socalrider
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Pacific Beach kite surfers blow right by the law
To use the author's point of "safety principle of separating people traveling at different speeds", it is not safe for riding surfers to be near surfers that are sitting in the lineup, particularly if they are not in complete control due to the breaking of the wave or potential wipeouts. Also, kiteboarding is neither desirable or practiced in the same offshore winds that you mention surfers craving, as it blows off-shore (potentially blowing a kiter out to sea) and is not ideal for riding in waves (wind and waves going diametrically opposite directions. Kiters are usually only found in side-on or sideshore conditions during conditions that usually last a couple hours a day out of a couple months of the year in Southern California, the same conditions that are usually undesirable for surfers (the direction of wind the blows the tops off of waves, not offshore like you mention). These are the conditions that surfers usually bemoan as 'blown-out'. Also, kitesurfers are usually found way upwind and out to shore compared to surfers, who are usually concentrated in the areas with the best breaking peaks. There is a lot of navigable room for kiters, and they tend to be very spread out. Also, the world speed records are achieved in locations with unique conditions such as Namibia, where riders plot a specific course by digging a shallow trench that fills with water, and is done in remote conditions in 40+ mph winds on specialized boards. To imply that they are zipping through a California surfing lineup at 50mph is disingenuous. Lastly, beyond the legal issue of right-of-way, there is the social issue of courtesy and respect. There are ocean users who are tolerant and sharing of our natural resources of water, wind, and waves, and there are those who seek to limit them to either just themselves or their limited demographic. Resistance to different recreational activities is often practiced, sometimes with stinkeye, cursing, or resorting to violence or threats of violence. (see - longboard vs shortboard vs SUP vs bodyboard vs kneeboard vs kayak vs kiteboard vs bodysurf vs swimmer). The title, byline, and general tone of your article appears to pander to the rock-throwing crowd and shows a myopic perspective towards shared use of California's greatest natural resource.— August 31, 2012 3:51 p.m.