After reading about a number of kiting accidents that have happened lately, I thought i'd start a new thread that is not about specific occurrences, but more a reflection on the kiting industry today and where the sport is at.

Before I get stuck in maybe I should cover my own experience first so you can understand my passion for this sport and why I am compelled to write this.

I started my kiting habit in 2000 when I was 20, flying a flexifoil stacker kite, then built up to blades and other land based foil kites, learning to buggy and landboard. In 2006 I took my first lessons in kiteboarding and naturally took to it like a duck to water with having already mastered the important kite flying skills.

In 2007 I became an assistant instructor and packed my bags for Egypt, I very quickly logged up my shadow teaching hours and improved my personal kiting immensely. After 2 years in Egypt I moved back to the UK and taught for a further 2 years. I was then offered a managing roll of a school in Aitutaki Cook Islands. sadly this only lasted 6 months due to unforseen reasons. I then came to Melbourne and managed one of the schools here in St Kilda.

Est total teaching Hours, 2000+.

So with that background I feel i'm am experienced enough to say what I am about to say.

The current state of kiteboarding is a result of the practices of the kite schools and shops, and its why I no longer teach. Kiteboarding in Australia has become a victim of its own success. Its about quantity, not quality, just churning the numbers through, regardless of the standard of the students.

I see many schools advertising and glorifying the ease of the sport and how safe it is, so easy in fact that you can learn it in just 5 hours!!! IT'S A FRIGGIN EXTREME SPORT!!!

The standards have not just slipped but have completely fallen by the wayside! 5 hours??? when I started you were taught in a group of 2-4 for three separate four hour lessons.

What can you teach in just five hours? something has to give!

Its no wonder people cant self rescue, body drag upwind or even choose the correct size kite. I have met signed off students that didn't even know what a leading edge was!!!

Before I was signed off as an instructor you had to demonstrate that you could do a whole list of manoeuvres and asses situations.

Todays instructors you are lucky if they can even ride upwind.

I must say that after having Kited and taught in many places around the globe, the standards I have witnessed in St Kilda were shocking to say the least. The pressure that was placed upon me to teach, get people through, and buy kit was overwhelming and that is why I stopped.

Kiteboarding has now become a very profitable business at the expense of those that want to be able to learn and enjoy it.

An Incident occurred whilst I was teaching in St Kilda where whilst I was demonstrating a water start the instructor upwind of me crashed his kite straight on to me wrapping the bridles around my neck. upon explaining this to the owner director of the school I was told "that is kiteboarding mate, get used to it or go somewhere else"! Seriously, I kid you not, he said that. er sorry mate, thats not the kiteboarding I know!

If this is the demeanour of a school owner what chance does the sport have?.

Some schools offer group ride days where they take some students (for a fee of course) to a variety of locations in order for them to experience different conditions. But they generally turn into carnage. Usually the staff sent to oversee the event are seriously inexperienced themselves and the people going along to kite are not at a competent level and still need one on one instruction. Its a recipe for disaster. I have witnessed these days and on one occasion was astounded to see the group ride leader too busy knocking back beers on the beach to be out helping the floundering participants in the water, leaving me to collect the lost boards floating away from kiters from the group.

We have all witnessed accidents and close calls and examples of stupidity and negligence, I could go on all night with examples.

How many people here have seen an accident waiting to happen and tried to give advice only to be ignored, or rudely shut down to only then be proven right?

It is up to the schools and their owners / operators to teach the newcomers the right way and start people off in the sport the right way, equipping them with the safety skills they need so they don't injure themselves or others.

Licensing will do nothing!

Given the standard of what I have witnessed the schools may as well hand out the licence with the flyers they litter the boardwalk with. The IKO started with the idea of a licence or competency card, but this means bugger all, and seeing as they have gone from being and organisation to a business it goes to show what they are in it for! $$$

Mandatory insurance is one way to at least cover the stupidity and make sure it is paid for, but then give it a year and everyone else will inevitably be footing the bill for these irresponsible kiters.

Having said all the above there are schools out there who are trying to make a difference, and go out of their way to employ instructors with experience.

I think Australian kitesurfing is at an age and popularity where it can demand its own requirements.

I just feel gutted that the sport has gotten to this state, especially as I became an Instructor so I could teach those who respected mother nature to embrace her power.

If anyone from AKSA reads this and wishes to get in touch please feel free.

Without a licensing system of some sort there is no incentive or stipulation for newcomers to do any more lessons than they are willing to pay for, hence the budget of the kiter dictates how many lessons they will have (Sometimes none!!!!). A license/ official training program would fix this problem. It is every locals responsibility and in their best interest to be involved in safe kite practices ( not just schools). I Don't necessarily agree with a licensing system but just stating the facts. Not all schools fall into this Rogue basket. I feel if more locals were instructors they would have more love for their local teaching spot, it seems most instructors are blow ins, here 1 season gone the next. They don't have to deal with the long term issues at any given kite location.

People talk about licensing and insurance- but who do you have in mind to Police it?
Those of you who were around or know your surf history will recall that they tried to licence/register surfing back in the 60's. What happened? Life savers were delegated the role to police it which just lead to surfers telling the clubbies to f#@k off.
You think the Police will do it- highly doubt it. Council workers? Delegated persons from a kite association? If some random person comes up to me and demands my details and proof of ID I'd tell them politely to piss off.
People need to step back, take a breath and realise you just have to take responsibility for your own actions. You f@%k up and injure somebody else- that's on you and face the consequences. No different to me paddling out, snapping my leg rope and my board hits some poor bugger in the head.
Enough fun things are over regulated in this country without adding kiting to it.

kitesurfjim said..

The standards have not just slipped but have completely fallen by the wayside! 5 hours??? when I started you were taught in a group of 2-4 for three separate four hour lessons.

True. I took lessons in St. Kilda when I started. After sailing for 20 years I had a very good idea about wind, weather, right-of-way and could sense the latent danger of kitesurfing. People laugh and say it's not extreme if a 60 yo, overweight dude can do it. In reality it's not the mowing the lawn part that is extreme, it's the worst case outcome if only minor things go wrong that is extreme. On a clear sunny day with constant breeze you can easily kill yourself or end up in a wheelchair in a couple of seconds due to human error or equipment failure.

Regarding the lessons:
I shared a 5 hours lesson with a friend. The quality ranged from good to terrible depending on the "instructor". One dude started the lessons in marginal winds in which even he could not keep the kite in the air (I had no idea of min windspeeds back then). This hindenburging lesson was stopped but still deducted from our 5 hrs package and the guy started to haggle whether he had taught 30 or 45 mins. I got the impression that the instructors are on standby (without pay) at the beach until someone books a lesson. This would be an incentive to get people out in conditions that are not ideal just to get a lesson done. The instructors had no idea what the previous had done, there was no curriculum, it was a total mess.

After the 5 hours I had a rough idea of how to set up a kite, of its pull when diving, of the windwindow from flying the trainer, I could upwind bodydrag and knew that pulling the bar in when in trouble was wrong but I was still doing it instinctively.
I had not learned to self-rescue and no one had told me about right of way.

Due to the outrageous cost of lessons and the overall bad quality I decided to get gear, the IKO manual and watch youtube clips. I bought all the safety gear I could get my hands on and went out solo, carefully picking moderate wind days. My sailing background helped a lot to pick the right days. I stayed clear of everyone else while practising and self-taught myself the rest. And honestly I was not ready yet.

I would bet that more often than not other people go through the same learning stage (if they take lessons at all).

What I don't understand is that there are no mandatory classroom type theoretical lessons which teach wind patterns, stormfronts, windwindow, right of way, stuff that will keep you safe. Why do all lessons start on the beach and get charged at 70 bucks/hr. Just do a classroom session at reduced cost as this will not wear out gear and you can have one instructor teaching many people at the same time.
That would drastically reduce the number of people rocking up on the beach with no clue!

Hi KitesurfJim very good post, well done.

Well written KitesurfJim.

Just recently I spoke to a newbie who thought it's acceptable too
get smashed into a rock wall!! Was so defensive about what she did....

Maybe she wont be so lucky next time...

Greedy shops don't promote safety,just products!

jeff2 said..

...and just take responsibility for our own actions.

Exactly.

The trouble is the people who don't take responsibility for their own actions.

What do we do about them?

WeirdEd said..

kitesurfjim said..

The standards have not just slipped but have completely fallen by the wayside! 5 hours??? when I started you were taught in a group of 2-4 for three separate four hour lessons.

...
What I don't understand is that there are no mandatory classroom type theoretical lessons which teach wind patterns, stormfronts, windwindow, right of way, stuff that will keep you safe. Why do all lessons start on the beach and get charged at 70 bucks/hr. Just do a classroom session at reduced cost as this will not wear out gear and you can have one instructor teaching many people at the same time.
That would drastically reduce the number of people rocking up on the beach with no clue!

Very well said. And it will also stop kooks and noobs that are out to just impress their alter egos and gfriends from even touching the beach with a kite, as an instructor I would politely pull them aside (easy to spot in a classroom environment) and say, '.. hey.. all well and good but I am not going to pass you... sorry... you need more hours here'. Oh but no! The shop owners (who pay most instructors) are going to put their arms up and shout - what about the dosh!!!?? It's the same old argument. ps. All open water diving courses are trained at the class room and then in the water. Kiting should be the same.

Its not just shops that sell kites, Seabreeze buy & sell, Ebay, Gumtree are the go to place for people on a budget, not shops. Do all these places ask for experience before purchase? They should but probably dont!

Agreed everyone has a part to play

Jim Its not just in Australia where the teaching level has gone to ****, back in the uk I have seen students being taught in squalls, offshore wind, winds well in excess of 35 knots. You well know the area as you taught there your self but as you say it all about the money now, and the industry promoting its self as safe and encouraging anyone no matter how unsuited to "have a go".
Duncan

you had to demonstrate that you could do a whole list of manoeuvres and asses

Quite the school

jeff2 said..

I cannot believe the absolute crap that I have just read.
Why is it that people today are so worried about every body else instead of just keeping an open mind and allowing each person to live as they choose ?
I personally began kiting in the year 2000 and at that time there was no such thing as a kiting school/shop or instructor in my home town.
I had to learn it all as I went along.
I remember there was those selling windsurfing gear saying that the sport was way too dangerous and that it had no future as it would be banned.
What a joke ! now those very people are the ones making their living from sales of all types of kiting gear.
If only we could have less nannying, of everything we choose to do, and just take responsibility for our own actions.
I love the thought of being a free person, not one who is told when,where &how to do everything .
Those types belong in a prison, or an old aged retirement home.

And I, sir, cannot believe the narrow frame of reference that I have just encountered (well I can, it's a kiting forum, not a sociopolitical philosophy think-tank - or is it?).

Why is it that I care about other people's actions?

1. I don't want nice people being injured/killed just because they were duped into a false sense of safety/competence by a dodgy school/shop.
2. Because there are a finite number of places to kite and if they get shut down because other people are either ignorant of the dangers and obligations inherent in the sport, or wilfully disregard them, then I have nowhere to kite, and can no longer enjoy my own freedoms.

Your freedoms are conditional upon a large majority of people respecting the social conventions within which such freedoms can exist: shared standards of conduct. I love the individual freedom and self-responsibility of kiting. I'm also politically savvy enough to recognise that my freedoms depend in part on the actions of others.

The retreat to the isolated individualism of "I take care of myself - why can't everyone else?" is naive and ultimately self-defeating. It's an outmoded frontier mentality that simply doesn't work in a finite world that we all have to share.

"The tragedy of the commons" is roughly the position we're in (wikipedia is an OK starting point for more on this). Solutions to the tragedy are either top-down regulation by an overseeing authority (and it seems very few people want this - I certainly don't) or bottom-up self-regulation by the community as a whole (much more desirable in sustaining the autonomies that we all cherish). The distinction between individual self-regulation (adequate if you're a survivalist in the woods) and communal self-regulation (necessary for shared and finite resources) is crucial.

At the risk of (and perhaps with the clear intention of) inciting the ire of the anti-intellectual "I am a rock, I am an island" defensively armoured macho brigade, I shall quote someone who has probably thought more deeply and written more eloquently about such distinctions than any of us.


"A community confers on its members the freedoms implicit in familiarity, mutual respect, mutual affection, and mutual help; it gives freedom its proper aims; and it prescribes or shows the responsibilities without which no one can be legitimately free, or free for very long. ...
Freedom defined strictly as individual freedom tends to see itself as an escape from the constraints of community life - constraints necessarily implied by consideration for the nature of a place; by consideration for the needs and feelings of neighbours; by kindness to strangers; by respect for the privacy, dignity, and propriety of individual lives; by affection for a place, its people and its nonhuman creatures; and by the duty to teach the young."

Wendell Berry, The Art of the Common Place: The Agrarian Essays of Wendell Berry (pp162-3)

What about if schools where to only offer a minimum of 7-10 hours of lessons with payment upfront with a 6month time frame to use up your hours?
Surely this will deter the cheap and nasty?
Just a thought

djdojo said..

"The tragedy of the commons" is roughly the position we're in (wikipedia is an OK starting point for more on this). Solutions to the tragedy are either top-down regulation by an overseeing authority (and it seems very few people want this - I certainly don't) or bottom-up self-regulation by the community as a whole (much more desirable in sustaining the autonomies that we all cherish). The distinction between individual self-regulation (adequate if you're a survivalist in the woods) and communal self-regulation (necessary for shared and finite resources) is crucial.

Great post!