Just wondering if somebody out there in cyber kiteing world would know how many kite surfers are in Australia and how many shops per state. Or how I could get that data /information

Cheers

you could search for the kiteshops, most would be online

and you could guestimate the population, might help with data from shops sales if they are available somehow and/or AKSA and the state associations, or search on www.kiteforum.com it might have been discussed there

that'll get ya started

Good question and a clever guestimate sunseeker.
AKSA membership nos for 08/09 were around 1500 kiters but we have no way of knowing what percentage of kiters subscribe. All we can be certain of is that uninsured kiters pose the greatest unnecessary threat to beach access our sport presents.
Any bad incident anywhere; ie one where a member of the public is severely injured by coming in contact with a kite or kiter; raises the risk of local bureauracies considering bans. But if we have one where the local council or state govt is pursued for damages which will happen when the kiter isnt insured then councils all around the country will immediately respond by looking at getting kiters out of harms way. That means designated kite areas like jet-ski areas & dog beaches!
$65 for a whole season of insurance plus whatever extras your local state affiliate offers is NOTHING compared to the personal risk & the risk you are subjecting every kiter to. Enrolment time is NOW for a full year of membership. Contact your state affiliated KSA for membership details. There is one in every state including Tasmania for the first time this year.
If you have any trouble finding info then you can ask via [email protected]

Interesting stats

My thoughts would be that Australia stats might look something like this

Market share in terms of number of kites sold -
Best 22% ------Australia - 10%

Cabrinha 18% -------Australia - 15%

North 12% ---------Australia - $10%


Naish ---------------Australia - 7%

and Slingshot ------Australia - 13%

others - would be about 30% - 45%

What do other people think the Aus market would look like ?????

I have a great second question -
Waht does it take for a seasoned rider to switch off their favourite brand to another brand. Most of my friends seem to keep sticking to their same brand each year which means Best did a great job to go from 0 to 22% in 3 years.

So what would it take for you to change Brands????

flapjack is right.... too damn many

i started off with Cabrinha kites and have now gone over to Ozone after watching a mate use his with great ease,
i think as your skill improves or style changes the kite demand varies, i one thing i have learnt so far, there is no thing as a cheap good kite you gotta spend the bucks and i agree bring on kitestock any news on bookings yet?

O said...

Insurance seems a bit off the topic, but you need to remember AKSA doesnt provide world wide cover so you cant expect everyone to join AKSA - I had to join IKO to get covered for riding in Hawaii for example.

Well AKSA is world wide cover exept for USA and who would want to kite there anyway?

So what would it take for you to change Brands????

1.better performance

2.Service and availability

3. Price

I was a brand slut for a couple of years. Changed brands more than I changed undies. Then someone gave me a loan of the brand I fly now and I fell in love with the performance, and the distributor fell over himself to give me service.

Price was the last consideration.

I have been on the same kites for 18 months now and would only change if the performance was matched, if I received the same service and if they were cheaper.

I think you'll find that to be sued by someone, they will have to prove negligence.
If you are kiting responsibly and have an equipment failure, that's gonna be a bit hard to prove !

mmm... probably never been the other side of a legal writ? Proving is nothing compared to sitting the other side of due legal process...

I agree, I'd rather have the insurance lawyers fight it out, rather than me... besides, if I hurt someone through accident or fault, I'd feel very guilty...

Last note - maintenance is a very tough topic... Is a 1 / 2 / 3 year old kite in good shape...

PS: on the kite stats, I sadly know a few people with newish kites sitting in their garages... forever: technically kiters, but not really

waveslave said...
That's 1500 kiters in membership out of a possible 8000.
I'd blame non-creative marketing for that poor result.
Maybe WAKSA's fear and loathing campaign doesn't work too well.
Try my free t-shirt idea....
it's worth a shot.

So 'slave, your criticism of WAKSA is based on what exactly?

Care to share your figures and logic for us?

Where do you get the 8000 kiters from?

How many of those 8000 live in WA, so would be eligible to join WAKSA?

The 1500 AKSA members (Australia wide), how many of those are members of WAKSA?

What percentage of WA kiters are WAKSA members?

Be interesting to see some real facts rather than your assumptions.....

Never fails to amaze me when people try and 'knock' others who have their best interests at heart ! $65 is a bargain... Solidarity counts... And you get a cool tag for your harness !!!
I know that the local KSA in Dubai managed to get kiting un-banned... twice - hard to believe, but they did it. Okay, so the Pres there was on a mission 'cos he really wanted to be able to kite there, but it got done due to a united voice...
Now much as we would all like to be 'free spirits' drifting where the wind takes us, at some point we all have to realise that we are not in a kitsurfing dvd and that unfortunately there are other people that might like to use our beaches and those kites (and lines) can do some serious damage.
It may sound 'old' but stepping up and acting responsibly could save our collective asses one day...
How ever many there are, they should all support their local KSA and AKSA...

I think SAKSA has around 170 members, but those that aren't members in SA I would guess at another 350 give or take.....

The core crew, ie those who ride more than once a week are basically all joined up I think- it is the fringe riders who only head out now and then who are most likely not to see the value.

thats is the best idea i have seen in a while -

Hi Slave
I too would love to know total kiter nos for WA - and for all of Oz too. Unfortunately guestimates are as good as it gets and no-one really knows how close they might be .
As far as WA goes right now I would have to say, 'nowhere near enough' as many seem to be a bit slow re-registering . Luckily everyone is covered until the end of this month (legal period of grace) so as long as we get a flood of re-regos this week all will be well. .
So do it NOW. Go to the new website www.waksa.org.au where you will need to re-register all your details to fill out the new data base. NB Last years rego & logon details etc are all obsolete (your bookmark may be as well). This is a fresh new site needing new registrations - even from past members.

In answer to your question. To give an accurate indication I dont think I would be talking out of school to tell you that numbers ended up at end of 07/08 at about 560 (+/- a few?). My guestimate (no reason to be better than anyone elses) about 1 in 4 so that would make my guess 2000>2500 kiters for WA. For Oz wide imo I dont think you would be far off the mark at 8000 - again no idea how accurate that guess is.

and being insured