "peak" but rest assured I'm gone as fast as I came. IF they were just hovering around your break, over and over again, this would actually 1. be very difficult on a kite and 2. very very very dangerous and irresponsible. If I were to collide with you at full speed / wind load it would be like hitting a deer on a motorcycle, lose lose. Try it sometime, LBCrew is right and OBX is one of the best places on the planet for it.
It did look like a lot of fun. But that is exactly what they were doing: going in out of the line up, all the way to the beach and back out, getting air through a very crowded line up. I wouldn't care, if they just used that beach for access, but they were flying through the crowds the whole time, with basically empty shorelines on either side of the break. LB Crew used the perfect word: arrogant. There was a real sense of "hey look at me."
have had them come through the lineup plenty of times where ive surfed and never had a problem with anyone. in fact they seem to be a lot more courteous than a lot of surfers and most the time give a little head nod saying whats up. makes surfing waist high junky waves seem absolutely lame when they come blasting through.
