As a newbie I agree.
Lessons are an absolute must.
As someone who has done years of sailing people just don't understand what sort of power the wind can generate and being hooked to a kite is dangerous.
When I was young, although not compulsory, my parents enrolled me in sailing classes. Progression through different classes was essential.
When I first did lessons through AKS I was led to believe that some sort of accreditation from IKO was issued on completion of the three lessons.
Maybe this needs to made legal for people to kitesurf. If you can't produce a ticket, no kitesurfing.
On the subject of second hand kites. My lessons were at the end of last season and after lessons and some research I bought a second hand Core 10.5m.
Big mistake. To big for me, lines out of whack. Didn't want to stay in the air. A couple of times while launching the kite would swing down wind almost knocking people down. I decided a new kite was a better option and after a slight tweaking of the lines from the guys at AKS all is good.
I kite at Pinnaroo and notice that more experienced guys tend to set up around the AKS van while guys like myself set up upwind near the dog beach.
Inevitably, we end up drifting downwind amongst experienced guys and the windsurfers. The kite guys are patient and look out for you but you can see the windsurfers getting cranky. I usually make my way in before I reach them and make my way back along the beach and start again. A shorter version of the walk of shame.
Can I suggest perhaps an exclusion zone of say 100m along the beach to make things a little safer and to allow new members of the community to get some practice in. Yesterday I saw a guy practice a jump close to shore, he went down and kite came down hard on the beach almost taking out an instructor and a student.
Just a little food for thought.
Happy kiting.
