June 13...SCKA Safety Clinic

June 13, 2010

The SCKA Summer Safety Clinic

This item is new for 2010, a tent. Thanks to Martin Hubert we had a central spot for visitors to sign-in, join the SCKA and find out what station to go to. It was great!!!

Our past-President Francis Hu and Bart Miller (both in white shirts) ran the first stop, knowing your safety equipment.

Here Jane is being shown the release system by Bart Miller.

The group had a complete lesson, stem to stern, of their kite lines and the safety system.

The second segment was "Know The Right of Way" and the SCKA wanted to have points of view from Huntington, Seal and Belmont Shore.

Nudge headed up this clinic, with the assistance of Al Shuton, Max Runyan and Al Navas.

If you notice Nudge kept their attention while all of the instructors discussed the Right of Way from the view of different areas.

The third segment was Self Rescue. It was headed up by Arnaud Vuillermet, who also teaches at Belmont. On the right is his new KiteMasters tent and flag.

Arnaud is in the sand and behind him is Dan Slater, our official SCKA photographer. Check out his website at http://www.nearfield.com/~dan/sports/kitesurf/SCKA/index.htm. At the moment he has shots from last years event. Soon Dan will have the pix from this year.

During this part of the self rescue lesson Arnaud describes how to use your kite during the rescue process. Go over and introduce yourself and tell him what a great job he did.

The next stop was meeting Carter Thomas, an instructor with Kitesurfari.

Carter and Dan Corbett set-up the group by stating that having someone helping you launch and land your kite is the safest way to kite, especially on busy weekends, especially here in Belmont.

Dan is waiting for Carter to give him "Thumbs-UP" before letting the kite go. Coordination between the kiter and launcher is most the most important factor so there are no mistakes.

For the more advanced kiters Carter covered self launching and self landing.

We suggest taking a lesson on this subject because it is extremely tricky and could result in big problems if your kite gets away from you.

After the Safety Clinic wrapped up, Gabor Vagi gathered a group together to have a wind dance....guess what??????

We Got Wind!!!! It was a beautiful thing. But I think it was because Mike Noel buried some Mexican pesos. That could have put it over the top.

How wonderful it was for everyone that came to the Safety Clinic being able to get out and enjoy the wind. It was a "10" for everyone.