So Ragga and I did a downwinder yesterday from Matanzas to 11th Street. The wind was a little light, but waves were good so it made it fun. When we finished I noticed a St. Augustine Beach Police officer pulled up next to us. After a short while on the phone, he approached and questioned us about our whereabouts, and if we had come from Matanzas. He explained that someone had hit a swimmer with their kiteboard coming downwind from Matanzas, and it appeared to be deliberate.

Without even thinking about it, I knew exactly who it was. We need to call a meeting again to talk about proper kiteboarding etiquette. Coming into summer time the beaches are getting more crowded, and we need to make sure that everyone stays out of the surf zone when there are swimmers and surfers present. We have miles and miles of uncrowded beaches, and there is no reason to be weaving in and out of people in the water. We have spent years keeping our beaches free of regulations, and all it takes is one incident like this to put us on the radar. Now we have to take action to make sure that the authorities know that we are serious about keeping our sport safe and being responsible with our riding.

How is tomorrow night for a little pow-wow? Let's meet at the shop around 7 p.m. and then we can walk across the street to Zaharias and sit outside.

OK, so I got the scoop from the kiter involved. Still waiting on the police report, but here is what I have so far. 1 kiter was out at Matanzas with outgoing tide, and a couple of fisherman on the sandbar on the south side of Matanzas Inlet. He was kiting upwind and downwind around the fishermen, and I guess they got bored or pissed cause he was having more fun that they were. They started throwing their lines at him as he was passing by, and the second or third try hooked his left (red) flying line as he was heading back out. This caused the kite to turn back the other way, sending him back towards the bridge. He went back towards them to give their line back cause the hook was stuck on his float. As he approached the one fisherman, he was pinched between the rocks upwind and the guy, and had no choice but to plow into him with his board. Both of the fishermen wanted to fight, but the line was loose, so the kiter took off in the opposite direction and left the area on a downwinder. Afterwards the fishermen decided to file a complaint with Sheriff's deputies, even though it sounds as if they were the ones who initiated the aggressive action.

Having grown up in Melbourne surfing Sebastian Inlet, I have had large fishing weights hucked at my head more than once. I have witnessed fights between surfers and fishermen, and noone wins. If someone is throwing fishing lines at you while kiting, it is a good idea to stay clear of them. Realistically we should not be that close to other bystanders anyway. But the best policy is to be respectful of other beach goers space, even if they are not as respectful of us. It only takes one bad experience with law enforcement to put kiteboarding in the limelight and force county officials to consider legislation against us. If anyone wants to kite tomorrow around 6 and then have a few beers at Zaharias and have a pow-wow let me know.