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Be Safe - wear a helmet

Kite surfing is an extreme sport and is therefore potentially dangerous to both the Kite Surfer and others. The BKSA encourages responsible members. We do not want to put anybody off or sound too officious, but, many people are completely new to kite surfing and so we have laid out a complete set of safety guidelines.

The BKSA recommend that Kite Surfing should not be attempted without appropriate instruction.

Kite Surfings minimum competence of skills are considered to be:

Level 1: Kite Flying Skills

1. Understand all aspects of safe handling of kites on land & water.
2. Able to launch and land (unaided) on a specified spot on land.

Level 2: Basic Water Skills

1. Body Surfing with kite along and back to shore.
2. Water launching onto board

Level 3: Basic Kite Surfing Skills

1. Getting on a board and travelling a distance under kite power.
2. Emergency stop on water - getting off the board quickly and stopping with kite aloft.
3. Returning to base on land either by kitesurfing, paddling or body-surfing home.

General Safety Guidelines:

Stay clear of power lines and overhead obstructions.
Never fly a kite in a lightning storm.
Always inform the Beach warden, Life Guard or Coast Guard of where and when you will be kitesurfing. (Kites crashing look like planes crashing to naïve spectators). Britain's beaches, airspace and ocean environment belong to everyone. Keep our beaches safe, clean and free.

Flying Skills

If you can not walk backwards when the kite is flying directly overhead the kite is too big and/or the wind is too strong.
Never tether yourself to the kite with a closed system. Only use open quick-release harness systems, if at all.
Never kite surf if you do not have good Kite flying experience.

Land Skills

Do not lay kite lines across any ones path.
Do not launch or land in crowded areas.
Always announce you are launching a kite.
Select a safe launching site.
Prevent kites from re-launching with sand (or other ballast) to weight it down.
Disable unattended kites.

Water

Never kite surf in congested areas with swimmers, boats or other craft or obstacles.
Never go out on the water without telling another person where you are going.
Always maintain a downwind safety buffer zone.
A Kite surfer must know the rules of the sea including navigation laws and abide by them at all times.
Instruction must be taken from an experienced kite surfer before surfing for the first time.
A Kite surfer must know the rules of the sea including navigation laws and abide by them at all times.
A kite surfer must be fit and healthy and over 18 years of age (under 18's should have parental permission and supervision).
Never Kite surf without telling another person where you are going.
If going offshore, kitesurf in pairs or with a rescue boat in attendance.
Never Kite surf in conditions which are too extreme for either you or your equipment.

Equipment

All manufacturers instructions and safety guidelines must be read and followed,
in particular the limitations of the product.
Equipment must be regularly checked for wear and tear and repaired accordingly before going out onto the water.
Always Kite surf with adequate safety equipment.

This is by no means a final and definitive list of safety guidelines.
We welcome all members of the BKSA to feedback safety guidelines to the association.

Kite surf rules

The rules described herein should only be considered as a proposed draft. Until these rules are official accepted by other water user organizations, a kitesurfer should try to avoid all other water users at all cost (for safety, try to be either downwind or at least 1 or 2 line lengths upwind from other water users). As on land or in the air, there is a need for some basic right-of-way rules that all water-crafts must observe to avoid collision on the water. There is a need for some standard kitesurfing rules applicable to all kitesurfers and other water users. Similar to windsurfing, one can kitesurf on flat water or in wave. There should be 2 sets of rule for kitesurfing, one set for traditional sailing on flat water and another set for wavesailing (they could be contradicting each other).

As a general rule-of- thumb, all traditional sailing and wave sailing rules should be applicable for kitesurfing. Check http://www.sailing.org/newrules/rulesframes/default.html for an excellent description of racing rules of sailing.

All right-of-way rules require a water-craft to keep clear of another. The distance to keep clear is not quite exactly specified; however, the the racing rules do specify some restrictions for the two sailing boats when they are approaching within two hull lengths of each other. Thus, as a rule of thumb, it's wise to keep a distance of twice the hull length from the water-craft to be cleared. This is fairly straight forward for all water-crafts except kitesurfing crafts. For a kitesurfing craft, the kite and the lines make this much more complicated. We will discuss this "keep clear" requirement in details after reviewing the common sense, traditional sailing and wave sailing rules.

General Common Sense Rules on the Water

Following are the general common sense rules on the water:

·         Avoid collision at all cost, even when you have the right of way.

·         When it seems that an inexperienced boater is having problem controlling the boat properly, the experienced boaters should keep clear off the inexperienced boater even when the experienced boaters have the right of way (a boat with an inexperienced "captain" is considered as a less maneuverable water-craft)

·         Keep clear of less maneuverable water-crafts:

·         All recreational water-crafts shall keep clear of large commercial ships.

·         More maneuverable motorized water-crafts shall keep clear of all sailing water-crafts.

Traditional Sailing Rules

There are three main rules to be observed when two sailing water-crafts approaching each other on the water:

1. Opposite tack rule: A boat on port tack with the wind on the port side shall keep clear of a boat on starboard tack.
2. Same tack rule: A boat to windward (upwind) shall keep clear of a boat to leeward (downwind).
3. Overtaking rule: An overtaking boat shall keep clear of the boat being overtaken.

Wave Sailing Rules

These are the main rules when wave sailors approaching each other in the wave:

1. Opposite tack rule: A wave sailor coming in (surfing the wave in) shall keep clear of a wave sailor heading out (jumping the wave).
2. Same tack rule (on the wave): All wave sailors shall keep clear of a wave sailor in front of or nearest to the peak of the wave (the breaking part of the wave).
3. All kitesurfers shall keep clear of all surfers (surfers are less maneuverable than kitesurfers).

Kitesurfing Enhancement to the Sailing Rules

All the rules above are applicable to kitesurfing. The only enhancement we need to define is how a water-craft shall keep clear of the other if one or both of the water-crafts is a kitesurfing craft.

When kitesurfing, a kitesurfer can fly the kite anywhere in the forward half portion of the wind window. This means that the kitesurfer and the kite normally occupy a space equal a quarter-of-the-sphere that has the kitesurfer at the center and the radius is the line length. If we consider that to be the space to be kept clear or the "hull" of a kitesurfing craft then it could be up to 50 m in length and 50 m in width. If we apply the rule-of-thumb keeping clear distance of two hull lengths, this means that we have to keep clear a distance of up to 100 m. This would drastically reduce the number of kitesurfers sailing at a certain place.

Fortunately, the angle where a kitesurfer normally fly the kite is between 30 and 60 degrees vertically. At these angles, the kite is normally high enough in the air that the clearing distance is more or less dependent on the highest point of the other water-craft. If the clearing distance is set at a distance equals 3 times the height of the highest point of the other water-craft, that will allow the upwind kitesurfer to sail with the kite as low as 20 degrees vertically (regardless of the line length).

As two kitesurfers approach each other, the highest points of the kitesurfers could be equal to the line length (could be up to 40 - 50 m). If both kitesurfers keep the kites stationary in a moving forward position at 45 degrees vertical, the lines should never collide. However, the two kitesurfers should have a minimum clearing distance of 15 m to allow a margin for flying error (about 15 degrees vertically for both upwind and downwind kitesurfers). For example, for 50 m lines, this would allow the downwind kitesurfer to fly the kite as high as 60 degrees vertically while the upwind kitesurfer maintains the kite at 45 degrees vertically. On the other hand, it would allow the upwind kitesurfer to fly the kite as low as 33 degrees vertically while the downwind kitesurfer maintains the kite at 45 degrees vertically. This would translate to a margin for flying error of approximately 15 degrees. This margin for flying error is larger for line lengths shorter than 50 m.

The following table summarizes the minimum clearing distance for most water-crafts (either the kitesurfer has to keep clear or the other water-craft has to keep clear) when they approach a kitesurfer:

Without the presence of large boats, the minimum clearing distance is normally at 15 m.

The minimum clearing distance as described in the above table is only applicable if the kitesurfer is upwind of the other water-craft. If the kitesurfer is downwind of the other water-craft, the rule-of-thumb clearing distance of two hull lengths should be applied (unless the other water-craft is a also a kitesurfer).

Additional Kitesurfing Rules

·         All water-crafts shall keep clear of a water re-launching kitesurfer. The area to be kept clear shall be a semi-circle downwind from the kitesurfer (at the center of the circle) with the radius equals 1.5 times the line length (to allow for a downwind drifting margin).

·         When a kitesurfer jumps, he/she can travel down wind up to 100' or 1 line length. A kitesurfer must not jump if there is an obstacle within a semi-circle downwind from the kitesurfer (at the center of the circle) with the radius equals 1.5 times the line length (to allow for a downwind drift margin).