Who is right and who is wrong can be determined by a court of law, should you wish to only abide by the rules which you find simple. Of course property damage or physical harm would be required to go to that extreme. But it is possible as civil and criminal liability does extend to water sports.Jan:) wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2019 11:48 amI really think it is better to just stick to the proven sailing rules.
All your personal additions to those rules simply do not work and in a pinch, they might actually lead to collisions.
There is a reason collision avoidance rules are as simple and clean as they are.
There simply must not be any margin to argue.
If you can argue here in the forum about them, how can you be sure you take the right point of view on it on the water?
Impossible.
You must observe your surroundings, and others around you in order to avoid a collision. Taking note of their speed, upwind capabilities, and demonstrated skills, typically is enough to determine someone's skill level in any sport. If you are unsure, treat them as a beginner by yielding right of way to them.
If the beginner can maintain course, then they are likely not a beginner, but rather somewhere closer to your skill level. By a beginner "maintaining course", most would agree that they would simply continue to flop in the shallow learning area, or in the case of waves, continue swimming for their lost board regularly. I am not making fun of that, as I did that when I was a beginner too. I am simply stating that a beginner is not only obvious, but also very much incapable of "holding course" beyond "continuing along with crashing" after a short run, getting up again, then repeating that cycle with incrementally more success on each try.
The point is for an experienced kiter to assume that a beginner kiter will fall or crash, not be able to continue on their course for a long period of time, and often loose control of the kite while on the water.
The kiter who did not have right of way.
I do not believe that you know for sure they are "feeling like they are Kelly Slater". Here is how it works.
If you have a wave face (not whitewater) that is at least half the average size for that day, say "1.5m max height" waves with "1m average height" waves, engaging a wave of less than .5m should not necessarily grant you the right of way. Whitewater of any size also does not grant you the right of way unless it is too large to get back over. So think of a big closeout being a barrier to going out with risking falling in the very place where you would pose the most hazard to those trying to get out. This is not a "rule" but more common sense. It would also be common sense to yield right of way to a beginner just trying to get their first wave ride on a tiny secondary wave. Again, not a rule, but to not yield so would be an obvious "d--k move". If you really think that you are a skilled kiter, see if you have the skill to stay completely out of the way of someone just trying to get their first waves. If Kelly Slater is out there on a 10cm wave, you have likely mistaken the identity of that particular kitesurfer.
In vehicular traffic, there is no singularly defined distance you keep back from the vehicle in front of you. There is a wide range of distances which primarily rely on speed to determine, but secondarily rely on road conditions also. High speed and icy conditions require much more distance than that same speed in dry conditions. Hazards like construction workers also dictate slowing down and moving over.Jan:) wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2019 11:48 amAnd even once that is clear, how do you know where the kiter riding the wave will go next.
On a pointbreak its pretty obvious, but on a messy beachbreak you simply cannot know.
So that rules does not provide you with a clear action to take, making it worthless.
If the situation exists where a kiter may, at any time, take one course or the other on the wave (dead onshore conditions), then simply give them the room to take any of those paths by staying further away than you would in sideshore conditions.
Again just like when driving a vehicle, you look out for the idiot who does not follow the rules or is distracted. While this does not prevent all collisions with those not following the rules, it will prevent most. Luckily in kitesurfing, we are out there with pretty much the same group of kiters on the water for the entire session and we can quickly determine those who are the idiots vs the more conscientious. The simple of it is to just observe others from a good distance before you give them the chance to show their stupidity and collide with you.