Today as a learner you have the availability of great equipment with plenty of instructors and their is plenty of material on the internet to learn about safety, along with new kites now having good safety systems.
If as a learner you rock up to the beach and fail to understand the dangers you must be stupid or a fool. I find people who really want to learn will always ask questions and take advice and those who know better and ingnor your advice must be much smarter people with much better ability and I should not be stoped in their progress.
After seeing kiting in our area degrade to dangerous levels I think it's just better to pull the plug on the leading edge and walk away rather than try and explain how close they are to the darwin awards.
I have been asked by one mental midget what was the bigest kite he could buy so he could strape a motor and prop on his back so he could get into flying. The glazed look in his eyes made me believe him.

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Originally posted by RAL INN

Maybe i'm getting a bit Jaded or just Old.

Helping out newbies and setting them straight on where to go and how and where not to be is OK but sometimes a bit tedious.

But what do you do when you notice yourself participating with other experienced kiters is potentially dangerous practices?

OK it may well be good to stop yourself, but when asked to launch someone from a treelined footpath on top of a hill, what sort of diplomacy needs to be engaged? especially when you have done it yourself.

Am I just a woosy kiter.

Best Winds
Tony L
ABK

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Some people don't have the ability to determine when they are in danger. Sometimes just you letting them know that you think what they are doing is a little dangerous or that you don't feel comfortable with what they are doing will make them actually stop and think properly.

I know if someone says "thats a little dodgy" i will rethink what i'm doing.

I also think it is your responsibility to let people know that what you are doing is risky, but you're willing to accept the risk. Other people may not be aware that there is actually any risk involved, see you are doing it and assume it is safe. Putting your own life at risk is one thing, risking the life of others is another.

At local spot over here (melville) there has been a riding zone enforced a distance away from the beach and all riders have been asked to stay away from the beach while riding and walking back up. The main issue involved here really wasn't that experienced riders were really causing a huge safety issue, it was that beginners would follow the same bad habits. Its amazing how little people we got doing the wrong thing this season and how few incidents there were.

If your doing the wrong thing, people who don't know any better will soon follow.

you have to remember ...what if you were in there position ....
if u see some dude being dragged accross the beach towards beach rd(st kilda) and u dont help them cos ur so amped at the wind then screw you, accidents happen, help when you can, when you cant dont if we dont all help each other then after ther 100th death it'll end up being banned, then ill have to take up windsurfing...

if someone cant set there lines up and launch there kite then they need lessons and should be beaten for buying a kite without getting lessons....

we have all seen it, done it...


or

go to a quiet beach... set ur kite up at home drive with it strapped to your roof to minimise the number of launches ull be doing while you set up

I've said this before - Just relax, watch and let the Darwin Effect work its magic.

[}:)]

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Originally posted by Ben De Jonge

I've said this before - Just relax, watch and let the Darwin Effect work its magic.

[}:)]

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And let the sport to be baned all over the place!!
Than you can use your kites as tents for your kids, the boards - mount for legs and use them as coffe tables (you can open a coffee shop on the beach); I am still looking for a use for the control bar and lines, but I am sure some "parrot" will find one for them too.

Hey, the "parrot" was already here!!!!

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Originally posted by silviu
I am still looking for a use for the control bar and lines, but I am sure some "parrot" will find one for them too.
Hey, the "parrot" was already here!!!!

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I know a really great spot you can stick your bar and lines buddy - you don't even need to leave the house!

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Originally posted by Ben De Jonge

Silviu - It's cool mate, we've got the laughs covered you stick to the over serious intensity, it's where your strength lies.

[}:)]

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Sorry Ben,
We are very sensitive in Melbourne at the moment, as we have one of our Kitesurfers mate fighting for his life in the hospital after being draged 200m and banged into a concrete wall.

Following the latest developments, I was denied a permit to run a Kitesurfing event on Kitebeach, and who knows what else can be developping in the future.

Unfortunatelly, all the kiting spots around Melbourne are in the jurisdiction of different City Councils, and un-informed "advisors" and "informers" are throwing dirt on our sport.

All the accidents and bad publicity are not doing any good, so we are trying really hard to change something, and get some safety into the sport

Thanks Aaron,

i will now refuse to launch like that, and if you see me try.

severly concus me before the rocks do.

and then back me up when some one wants to smack me down for not launching them.

Not only is it scary for the kiter. it's scary for the assister. Also probably bloody scary for the poor joe public that you have to skid by on the grass.

Maybe the public gallery can see what's going to happen, and thats why they come to watch. Bloody ghouls.

As aaron stated Tony,Good call.Being new to the sport,I couldn't believe the rock show happening that day.I was asked to assist in a launch.The kiter didn't know me,nor I him.Once I released the kite after a thumbs up,the kite didn't look right.After I grabbed the kite,the kiter noticed on of the lines was around the bar.
Ten minutes earlier a kiter being launched yelled to his assistant,"WAIT",somehow this was interpreted as,"ok" and the kite was released,the look on the kiters face terrified me.He got it under control,but it could have ended in a fatal accident,a preventable one.It's not far to the trees and it's a long way down to the rockwall,rocks and steps ect.

I felt uneasy assisting the launch and should have refused.If something had have happened, and a bystander(ie:child)was badly injured, I would not like to feel that I contributed.

That's the second time I've launched someone and felt uneasy about it,I wont be doing it again.