beach flying and room needed, water question

[jamesy]

i plan to fly my two line stunt, big buzz kite at the beach this month. I haven't got to fly much because of lack of wind. Anywho the wind is supposed to be around 10-12 MPH. My question is, concern maybe ... when i fly now i try to have ~200 feet in all directions. On the beach shore line I'm not going to get this. What should i do to fly safely? How big of a deal is it if the kite goes into the water? How do i keep people walking the beach from walking into my crash zone?

[Edmond Dragut]

best is to have free of people the line length and some more but this is the ideal situation. If people come in the fly zone you have three choices. one is to land the kite far from them, second is to go on opposite wind edge and keep the kite there how long they pass and three is to go straight up and keep the kite there. landing on water is not a problem to almost any modern kites how long you are not landing in to a RIP current. you recover the kite and continue to fly i the wind is good enough. when fly sesion is done do not pack the kite just take out the tension from bungees and home give him a good wash with cold water

[makatakam]

If you don't have absolute control of the kite yet don't fly near people. PERIOD! Absolutely not worth the gamble. If you hurt someone -- a kite can kill -- you will regret it forever. It's best not to take the chance. Find a different place to fly, or walk down the beach far enough to where people aren't going. If you get the kite wet with salt water rinse it in fresh water as soon as you can afterwards. For your first dip in the water avoid anything with waves and current like the ocean and rivers. They will eat your kite. There is no way to keep people out of your fly zone, even if you cordon off the area as evidenced at kite festivals. Some will ignore everything and will take the shortest route to where they are going. Park the kite and wait until they pass. If they are heading for your lines yell "Watch out for the lines" until they hear you. You can keep the kite in the air if you think you can keep it up there until they pass. If you have any doubt, park it. If your lines are lying flat on the ground they are harder to trip over.

Overall, just use common sense. Think of what you would expect if you were them. They have the right to use that space too. The length of your lines determines the size of your safety zone, so you can fly on shorter lines but things happen faster on short lines. 

[ACrop]

I find that people go to areas that are easy to access. Most beach areas will have a spot that it too far for most people to bother walking too and that can be your zone, but you may have to look for it. If that is not true of where you are then pick a time of day that is not popular to fly so that you minimize the wanderers. I agree with the stay away from people until you can land or hold it where you want it reliably.

Also, when you find someone wanders close keep breathing and fly the kite. Dividing your brain to watch them will end up making your flight more erratic and become more likely that you will imagine and subconsciously create a bad senario. Breath and hum a happy song to yourself as you imagine what you WANT not what you don't want. Jedi mind focus seems to work well on kites.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using KiteLife mobile app

[Edmond Dragut]

when the people approach mi fly zone usually i do some low passes left /right/left to show them what area mi lines are covering. Some will stop and avoid some will not but at least they are aware something is there and they look after. on the same time i avoid them how i show you on previous post 

[ACrop]

Edmond brings up a practice I do too...the visual defining of the space you are using as people approach. However you need to have good control. When I started out liked to have a marker at each end of my flight field so I could better gauge depth and where they were relative to my kite.

In addition to low passes I have found that purposely doing a dive to a gentleman ground bounce can be useful in making kids who are running in my direction reconsider just how close they want to come and if they really do want to chase the kite. It also helps parents consider just how much they want to control/guide thier offspring. But knowing you have reliable control is key anywhere.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using KiteLife mobile app

[Wayne Dowler]

I've gone so far as to put out soccer cones to define my space. Interaction with kids can be fun, but absolute control is needed!! I fly quads mostly, so it is a bit different. Still need that control, along with a big dose of confidence in your abilities. And that only comes through "time on the lines"!