Thanks Bondo,

Encouragingly, there seems to be a general attitude shift for people to seek out lessons before they buy gear rather than the other way around, however, there are still those that refuse help and cane themselves and others trying to save their ego.

Just a week ago I came across a guy trying to fly a Rhino 2 with, I think, front lines connected to back and vice versa. His girlfriend trying to launch him dead down wind with a kite that was trying to launch backwards due to massively oversheeted lines, was the first casualty and was left sitting wimpering by the dunes holding her shoulder whilst he struggled to land the kite. As soon as the kite crashed, he took his leash off and ran after the kite!

After offering him free setup advice I was told "No, he was fine and didn't need help", I begged to differ and suggested lessons and he started getting a bit pissed off. He packed up and left.... to my relief and probably the releif of his girlfriend.

There will always be people who are reckless and irresponsible and endanger the lives of themselves and others. All we can do is step in and try and offer help and if they refuse and are likely to injure innocent bystanders, I suggest we forcefully stop a bad launch from occuring. Not as easy as it sounds, but probably easier than trying to regain access to our beloved beaches once we are banned!

Sombre thoughts.

Darren Marshall
IKO Examiner

damn, i missed the date also - people like dredging up old stuff on that forum for some reason. i was going to comment that I havent seen too many clueless newbs this season, but maybe thats because st kilda is pretty well regulated by the schools. where were you last week elizabeth? you missed some stellar days at the point - strong east to north east and butter flat water

Also did my first mini-downwinder yesterday I forgot to say... Brighton to the Pool... Just under 3ks', but was just perfect

G'day Bondo,
I shat myself when I read your post , then went to the link and all is explained.
I was the lucky guy back in 2003 who gave first aid that day, we have not seen him since.
Unfortunately there are alot more people getting into the sport with similar attitudes to that rider, we can only offer assistance and advice to people that are willing to listen , more and more often our advice and others get ignored and on the odd occasion we even get verbally abused.
Hopefully there will not be a repeat of this 2003 accident at Brighton , but I'm a realist and know it will happen again sooner than later.
I've seen enough human body dismemberment in my pass professional life to never treat Kiteboarding without due respect to its potential to kill and mame.
ALWAYS Ride Safe, Ride Responsibly ,Ride Switched On

Cheers
Ian