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Do we want kiting to be made more popular?


abba

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Hi Guys,

Do we want kiting to be made more popular?:confused: If kiting is made more popular just think about the beaches becos when the wind is perfect for 1 person it is for others. I have heard that there was buggying on the ITV tea time news the other night:eek: . Don't you think this is going to advertise it to all those boring folk who don't kiting is around. There is some good points, such as the price of kites will go down. However doesn't it really anoy you when people try to little kites and they havent got a clue? A couple of years ago we to people flying one kite, 1 handle each:eek: . They weren't even next to each other there was a abut three meters between them. Do really want kiting to be advertised to these dopes.:D

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Here in the states we could use much more publicity. I can to to the beach for a week, and not even see someone flying a stunt kite, let alone a power foil. On a lighter note, out a guy running for president this election (Kerry) Kiteboards. Im gonna vote for him. (thats not the only reason) but it is cool. If he makes president, there should be a surge in kitesurfing. It will be the first surfer in the states that EVERYONE knows. Talk about publicity.

 

Anyway, back to your question, yea, I think we should keep pushing it. I think that you will find just like anything, its a trend right now. Im sure there are more than a few people that do it just to "be cool". They will hang it up when something else comes along to "be cool" about. Then look at all the second hand gear that will be available, not to mention kite prices falling because of supply/demand. Maybe Im wrong, but who knows for sure.

 

Scoop

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the only thing that wories me about it is the amount of land there is to use - if it gets more popular that could lead to some issues - ok if you are in an area where the land space is not going to be a problem and every one can keep a good safe distance - but if ya in a small feild then that could prove interesting (and then a lot of these places you will need to share with other feild users as well , and will need to respect their use of it) ....

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I posted on a thread about this about 2 years ago.

 

Its a double edged sword here in the UK.

 

More people, more publicity = more kite, more choices, more competition

 

What do we get with it, less space to use, easier access to kit and fools breaking themselves on it, bans, restrictions..

 

Its hard to draw a line but it may have already been crossed with the access isssue alone.

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You have received for that post:)

 

 

 

I posted on a thread about this about 2 years ago.

 

Its a double edged sword here in the UK.

 

More people, more publicity = more kite, more choices, more competition

 

What do we get with it, less space to use, easier access to kit and fools breaking themselves on it, bans, restrictions..

 

Its hard to draw a line but it may have already been crossed with the access isssue alone.

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hi guys,

Yes kiting dows need more respect. Scoop of in america it must be alot different, You're doing well in England to get a free space to get going on the beach. Kiting is half popular on the coast here but in land no one has heard of it, apart from the mad people.

 

 

I live in land :rolleyes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OK..read your post again..point taken ;)

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Interesting posts . Seems like in the UK where space is at a premium, less buggiers are desired. In the USA, which has a lots of space , they want it to be more popular.

I would love to see more buggiers in the Middle East. Saudi has a lot of space but the local authorities would probably mess that up. Seems they don't like people having fun.

Kuwait's not bad but there are still mines left in the desert from the Iraqi invasion.

Qatar is OK but a bit small.

I think Oman must be a paradise. I know just one buggier there.

The Omanis are extremely friendly people and they have a huge country full of nothing (buggying space) & oil wells.

Here in the United Arab Emirates, I push hard to get people to join our ranks. We are getting there but it's awfully slow. We have the Dubai Kite Club with about 250 members but 97% of them are kite-surfers. They have quite a lot of restrictions now on the Dubai beaches and am tryng to convert them to kite bugging that's about as easy as getting pigs to fly.

Problem is that nobody sees them in the desert so it puts most of them off because they can't pose. Also it's a bit warm in the summer.

I still buggy & have just returned from an afternoon's buggying in 44 degr C. (shade).

A couple of weeks ago I was buggying in 52 degr C. Sure it was bl..dy hot but what do they say about sorting the men from the boys?

All Buggiers welcome in the UAE - all the more the merrier.

Sand -Yeti

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I would love to see more buggiers in the Middle East. Saudi has a lot of space but the local authorities would probably mess that up. Seems they don't like people having fun.

Kuwait's not bad but there are still mines left in the desert from the Iraqi invasion.

Qatar is OK but a bit small.

I think Oman must be a paradise. I know just one buggier there.

The Omanis are extremely friendly people and they have a huge country full of nothing (buggying space) & oil wells.

Here in the United Arab Emirates, I push hard to get people to join our ranks. We are getting there but it's awfully slow. We have the Dubai Kite Club with about 250 members but 97% of them are kite-surfers. They have quite a lot of restrictions now on the Dubai beaches and am tryng to convert them to kite bugging that's about as easy as getting pigs to fly.

Problem is that nobody sees them in the desert so it puts most of them off because they can't pose. Also it's a bit warm in the summer.

I still buggy & have just returned from an afternoon's buggying in 44 degr C. (shade).

A couple of weeks ago I was buggying in 52 degr C. Sure it was bl..dy hot but what do they say about sorting the men from the boys?

All Buggiers welcome in the UAE - all the more the merrier.

Sand -Yeti

 

do the muslims give you any hassle's about them - i know some of them ain't to keen on kites - some thing about raising your hands up to some thing other than Allah or some thing ( not to sure of the full in's and out's of that side of things - could explain why the Saudi's aint to keen on it ) ...

 

one of my mates comes from there (Saudi ) - when i 1st got into this hooby (and he saw a pic of the big foots) the 1st thing he said that it would be and ideal thing to do round that region .....

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This is in response to Chris-HKN.

 

I can't comment how much Saudis would be against Kite buggying because I don't live there, although I spent 4 years there between 1983 & 1987 (before kite buggying).

I think your ordinary Saudi doesn't really mind but the Saudi Religious Police seem to have an attitude, which at that time anyway was to prevent Westerners corrupting the locals with any sport or fun. At the time I lived there, there were no cinemas, theatres, bars, discos and so on. We used to live in compounds where we made our own entertainment. I used to windsurf and go scuba diving at that time because I lived on the shore of the Red Sea. Occasionally, the Police would come to the seashore to check id. papers and that the woman who was with you was your wife.

I used to scuba dive in a great place about 2 hours drive north of Jeddah. A whole bunch of us from the British Sub Aqua Club would spend the weekend on the beach. We used to check in with the local Coast guard station just to let them know what we were about. Sometimes they would come and visit us probably out of boredom rather than anything else. They were always friendly & we never had a problem.

 

Moslems and kite-buggying go very well together. Some of my mates are Moslems who kite-buggy and the sport poses no conflict with their religious beliefs. We all get out on the Friday (Holy day), much as you guys get out on a Sunday.

 

It could equally be said that our great sport could be in conflict with Christians who kite-buggy on Sunday. Note that Scottish Olympic runner - Eric Liddell I think that's his name in that great film, 'Chariots of Fire' believed Sunday was a day of rest and would not bend his religious beliefs to run for his country on Sunday. It's not for me to say whether he was right or wrong. Everyone to their own, I say.

 

Islam like in all religions have some extremists but I have never had one Moslem or Arab ever try and stop me buggying. On the contrary, they are usually fascinated by it. Like you guys in Europe who do try to maintain the peace with Joe Public by chatting with them, I often stop & have a chat with the locals here. They are always friendly and often want to give it a try Depending on the guy and the wind conditions, I sometimes get them flying a kite.

I have pushed several interested Islamic parties towards our local Kite shop to buy kites & buggies.

 

I did once have a camel farmer wave his arms at me because I suddenly came close to his herd of camels. The camels being unused to the site of the buggy and the singing kite lines tend to panic a bit. This understandably annoyed the farmer. Later, I went and apologised to the farmer for scaring his camels and promised to try & avoid it happening again. My apology was well accepted & I went on my way.

 

On the rare occasions, I buggy near a road, I often see cars stop or slow down to watch. I usually wave to the curious watchers, they always wave back and have smiling faces.

 

If you see our DBC site (http://wwnav.com/uaedbc/) that we put together for the Desert Buggy Challenge we ran last March, you will note that our Patron for that event was Sheikh Ahmed a dedicated kite-buggier. His Uncle is the Ruler of the UAE. The UAE kite-buggy team under the Captaincy of Sheikh Ahmed was represented at the Birdsville Buggy Bash in Australia last year. This should give you an idea of the level of support we get in this country. Our kiting events are sometimes favourably reported in the local Arabic & English press.

 

The Moslem mates I have here include Locals, Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Bahrainis, Saudis, Pakistanis & Moslem Indians who are just regular blokes like you would meet buggying on the beaches in the UK. We all meet and bitch about, not enough wind, the heat, how to stop our buggies falling apart, best kites to use and kiting stuff in general. None of us really give a stuff about nationalities, political events and such things when chatting about the buggying.

 

Hope this shines a positive light on Kite-buggying here as opposed to all the negative press you are probably used to concerning Moslems.

Sand-Yeti

 

 

It takes just one rotten apple to spoil it for everybody.

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I have only been flying for a year but already in that time i have seen a rise in people at my local spot. It used to be just me and my friend who flew there and for us there was plenty of room but now their are about six people with kites in the area and only very limited resources. I know what you mean about idiots and fools wanting to fly, i often have people asking me for a go on my 8.5 blade who have never flown before and where i tell them it's way tp powerfull for them they generally respond with "it's just a kite" and then want to know where they can get one. The more popular the more fools we get doing it who have no respect for the kite or the other people around them.

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This is in response to Chris-HKN.

 

Hope this shines a positive light on Kite-buggying here as opposed to all the negative press you are probably used to concerning Moslems.

Sand-Yeti

 

QUOTE]

 

thanks for the reply :) - Its good to know that this hobby is also participated by other cultures as i wasn't to sure , specially around that area (and not knowing the Islamic religion to well wondered if it would be a problem for you lot , but as youy have stated it ain't which is pretty good ) - i have seen your web site and it does look pretty good out there for it .

 

 

 

Thanks :)

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